AVAILABILITY AND UTILIZATION OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS FOR LEARNING OF COMPUTER STUDIES

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0 INTRODUCTION

In this chapter, the literature will be reviewed under the following topics:

i. Conceptual Perspective of Instructional Materials

1. Problems Associated with the Application and Teaching of Computer studies materials at the Senior Secondary Schools
2. Instructional Materials and the Teaching-Learning Process
3. Instructional Material and Students’ Academic Performance.

2.1 CONCEPTUAL PERSPECTIVES OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS

Aina (1982) asserts that instructional materials are those materials or resources used in any teaching exercise to promote greater understanding of the learning experience. According to her, they are used to provide the richest possible learning environment which helps the teacher and learners to achieve specific objectives. They also assist the teachers to communicate more effectively and the learners learn more meaningfully and permanently. The same is amplified by Ogunsanya (1984) who describes teaching materials as anything that helps the teacher to promote teaching and learning activities.

Sharing the above view, Kay (1981) defines teaching aids as things which are intended to help the teacher to teach more effectively or better still which enables the pupils to learn more easily. In the opinion of Ajelabi (2000) and Akinlaye (1997) many educational technologist see instructional materials as devices and resources used in learning situation to supplement to written or spoken words in the transmission of knowledge, attitude, ideas or concept and values. Akinlaye (1997) further states that instructional materials have been defined as things or objects brought into play to emphasize, clarify, strengthen, vitalise the teachers instruction. Ajelabi (2000) subtly puts instructional materials as teaching-learning materials that constitute an integral component of classroom instructional process which are utilized in delivering educational information to the learner. He further states that it makes lesson real, concrete and effective. Learners are motivated to learn at their own pace, rate and convenience.

However, it should be noted that subjects vary in nature, context and depth. A tool that is suitable for one subject may not be suitable for another. For example, in 1971 Jerome Brunner carried out a research in Canada with the aim to standardize the application of instructional materials. The instructional materials used for mathematics are virtually not suitable in the class of economic or government. Brunner also noted the difference when social science subject like computer studies was taught through vocalization only; through visualization only and through the combination of both. The results were as follows:

• Rate of assimilation was 52% for vocalization only
• Rate of assimilation was 22% for visual aids only
• Rate of assimilation was 76% when both vocalization and visual aids were used.

Later in 1983, Arnold Smith of the Educational Resources and Technology Institute, Canada carried out his own research on the same field and suggests that Prof. Jerome’s work was under workable in real life situation. Arnold Smith (1983) concluded that the best instructional materials in the world become useless when they are improperly used.

Akanbi (1988) also stated that no single medium is absolutely capable of teaching the different types of subject in a single, tool. The teacher’s ability to select and utilize efficiently the appropriate material goes a long way in achieving good result.

There are many types of instructional materials used in teaching. The most important task is for the teacher to decide which one that is appropriate in teaching a particular topic. Instructional materials may be grouped under: Audio aids, Visual aids, and Audio-Visual aids. This grouping of educational/instructional materials into visual, audio and audio-visual is presented by Ellington and Race (1993). All instructional materials certainly fall under one of these three categories:

Audio aids: They are teaching and learning devices that mostly appeal to the sense of hearing. They include telephone, records, public address system, tape recorder, human voice.

Visual aids: They are teaching and learning devices that mostly appeal to the sense of seeing only. They can be sub-categorised into projected and non-projected visuals. The projected visuals required electricity for projection e.g. films, slides, transparencies using their projectors. The non-projected ones do not need light source e.g. pictures, maps, globes, posters, relic e.t.c.

Audio-visual aids: These refer to those instructional materials which provide the students with the opportunity of seeing and hearing at the same time. Examples are instructional or educational television, close circuit television e.t.c.

Uses of Some Common Instructional Materials

Pictures: It is used to bring direct-association between the object itself and foreign world. It is used to establish a direct link and also used for introducing a lesson. It consist of every type of picture representation e.g. clips from books, magazine e.t.c.

Posters: These are large and more colourful types of pictures. The size is different. They occupy a permanent place on the wall.

