THE ISSUES AND REMEDIES OF TEACHING ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS

1.1 Introduction

English is a language of the people of England. It originates from the Jute, Angles and Saxon, who are the early settlers in Britain. It is part of the Germanic branch of the Indo European language family. At the initial state, English was confined to Britain alone. Later, it grew wide within the British Empire as a Prestigious Core Language among all other European languages in the upper classes of London, Oxford, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Cambridge and England. It further developed and got to other people of the world. It spread to Asia, Germany, Africa and other continents as a Native Language, Second Language or Foreign Language. Progressively, English Language has spread virtually all over the world.

As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.

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1.2 Background of Study

In Nigeria, English language is a second language and a lingua franca. This means that it is the language for unit, communication economy, national pride, law, press, trade and instruction. As a language of instruction, it is an essential prerequisite for an advancement and career succession in the country. It means a lot in the life and progress of a child as it is a key subject with profound influence on all the school subjects. The English Language is used in the Secondary Schools as core school subject. It is a solid foundational course. The key elements of the course are designed to cover the basic four language skills, which are listening, reading, speaking and writing. It is expected that after learning these skills in Secondary School, the students who choose to work can use the language fluently while those who wish to go further can be very proficient in the language.

There is no doubt that the main purpose of teaching is to cause learning to take place, and English language is an important factor that contributes to students achievements. Many factors are contributory to the high performance of students in English Language (Esun, 2014). Notable among the major factors, among others, that causes failure in English language examinations such as the WAECC (West African Examinations Council), the General Certificate of Education (GCE), the National Examinations Council (NECO), the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) and Internal examinations and tests in English Language in the classrooms are: the non-availability of teaching and learning facilities, poor students interests and motivation, poor teachers mastery of contents in which English is taught, low teacher-student ratio, poor school attendance, poor academic background, poor study habits, lack of concentration, ineffective memory and comprehension are largely responsible for failure in English language in Nigeria secondary schools and beyond (Owuamanam, 2017).

According to Adeoye (2015), many students in English language, do not possess interests in the subject and do not have the required motivation to study the subject in teaching and learning of English Language. For students to perform well in English both external and internal examinations, they need to put proper interest and be motivated in the subject. Adeoye (2017) submitted that, absence of interest and motivation in anything one does, is the main factors militating against teaching and learning of English Language in secondary schools. Other factors that militate against teaching and learning of English Language in secondary schools are non-mastery of what is taught in the classroom by teachers and the non-availability of teaching/learning materials in the classrooms. Most teachers according to Adeleke (2016), do not possess the proper mastery of content of the aspect of English they teach in the classrooms, coupled with the non-availability of teaching materials which help the teacher to carry out effective presentation in the classrooms. If teachers carry out effective presentation of the subject-matter in the classroom, students will learn effectively, thereby leading to their success in the classroom (Lamu, 2010).

High teacher-student ratio in English language classroom enables teachers to be in-effective in their teaching if the ratio is not as recommended by the National Policy on Education (NPC, 2018), which stipulated that, teacher-student ratio should be 1-30. The recommendation is that, for effective teaching and learning to take place, teacher-student ratio should be 1-30 in the classroom.

According to Uzor (2014), when teacher-student ratio is low or moderate, it results to high academic achievement of students. In another development, Osarenren (2013), is of the opinion that, good school attendance, and effective study habits are pluses to the examination success of students in English language. For Osarenren (2013), if students attend their English language classes regularly and listen with rapt attention, they will obviously put up good performance in the subject during the examinations or tests. Again, good study habits of students in the subject are a great assistance to their effectiveness needed in examinations. When students study seriously, they obviously come out in flying colours in the subject which they are examined.

Proper study-habit means effective or high academic performance in examinations in English language amongst secondary schools. Other factors that militates against teaching and learning of English Language in secondary schools include: students academic backgrounds, students home background, students socio-economic status: paying proper attention to home works taking notes during examinations; allocation time to daily activities which may interrupt effective reading or studying, drawing time table etc.

Therefore, in Oguta LGA, Imo State where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Issues and Remedies of Teaching English Language in Secondary Schools.

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1.3 Statement of Problems

Investigation revealed that the English Language is our cultural window into the world of heterogeneous culture and traditions. It is a gate of all higher intellectual pursuit. It is our medium of instruction in schools from the kindergarten to university level. Therefore, students at the secondary school levels are expected to communicate effectively in writing using the English Language.

It is however regrettable that the teaching of this important tool of both effective education and national / international socialization at secondary schools in Enugu South Local Government Area of Enugu State, just like in other secondary schools in Nigeria had been suffering some defects and neglects alike.

Lack of qualified teacher equipped to groom the students seems to be the major problems in the schools - Text books are constantly changed thereby causing disjointed teaching method.

Other instructional materials are also not available. Language Laboratory to aid the acquisition and master of English Sounds is a strange story to both the teachers and students in this area.

Above all, mother tongue interference poses a debilitating danger to the prospect of good English acquisition in those secondary schools.

Since the students first acquired their mother tongue before learning the English Language this leads to grammatical errors in time of their performance as these vernacular patterns are different from English patterns.

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1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study

The aim of the study is to examine the Issues and Remedies of Teaching English Language in Secondary Schools in Oguta Local Government Area, Imo State. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:

1. To examine students factors militating against the teaching and learning of the English language in the area under study;
2. To determine the magnitude of the problems of teaching English Language in Secondary Schools; and
3. To investigate the administrative factors militating against the teaching and learning of the English language in Oguta Local Government Area Secondary Schools.

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1.5 Research Questions

The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:

• Do Secondary School teachers use instructional resources frequently in teaching the English Language?
• Does the English Language teach use appropriate methods in teaching English Language frequently?
• Do Secondary School students in Oguta Local Government Area learn English Language in environment conducive to learning?
• Do you think that the existing condition can be improved upon?
• What are the factors militating against the teaching and learning of the English language in the area under study?
• What is the magnitude of the problems of teaching English Language in Secondary Schools?
• What are the administrative factors militating against the teaching and learning of the English language in Oguta Local Government Area Secondary Schools?

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1.6 Research Hypothesis

In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.

Hypothesis One

• H0: There are no significant factors militating against the teaching and learning of the English language in Oguta Local Government Area Secondary Schools
• H1: There are significant factors militating against the teaching and learning of the English language in Oguta Local Government Area Secondary Schools

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1.7 Significance of Study

The results of this study will be relevant to students, teachers, parents and the society at large.

• Students: Students will be able to understand the factors that militate against teaching and learning of English language in their respective schools and subsequently improve in their academic performance.
• Teachers: Teachers will no doubt, be able to come in proper terms with the issues of the factors that hinder or promote the success of students in English language examinations in schools. This study will also enable them to enhance such factors that promote students academic performance in English language.
• Parents: Parents will be also appreciate the findings of this study because they will assist them to know the exact factors that prevent their children from performing well in teaching and learning English Language, which is one of the compulsory subjects offered in schools.
• The Society: The society will be able to appreciate the findings of this study because the members of the public will discover through this study, the factors that militate against teaching and learning of English Language.

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1.8 Scope of Study

The study focuses on the Issues and Remedies of Teaching English Language in Secondary Schools using Oguta Local Government Area, Imo State as a case study.

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1.9 Limitations of the Study

During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:

1. Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
2. Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
3. Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
4. Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

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1.10 Definition of Terms

English language: English is a West Germanic language that was first spoken in early medieval England and is now a global lingua franca.

Academic Performance: can be defined as the outcome of education, the extent to which a student, teacher or institution has achieved their educational goal. Academic achievement is commonly measured by examination or continuous assessment.