EVALUATION OF TEACHING OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN GOMBE SOUTH EDUCATION ZONE, NIGERIA.
ABSTRACT
This study evaluated the teaching of English language in senior secondary schools in Gombe State. In doing so, the study adopted the evaluative survey research design. Evidence abounds of the low performance of Senior Secondary students in English language in Gombe State. The 2006 to 2011 report of the Chief examiner, West African Examinations Council reveals that candidates’ performance in the examinations between those periods was always poor. The report clearly shows that there was no improvement in the performance of candidates who sat for English language in Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSCE) in some states of the country including Gombe State. Therefore, the inclusion of Gombe State in the list of states with candidates whose performances were woeful in the Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination, (SSCE) by West African Examinations Council’s Report, paints a clear picture of lack of adequate knowledge of the language among Senior Secondary School students in Gombe State. Perhaps, myriads of factors may have combined to account for this ugly state of affairs, which possibly could include motivational and curricula issues, among others as they relate to the teachers in the study area. The general purpose of the study is to evaluate the teaching of English language in senior secondary schools in Gombe State. Specifically, the study sought to: Find out the demographic characteristics of English language teachers, determine the methods used by the teachers in teaching the English language, ascertain the instructional materials available for teaching English language, ascertain the extent of the utilization of the available instructional materials in teaching the English language, and to find out the adequacy of classroom environment for the teaching of the English language in the senior secondary schools in Gombe State. The area of the study covered Gombe South Education Zone comprising Balanga, Billiri, Kaltungo and Shongom Local Government Areas of Gombe State. Five research questions and two null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The study population of the study comprised 113 English language teachers in all the study area in the State. Random sampling technique was used to draw one education zone (Gombe South Education Zone) out of the three education zones in Gombe State. Data were collected using a researcher- made teachers of English language Questionnaire (TELEQ). The instrument was validated by three experts and both from the Department of Arts Education, Science Education and the Institute of Education of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. The reliability coefficient of obtained were 0.98, 0.99, 0.94, 0.88, and 0.92 for section B, C, D, E and F respectively with a reliability coefficient of 0.94. Data collected were analyzed using the t-test statistics in testing the two null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study indicated that 59% of the teachers possessed B.ED degree, while 50% of teachers specialized in English language; 58% of teachers had 6-10 years of teaching experience; The finding on method of teaching indicate that direct method was the method often used with 95% in teaching while cognate and silence way methods were the least used while Radio cassettes is the instructional materials mostly used by the teachers. Base on the results, It was recommended that there should be adequate supply of English teachers in various secondary schools in Gombe State, teaching facilities should be properly upgraded in various secondary schools in Gombe State, the government should ensure adequate funding of all the secondary schools in Gombe State, and English language teachers should be motivated to enable them teach efficiently.