CHAPTER
ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the study
In
the sense, we are being educated all the time, to the extent that everything
that happens to us may bring about some changes in the way we feel, think, act
and obviously the way we speak. We learn from the things we hear, from the
circumstances in which we live, the people we meet, ideas in books infact
everything that, surrounds us and we experience all the time, educates us.
For
the process of education (the process of art of imparting knowledge, skills,
facts, ideals etc by either formally or informally) to function effectively,
the school curriculum is taken into consideration. Therefore, curriculum is a
term used to indicate a group of subjects or set of courses and their content
or field of study arranged in a particular sequence, offered in schools which
are to be covered for the period the learner is in school. According to Tanner
and Tanner (1975) curriculum is
defined as the planned and guided learning experience and intended learning
outcomes, formulated through a systematic reconstruction of knowledge and
experience under the auspices of the school for the learners continuous and
willful growth in personal social competence.
Inspite of the fact that so many aspects of man’s
knowledge compete today for inclusion as subjects in the school curriculum, at
least one modern language continues to maintain the right of place in the
secondary school curriculum which have been observed practically and
theoretically proven to be helpful and beneficial to children in secondary
schools.
Language
according to Webster’s encyclopedia unabridged dictionary of the English
language is define as the body of words and systems of use common to people who are of the same
community or nation, the same geographical area of the same cultural tradition.
Language is human either spoken or written because whenever there is a human
society, there is language and most forms of human activity depends on the
co-operation of two or more persons. A common language enables people to work
together in an infinite way. English is one of the major languages out of about
5000 estimated languages of the world. About 200 years ago, English was simply
the language of less than 15 million people. But today, however, English is
used by more than 300 million peoples. English is one of the most influential
and fast growing language spoken across the globe and also widely studied
especially in areas where it is non native. One fifth of the earth land surface
uses English as either a native or official language and of the entire world’s
languages, today English is used in several countries in the American continent
and in the republic of countries in the west African sub continent and as a
language of colonization in most countries. English is usually taught as a
chief foreign language in countries like Japan and China. About half of the
world’s scientific and technical journals as well as newspapers are printed in
English. The establishment of British council and united states information
service by the British and U.S governments respectively with centres and
libraries in various countries including Nigeria helped gently in spreading
English and also made it easy for anyone who understands and speaks English
move around major cities in the world to communicate effectively with one
another.
According
to Anibueze (2009), English language is a lingua franca which implies that it
is a language of unification and enables peoples from different varied
languages and dialects to relate and communicate mutually and work in
unism/union for instance, an Igbo man may comfortably and effectively speak to
a Yoruba man or even an Hausa man and vice versa. it is also proven that
English is the language of widest communication in Nigeria. The English
language has also remained a very important tool for socialization and
bureaucratic activities in Nigeria since the days of colonization. English is
also the language for international community according to Ezeagu (1998),
English language is the most widely spoken language in the world. It is used
either as a primary or secondary language in many countries. It is the language
of education, administration law, world trade.
Since
we have seen the importance of this language, I think it is worthwhile
acquiring mastery of this very important language and for whoever does not, has
deprived himself/herself access to the world’s brightest ideals and modern
technologies.
In
Nigeria today, English remains the language of pedagogy, students can hardly
make commendable progress in their studies without adequate mastery of this
language through which most o the courses or subject in primary, secondary or
tertiary institutions are taught and examined. This calls for us to look into
the rudiments and functional approach to this language which is very important
that according Umaru (2005) as a student learns a new language, very often he
does not know how to express what he wants to say in writing and since he
student uses a foreign language as a medium of communication, he has to start
from the scratch to learn the rudiments of the language which is the function
where various problems arises from teaching and learning the language.
Learning on the other hand is seen as the official
medium of communication among humans, and one of the things that differentiate
man from other animals. Signs and symbols have no international understanding
and may be difficult to understand everywhere but only by a speech community
pictures, painting and even sculptures can’t be read by all. This makes language
superior and unique to all of them because language is easily understood and
generally used. Traditionally, language is defined as the system of arbitrary
vocal symbols by which thoughts are communicated from one being to another.