Flash Cards: These are in form of cut out cards. What to be taught are explicitly written boldly on them. They are useful in learning such topics like command, new words e.t.c.

Film Strips: These consist of series of illustration printed on 25mm films, which may be accompanied by sound known as slide films. They are used to provide phonetic skills.

Slides: It can be shown repeatedly with a stop and start back reference and so on. Slide comes in sizes 2x2, 4x4 inches.

Motion Pictures: These can be sued as background materials in Computer studies teaching. There is a double impact of sound and sight with motion pictures because it hold attention, the sharp contrast of darkness and bright-light, the movement and rapid change in the picture compel almost complete attention.

Chalkboard: This is the foundation of all other materials used in the classroom. It provides opportunity for visualization, explanation and demonstration. According to Wright (1976:66), these are much talk of the overhead projector having replaced the chalkboard. He maintained that it has not and will not. Chalkboard is cheap and involves no technical problems.

Overhead Projector (OHP): These are used for teaching Computer studies structures such as grammatical structure, new words, reading e.t.c. For instance, if a teacher wants to teach preposition, he/she can take a picture from a textbook, draw it on transparencies and project it. This makes the lesson interesting and easy to understand.

Tape Recorder: It is indispensable and enables the teacher to hear a native speaker speaks the correct pronunciation as it is. The teacher also uses tape recorder to teach oral English. Tape recorders are very useful in phonology classes. The constant use of it makes students to master phonemes, intonation, stress both in segmental and supra segmental level. It also helps to improve student’s communication skills.

Television: This is devised for broadcasting the sound and vision to a vast audience. Television as audio-visual helps to bring idea into reality. Some of the television programmes broaden the students’ scope of knowledge as any educational and social issue are being presented. Students have opportunity to watch many educational programmes both local and foreign.

Language Laboratory: it helps to provide regular practices in listening to models, in imitating these models and also practice in the spoken language, the mechanical and electronic room equipped with mechanical and electronic device by means which student scan hear and repeat recorded materials in foreign language. The use of this devise is helpful in the following ways: The near-ideal pronunciation of native speakers is always available in the language laboratory. Students become readily accustomed to different kinds of voices. In the laboratory, the students can listen repeatedly. “Repetition Master d: studio-rum”. The device allows immediate correction.

Today, due to technological development, computer is used to aid teaching and learning. Nowadays, in the developed countries, the micro-computer is seen as powerful equipment because it appears to be capable of keeping track of individual students and responding to them, or, prescribing to them, in spite of independent variation ability, learning styles and learning rates (Scalon and O’Shea, 1987).

Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI) is an automated instructional technique in which a computer is used to present an instructional programme to the learner through an interactive process on the computer. This is applied when computer is being used on a teaching aid, a proxy for human tutor. The software is obtained in the form of a written package and rich in graphics representations. The programmes present subject material and screen. Correct answers are rewarded, usually by means of a comment on the screen such as “well done”, incorrect respond triggers a beep or some other error signal. This type of programming is essentially a stimulus response sequence, providing fast positive reinforcement for the right answer.

According to B. F. Skinner, a reckoned psychologist, such immediate feedback is an important factor in motivating students to learn. A well written programme should lead the students to select the correct answer ninety (90) percent of the time.

In addition, there is World Wide Websites (www), concordances, electronic mail, computer games, electronic dictionaries which have helped students to expand their knowledge in Computer studies.

In Hong Kong, an interactive messaging system was set up on the internet tenable teachers as part of the Telenex teacher support network. Explanations based on the analysis of corpus computer studies data are routinely used to answer teachers’ queries (Drake, 1999). With the help of technology, the three domains, which are the cognitive, effective and psychomotor domains in the level of educational objectives, will be achieved.

1. INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS AND THE TEACHING-LEARNING PROCESS

The impact of instructional materials on teaching and learning needs not be over emphasised. It is through instructional materials that the teacher drives home his or her point during lesson. In the process of using instructional materials, students can see, feel and touch the materials and this aids retention. Christopherson (1969) views the media as having vital role to play towards the teaching and learning. He refers to the media here as the television, radio, journals, newspaper and magazines. All these help to educate students and help them gather educative information through listening, reading and speaking thereby increasing widening the horizon of their knowledge.

