TEACHER RESOURCE IMPROVISATION FACTORS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES IN YORÙBÁ ORATURE CONCEPTS AMONG PUBLIC SENIOR SECONDARY STUDENTS IN IBADAN, NIGERIA

Abstract

Yorùbá Orature Concepts (YOCs) are taught in secondary schools partly to preserve the Yorùbá cultural heritage. Reports have shown that learning outcomes in YOCs among many public Senior Secondary (SS) students in Ìbàdàn, Nigeria are not encouraging. Previous studies have concentrated more on interventions using instructional strategies to improve learning outcomes in YOCs than on Teacher Resource Improvisation Factors (TRIFs). This study, therefore, was carried out to investigate TRIFs (teachers’ attitude to, knowledge, perception, skill and practice of Resource Improvisation (RI) as predictors of learning outcomes (achievement and attitude) in YOCs among public SS students in Ìbàdàn, Nigeria. The study was underpinned by the Discovery Learning and Creativity theories, while the sequential mixed methods (QUAN+qual) was adopted. The multistage sampling procedure was employed. Five Local Government Areas (LGAs) were randomly selected in Ìbàdàn, Nigeria. The simple random sampling technique was used to select 50 public SS schools (10 from each LGA). One hundred teachers (two from each SS schools) of YOCs were purposively selected. A total of 2,500 SSII students (50 per school) were randomly selected. The instruments used were Students’ Achievement in YOCs (r=0.78), Teachers' Knowledge of Resource Improvisation (r=0.75) tests, Students’ Attitude to YOCs (r=0.88), Teachers’ Attitude to Resource Improvisation (r=0.86),Teachers’ Perception of Resource Improvisation (r=0.79) questionnaires, Teachers’ Skills of Resource Improvisation (r=0.77), and Teachers’ Practice of Resource Improvisation (r=0.82) scales. In-depth interviews were conducted with 10 Heads of Yorùbá Language Department. The quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson product moment correlation and Multiple regression at 0.05 level of significance, while the qualitative data were content-analysed. The majority (98.0%) of the teachers possessed professional qualifications. Teachers' knowledge of RI (60.0%) was high. Teachers’ attitude to RI (𝑥̅=2.95) was high, against the threshold of 2.50. Teachers' practice of (r=0.25) and attitude to(r=0.20) RI had significant relationships with students’ achievement in YOCs, while teachers’ knowledge (r=0.23), perception (r=0.36) and practice (r=0.27) correlated significantly with attitude to YOCs. The composite contribution of TRIFs to achievement (F (5;95) = 2.82; adj. R2=0.84) was significant, accounting for 84.0% of the variance. The composite contribution of TRIFs to attitude (F(5;94) = 4.79; adj. R2 =0.16) was significant, accounting for 16.0% of the variance. Teachers’ knowledge (β=0.08), perception (β= 0.44 ), practice (β = 0.29), skill (β =0.44) of and attitude (β = 0.19) to RI made relative contributions to achievement in YOCs. Teachers’ knowledge (β=0.15), perception (β=0 .31), practice (β = 0.17), skill (β =0.07) to and attitude (β = 0.10) to RI made relative contributions to attitude to YOCs. Egúngún guttural voice, carved woods to represent guns and use of plastic bowls to represent ifá divination trays were some of the improvised resources, which aided understanding and retention of YOCs. Teachers' practice of resource improvisation influenced students’ achievement in Yorùbá Orature Concepts. Also, Teachers’ perception of resource improvisation influenced attitude to Yorùbá orature concepts among public senior secondary students in Ìbàdàn, Nigeria. Teachers of Yorùbá orature should focus students on these factors to improve students’ learning outcomes.