Language teaching according to Oluuikpe (2005). Is
the basic cractema for accessing
students proficiency in speaking and writing and ability to have general
control of the basic grammatical categories such as punctuation, tense, number,
gender etc. English language teaching in Nigeria has fought with many problems
which among them, the most deficiency is our English language teachers who are
not well trained. For instance, in a situation where the teacher of the language has no mastery of its grammatical
categories as seen today does not mean well for the system at all.
Language
Leaning :
Human
beings have the ability to learn, to understand and to think about things.
Humans have the capacity to gain and also make use of knowledge, explore
situations, collect information, plan and execute the plans. According to
Theodore (2001) stated that language learning requires enough time, patience
and practice. and this cannot be done solely in schools with the large class
but requires few minutes of daily practice for individual students. Therefore,
pupils and students are encourage to practice this language in their leisure in
other to gain mastery of this language as required. For effective teaching and
learning of this language, the teacher has to employ some effective teaching methods
in other to present his materials properly to the learners. This implies that
for effective teaching and learning to take place, the skillful teacher needs
to use the many different methods and techniques at his command. Although there
are great diversity in teaching methods and techniques, there is no one of them
that is considered the best for every teaching situation. This is however
assumed that carefully designed teaching method can work wonders in making
learning effective.
For
the purpose of teaching and learning of oral English we look at some teaching
materials at our commend which involves the dominance of textbooks,
dictionaries and work book pertaining to English language. But more especially
the modern language laboratories which we are going to pay much attention to
for the purpose of this research work. Modern language laboratory is really one
of the newest media (educational) that is making a lot of impact in our
educational sector. The language laboratory is referred to as an audio or an
audio visual installation used as an aid in language teaching where each
student is able to replay one track of the tape and at the same time record his
response on another track. He is then able to rewind the tape to listen to both
the master track and the recording of his own response and then comparing the
two recordings.
Statement
of the Problem
The
problem of this study is to find out if the language laboratory has an impact n
the effective teaching and learning of oral English in junior secondary school.
The most serious confronting problem to learners of second language (L2) Is
that the language is not widely used in their immediate environment and as a
result, the learner has no exposure to the language to be learnt. In most
cases, the teachers who teach secondary languages like the English language are
non native speakers of the language so they neither speak the language
fluently. Another problem is the interference of the mother tongue. This
therefore prompted the researcher to find out the impact of the language
laboratory in the teaching and learning of oral English.
Purpose of
the Study
The
aim of this research work is o highlight the impact of the language laboratory
for effective teaching and learning of the oral English.
Thus;
1. To find out if there are enough language
laboratories for effective teaching and learning of oral English in junior
secondary school in owerri municipal.
2. To find out the major inputs of language
laboratories for effective teaching and learning of oral English as it affects
the teachers of the language in junior secondary school.
3. To find out the major impact of the language
laboratories for effective teaching and learning of oral English as it affect
the teacher trainee of the language in junior secondary schools.
4. To find out if there are competent teachers to
handle the subject matter in junior secondary schools
Significance
of the Study
Finding
from this study will provide valuable information to the government, the
Nigeria educational sector and curriculum planners because through this
research, an awareness will be created for the installation of language
laboratories in our educational institutions. The research is expected to
enable teachers of English language to identify problems and become aware of the
problems that hinder the teaching and learning of oral English and how to deal
with it. Students on their own side will also be aware of their major
hindrance to speaking and be able t find
mans of overcoming these problems . and finally, findings from this study will
be beneficial to all those involved in the teaching of oral English in owerri
municipal and the country at large.
Scope of
the Study
This
study is limited to investigating the impact of language laboratories for
effective teaching and learning of oral English in some selected secondary
schools in owerri municipal. The study is limited to the availability of
language laboratories, the qualification of English language teachers and the
teaching methods; the impact of language laboratories on students performance
and finally the mother tongue interference.
Research
Question
This
study will be guided by these questions.
1. To what extent does language laboratories exist
for the effective teaching and learning of oral English in junior secondary school in Owerri Municipal?
2. To what extent are there qualified teachers to
teach the oral English
3. To what extent does mother tongue inference affect
the effective language laboratory
4. What methods do teachers uses in the teaching of
oral English?
