The study reviewed the importance of English language in Nigeria. As the country's official language, the language of formal education, of politics, of commerce, and of inter-ethnic and international communication, English has become a language required for full participation in Nigerian affairs. This is the reason for the investigator's concern about students' poor performance in English every year on the West African School Certificate Examination (WASCE). / Several possible causes were examined, but the paucity of qualified teachers of English and absence of good English language textbooks were considered to be the most threatening. Since teacher training normally requires a long time to accomplish, it was resolved that textbooks should provide the immediate remedy by presenting instructional materials in such quantity and of such quality as will ensure students' general competence in English language and success in the WASCE. / Consequently, there were two parts to the study. The first part examined the types and amount of composition tasks set in each of the three coursebooks which subdivide into fifteen textbooks. The composition tasks in the fifteen textbooks and WASCE English composition papers from 1969-1979 were compiled by the investigator and handed out to a panel of three independent raters. The raters categorized each composition task according to the working definitions provided by the investigator. Frequency counts were later computed and expressed as percentages for the purpose of comparison. / It was found that students were more frequently expected to write in the transactional-report category than in any of the six other categories used in the study. The textbooks' failure to include a fair proportion of composition tasks for each category was regarded as a fault since composition tasks were set in all the categories in the WASCE at one time or another. / The second part of the study assessed the quality of instruction in each coursebook and the accompanying Teachers' Notes. Two of the three coursebooks were found to be average while the third was rated inferior. It was concluded that a coursebook would be satisfactory in the Nigerian situation examined in the study only if it provided superior quality instruction. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-09, Section: A, page: 3852. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_74266 |
| Contributors | ABODERIN, ADEWUYI OYEYEMI., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 267 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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