A Study Of Preparedness Of Teachers Of English Language And Their Effectiveness In Teaching In Secondary Schools Of North Central Nigeria

The study was set to establish the preparedness of senior secondary school IIIteachers of English language in classroom teaching in north central region of Nigeria.The main focus was on the senior secondary school III teachers of English language andsenior secondary school III students. The primary purpose was to relate the effectivenessof the teachers' classroom teaching to the achievement of the students in Englishlanguage at senior secondary certificate examination (SSCE). The importance of Englishlanguage for the attainment of the students' future aspirations in Nigeria after passingSSCE with the help of their teachers cannot be overemphasized. Quantitative andqualitative research designs were employed for the study. Three research questions wereused as a guide to this study. Two sets of questionnaires were designed, one of whichconsisted of five sections was administered on134teachers and another which consistedof two sections was also administered to374students. Uni-variate and bi-variatestatistical measures were adopted to analyze the data; the simple descriptive statisticswere used and given as, simple frequencies and percentages, cross tabulation,Independent T-test presented in group differences, mean and standard deviation andpresented in tables and charts. The qualitative data of the teachers were computed usingsimple frequencies and percentages based on the theme and related research question.The thematic network was also used to show the basic themes, organized themes and theglobal themes of the qualitative data. After the exploration of the three research questionsand investigation the study found out:1) in contrast to previously reported studies onteachers' training in Nigeria, senior secondary school teachers of English language in thisstudy have a very high rating for the initial training programs attended.2) The personal beliefs on the teaching and learning of English language was equally rated high despitethe fact that very limited previous studies were found in this area as far as Nigeria isconcerned. These findings therefore, showed that the teachers of English language wereprepared for classroom teaching at senior secondary school level.3) This study andmost previous studies on professional development programs agreed that there were verylimited opportunities provided to teachers to go for in-service training while on the job.However, the findings submitted that the motivation level of teachers of English languagewho attended these programs was high and only a few were not motivated on the job.Furthermore, the findings confirmed a high level of impact of professional developmentprograms on teachers' motivation and effectiveness in the classrooms. The higher theimpact of the professional development programs, the higher their level of motivation toteach.4) The findings also showed that students have a high attitude towards Englishlanguage learning. This is however in opposition to personal points of view of teachersfrom the qualitative result of this study. The findings of this study are significant toteachers of English of language to be more prepared to teach in the senior secondaryschool III classrooms (SSS III), as it relates to their students in the senior secondarycertificate English language examination. In as much as the findings presented that theteachers of English language in north central Nigeria's state of preparedness, beliefs onteaching and learning and motivation are high; also portraying the students' positiveattitudes to English language learning in contrast to the teachers' points of view. There isthe need therefore for Nigerian senior secondary school teachers and SSS III students tolook inward and outward to other reasons for the annual mass failure in English languageexamination at the SSCE. For example, teachers' instructional styles and students preferred learning styles. Furthermore, the Nigerian parents and society should showinterest in the education sector and be of encouragement where possible.