Abstract:
Expressive and social skills are developed in primary school pupils to enable them communicate and interact
effectively within and outside the school. However, literature has shown that many primary school pupils in
Ondo city are deficient in expressive and social skills. Previous studies focused largely on factors influencing
acquisition of expressive and social skills of pupils with less emphasis on intervention through the use of drama based instructional strategies that could foster interaction among pupils. Therefore, the study was carried out to
determine the effects of fantasy and role-play instructional strategies on primary two pupils’ acquisition of
expressive (speaking and writing) and social (friendship and acceptance) skills in Ondo city. The moderating
effects of school type and parenting styles were also examined.
Experiential Learning Theory was used as framework, while the pretest-posttest control group quasi experimental design with 3x4x2 factorial matrix was adopted. Purposive sampling technique was used to select
three government approved private and three public primary schools with teachers who possessed the minimum
Nigeria Certificate in Education in Ondo city. A total of 123 pupils from six intact classes were involved in the
study (fantasy play - 44, role-play - 48 and conventional - 31 groups). Treatment lasted nine weeks. Instruments
used were Speaking Skill Rating Scale (r=0.83), Writing Skill Rating Scale (r=0.81), Friendship Skill
Observation Checklist (r=0.96), Acceptance Skills Observation Checklist (r=0.82), Questionnaire on Parenting
Style (r=0.75) and instructional guides. Data were analysed using Analysis of covariance and Bonferroni post hoc test at 0.05 level of significance.
The average age was 7.5 ±1.6 years. There was a significant main effect of treatment on expressive skills
(F(2,98)=6.12; partial η
2
=0.11). Pupils in fantasy play group had the highest mean score (62.49), followed by role play (52.05) and conventional (46.61) groups. There was a significant main effect of treatment on social skills
(F(2,98)=2.82; partial η
2
=0.11). Pupils in fantasy play group had the highest mean score (70.48), followed by role play (67.55) and conventional (66.46) groups. Parenting style had a significant main effect on expressive skills
(F(3,98)=5.13, partial η
2
=0.14). Authoritarian parenting style had the highest mean score (66.19) followed by
permissive (50.99), authoritative (50.53), and neglectful (48.50). There were significant main effects of school
type on expressive skills (F(1.98)=41.26, partial η
2
=0.30) and social skills (F(1,98)=3.28, partial η
2
=0.03). Private
schools had higher mean score (67.38; 69.55) than the public schools (40.72; 66.78) in expressive skills and
social skills respectively. The two-way interaction effect of treatment and school type was significant on social
skills (F(2,98)=3.48, partial η
2
=0.07) in favour of private school pupils in fantasy. Two-way and three-way
interaction effects were not significant.
Fantasy play and role-play instructional strategies enhanced acquisition of expressive and social skills of primary
two pupils in Ondo city but fantasy play was more effective. Primary school teachers should adopt both
strategies for improved acquisition of expressive and social skills among pupils, particularly pupils in public
schools and with neglectful parents.
