IDENTIFICATION OF DIFFICULT TEACHING AND LEARNING TOPICS IN JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL YORUBA CURRICULUM IN NIGERIA (A CASE STUDY OF JSS 3 CURRICULUM)

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

In Nigeria, some junior secondary schools offer Yoruba as one of the subjects contained in the school curriculum. The work is an attempt to identify the difficult teaching–learning topic in junior secondary school Yoruba curriculum in Nigeria.

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Some of the junior secondary school Yoruba topics are science related. And according to Eze (2006) said that science is a subject that is feared and disliked by a lot of pupils ad students. Eze (2000) also asserted that mathematics is a core subject in both primary and secondary schools in Nigeria but amazing it has become a masquerade and students fail mostly the science subjects in public examinations, some even drop them without understanding that they are the basis of a strong foundation in science.

There is no doubt that the teacher’s real battle is concerned with training the total child and the application of knowledge in his daily life. The teacher has therefore faced the problem of resource materials in the textbooks. Kamala (1971) observed that the quality of textbooks suitable for Nigerian schools has not improved but the teachers are better placed to select teaching materials from the books that are available to them. Some of the problems confronting science education include the difficulty in attracting and retaining qualified science teachers as well as inadequate library facilities for science subjects. This is why Agogo (1988) stated that science teaching is a legacy of the past but that it is rather getting worse due to the explosive expansion of primary and secondary education in Nigeria today. As the thirst for western education grew among Nigerians, more subjects were introduced into the school system. These changes were eminent and timely for Nigerians to develop scientifically and technologically. The teacher shortage is a snag to achieving. This objective, Aleyiderio (2000:23) observed that is regrettable that the teaching profession is still saddled with a vast army of professionally unqualified staff and that greater shortages, especially in some crucial subject areas have continued to plague the educational system. Yet no educational system can rise above the quality of its teachers, said in Nwuche and Odo (2007) according to the National Policy on Education (2004:8). Education shall continue to be highly reeled in the national development plans because education is the most important instrument of change, any fundamental change the intellectual and social outlook of any society has to be proceeded by an educational revolution. This, the same document, the NPE (2004) gives the major aims of secondary education as (a) Preparation for useful living within the society and (b) preparation for higher education. i) It gives the specific objective to include: an opportunity for education of a higher level, irrespective of sex, social, status, religious or ethnic background.

The fact that pupils fail to understand science and thereby perform poorly in junior secondary Yoruba does not mean, they are “dullards”, but to some underlying factors which might not be unconnected with the teachers teaching style content and concept difficulty as perceived y both teachers and pupils. So the interest of the learners in a particular subject will affect their achievement. Those who develop a negative interest in science will invariably perform poorly too. Some pupils even act on wrong information passed to them by their seniors that “science is difficult to learn”. This usually affects the achievement level of the students and this is why Akpan (1986) informed that even though science is a skill foreign to African and it should be taught with caution. It means that teachers have to be better oriented about teaching as a profession

   1.2    Background of the Study.

The background of this study is to identify the inherent factors and concepts that affect the achievement of students in Yoruba. Such factors include; students’ misconceptions and preconceptions in Yoruba, difficult and alternative conceptions in Yoruba, difficulties with abstract concepts, and conceptual changes methods at the college level. Academic achievement of Yoruba students and influence of study habits, psychological factors on academic achievement.

   1.3   Statement of the Problem

This study intends to make known the various abstract concepts in Yoruba and how they affect the academic achievement of students in senior secondary schools. It also stresses the abstract and highly conceptual nature of Yoruba which makes students perceive Yoruba as a difficult subject. The study will also look into the generally slow pace of the effects and affective characteristics of students and the academic achievement in Yoruba and how it’s likely to affect the production of teaching profession competency in Yoruba.

   1.4    Purpose of the Study

The general purpose of this study is to identify difficult concepts in Yoruba and their effects on the academic achievement of students in secondary schools in the Enugu metropolis. This purpose is further down into the following objective for the study:

• To explore the concepts in Yoruba which students perceived as difficult,
• To investigate the student’s conceptual difficulties and how they affect their academic achievements.
• To examine whether or not the difficult concepts perceived by students influence the student’s interest in the study of Yoruba and
• To investigate whether or not the students’ gender differences have a significant influence on their perception of difficult concepts in Yoruba.

 

   1.5   Significance of the Study

Over several years, many of the difficult areas in Yoruba were subjected to systematic study to identify the point of difficulty and to seek common factors among the nature of these difficulties.

The present study however generates data on some concepts perceived as difficult in Yoruba and their effect on the academic achievements of students.

The study also generates information on whether or not the difficult concepts perceived by students improved their achievements and ability to solve higher-order questions in Yoruba. The curriculum design will utilize this information to enrich the curriculum for teachers’ preparation at the secondary level of our educational system.

   1.6    Research Questions

The following research questions were raised in the study

• What concepts in Yoruba do students in this study perceived difficult?
• Do the concepts perceive difficulty to influence the academic achievement of the students?
• Does conceptual difficulty influence the interest of students in the study of Yoruba?
• Are the significant gender differences in students’ perception of the difficult concepts in Yoruba?

   1.7    Hypothesis

The following null hypothesis was formulated in this study.

1. There are no significant differences in the student’s perception of difficult concepts in Yoruba
2. The conceptual difficulty has no significant influence on the academic achievement of students

• Difficult concepts in Yoruba have no significant influence on the interest of students in studying Yoruba.

1.8   Scope and Delimitation of the Study

The outcome of this study may not be hundred percent (100%) valid for generalization because some inhibiting factors serve as a limitation to this study. However, the study has been designed to cover a large proportion of students in senior secondary schools, but the timeframe and resources requires were hindrances. To make for a manageable representative sample, the study was limited to the students of some selected secondary schools in the Enugu metropolis.

IDENTIFICATION OF DIFFICULT TEACHING AND LEARNING TOPICS IN JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL YORUBA CURRICULUM IN NIGERIA (A CASE STUDY OF JSS 3 CURRICULUM). GET MORE YORUBA PROJECT TOPICS AND MATERIALS PDF & DOC

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