PEDAGOGIC ILLOCUTIONS IN SCIENCE CLASSROOMS INPUBLIC SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ONDO STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The teaching-learning process of science is expected to be participatory. However, evidence has shown that the teaching-learning process of physics and chemistry in many public Senior Secondary Schools (SSSs) in Ondo State, Nigeria is not participatory owing to inadequacies in the application of pedagogic illocutions, which are the functions that language is used to perform in teaching-learning process. Previous studies largely focused on interventions to improve students’ participation in Physics and Chemistry classrooms, with little emphasis on pedagogic illocutions.This study, therefore, was carried out to investigate pedagogic illocutions in Physics and Chemistry classrooms in public SSSs in Ondo State, Nigeria. Gender differences in the illocutions of teachers and students were also examined.

John Austin’s Speech Acts and Pask’s Conversation theories provided the framework for the study, while the mixed methods design was adopted. The multi-stage sampling procedure was used. One senatorial district (Ondo South) from the existing three was randomly selected in Ondo State. Five local government areas (LGAs) from the existing six were selected from OndoSouth. Purposive sampling was used to select 10 public SSSs (two per LGA) that had science classes. Twenty intact SSII classes (two per school; one each for Physics and Chemistry) and 20 teachers (two per school; one each for Physics and Chemistry) were purposively selected. The instrument used was Pedagogic Illocution Checklist (r=0.82). Class interactions were video recorded. These were complemented by in-depth interviews with five Physics and five Chemistry teachers. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics and t-test at 0.05 level of significance, while qualitative data were content-analysed.

There were more male participants than female,teachers: 70.0% and students 63.3%; their ages being: teachers, 30.60 ± 2.20 and students, 17.8 + 2.06 years. To aid understanding, teachers complemented the use of the English Language with Yoruba. The pedagogic illocutionary acts performed in Physics and Chemistry in order of preponderance were: explaining(49.8%;42.8%),questioning(26.0%;22.5%),directing(14.5%;16.2%),affirming(5.2%;5.4%), denying(1.9%; 10.4%) and correcting (2.6%;2.7%), respectively. The pedagogic illocutionary acts ofexplaining (69.8%; 54.4%),questioning(66.0%; 62.5%) directing (64.5%; 56.7%), affirming (57.3%; 55.2%), denying (61.5%; 59.7%) and correcting (68.6%; 71.2%) on Physics and Chemistry, respectively were teacher-dominated. There were significant differences in the illocutionary acts of male (x ̅=10.68;x ̅=7.76 ) and female (x ̅=8.59;x ̅=6.18) teachers in physics (t(8) = 4.05) and chemistry (t(8)= 2.87) respectively.There were significant differences in the illocutionary acts of male (x ̅=4.36;x ̅=2.96) and female (x ̅=3.66;x ̅=2.07 ) students in Physics (t (598) = 8.59) and Chemistry (t(598) = 6.47) respectively. Students’ inability to comprehend technical terms and lack of proficiency in English were the major challenges of pedagogic illocutions in Physics and Chemistry classrooms. These limited their participation in lessons.Teachers often code-switched, and code-mixed in English and Yoruba to aid students’ understanding of concepts in Physics and Chemistry, as well as classroom participation.

The pedagogic system in Physics and Chemistry classrooms is teacher dominated, depriving students the level of participation that can enhance learning.Teachers should pay attention to pedagogic illocutions for improved students’understanding of concepts and classroom participation.