Developing A Model For Teaching English Grammar And Communication In Senior Secondary Schools In Lagos And Ogun States, Nigeria

ABSTRACT

This study addressed senior secondary school students‟ lack of grammatical and communicative competence in English language. The Communicative Grammar Instructional Model (CGIM) was proposed as a methodological framework for remedying this situation. Based on this model, a grammar and communication coursebook was developed and validated for use at the second tier of the senior secondary school programme. In the coursebook, components of traditional teaching methods (grammar instruction, dictation, drills, error correction) have been linked with communicative questioning strategies, participation patterns and interactive materials for optimal learning encounters. The study ran in three (3) phases: pre-pilot, pilot, and main study. Research subjects were constituted by English language specialists and SS2 students pooled from selected schools in Lagos and Ogun States of the federation. The survey and the quasi-experimental research designs were adopted for the validation of the developed coursebook. The survey involved an evaluation of the opinions and perceptions of English language specialists and learners on the relevance of the stated objectives of the CGIM, adequacy of its selected content, teaching methods, evaluation techniques, as well as its interesting and aesthetic qualities. The quasiexperimental phase, on the other hand, involved intervention in terms of actual teaching and classroom demonstrations with groups of students who received tuition in some units of the CGIM coursebook. These were paired with some control group subjects who were taught by their regular teachers in conventional classroom settings. To give direction to the study, ten (10) research questions and six (6) null hypotheses were generated and statistically tested using descriptive and inferential statistical tools such as the percentage, the t-test, mean and standard deviation, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Analysis of Co-variance (ANCOVA) etc. Findings from the pre-pilot and pilot studies helped in fine-tuning the research procedures and in reviewing the developed grammar and communication coursebook. Findings from the main study indicated no significant difference in the perceptions of English language specialists and learners on the relevance and adequacy of the CGIM learning goals and selected content. However, a differential effect of the CGIM was noticed in the post-test achievement scores of treatment subjects who out-performed their control group counterparts on measures of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. These results appear consistent within the different groups involved in the study, thus proving the suitability of the CGIM package for the goal envisioned.