Instructional materials according to Ajelabi (2000) are teaching-learning materials that constitute an integral component of classroom instructions which are utilized in dealing out educational information to the learner. He further notes that it makes the lesson real, concrete and effective as learners are motivated to learn at their own pace, rate and convenience. According to him, our perception and understanding of our environment vary as follows:

• 75% of all information perceived is absorbed by the eye
• 15% is absorbed by the ear
• 10% is equally distributed among the remaining senses- touch, smell and taste.

Also, a Chinese dictum articulates the above words of Ajelabi (2000) thus:

• What I hear I forget
• What I see I remember
• What I do I understand?

Instructional materials are employed to widen the scope of understanding in teaching-learning encounter (Onyejemezi, 1984). In conclusion, Onyejemezi listed seven benefits of Instructional materials as follows:

• It supplies concrete basis for conceptual thinking and reduce meaningless response of student.
• It makes lesson more permanent.
• It has a high degree of interest since they are shown physically to aid self-understanding and explanation.
• It offers reality to experience.
• It contributes to the depth and variety of learning.
• It gives ready made answers to questions in the teaching-learning process.
• It adds meaning and explicitness in the teaching-learning process.

1. PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH TEACHING AND LEARNING COMPUTER STUDIES AT THE SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS

The pedagogy characterising the teaching and learning of computer studies at the Nigerian Senior Secondary Schools is one of the major problems contributing adversely to the poor performance of the students in computer studies (Ajelabi, 2000). As a matter fact the assertion of Ajelabi is something to reckon with considering the alarming rate at which students fail computer studies in University Matriculation Examinations (UMEs) or fail to make the expected ‘credit’ every year in computer studies at Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations (SSCEs).

According to Akinlaye (1997), instructional materials are devices and resources used in learning situation to supplement to written or spoken words in the transmission of knowledge, attitude, ideas or concept and values. Akinlaye (1997) further states that instructional materials are things or objects brought into play to emphasize, clarify, strengthen, vitalise the teachers’ instruction. However, it is very unfortunate that irrespective of the astronomical importance of instructional materials in giving pragmatic illumination to what is taught in order to enhance learners’ profound comprehension of the subject matter; teachers at the secondary schools are noted to be highly nonchallant toward using relevant instructional materials to buttress their lessons during classroom interactions (Onyejemezi, 1984). This hampers effective teaching and learning as well as students’ performance academically.

Also, proliferation of computer studies textbooks is another problem in the teaching and learning of Computer studies. Many computer studies textbooks flood the market today, but most of them lack correct and comprehensive elucidation of vital rudimentary concepts in computer studies that are very facilitative to the learning of subject, especially for beginners in the study of computer studies.

Another problem is that many students do not have computer studies textbooks. The teachers too hardly spend money to buy comprehensive computer studies textbooks. Consequently, the students are not only deprived of adequate knowledge of economic concepts, but also, of the ability to stabilize the knowledge acquired during their computer studies lesson through follow up reading and studies. This is because according to Drake (1999) when students read, they tend to improve and widen their knowledge on what they were taught and this helps to transfer the acquired knowledge to their long term memory for sustained retention.

The above articulated problems make it imperative for teachers to strive and start making incessant use of relevant instructional materials to make their lessons practical and potent enough to effect a positive change in the academic performance of the students in their sundry subjects.

1. INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIAL AND STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

Essentially, the way to facilitate learning is by doing. This is the more reason why teachers should employ the use of instructional materials to practically explain their lessons to students for better comprehension. Looking at the importance and advantage of instructional materials in the teaching and learning of computer studies, one will not be wrong to infer that students’ academic performance will be enhanced if appropriate instructional materials are during teaching-learning processes. This is because when students learn and retain better, they perform better in their academic work (Onyejemezi, 1984). Maduekwe (2000) also notes that the use of appropriate instructional materials influences students’ performance in the following ways:

• It helps in focusing attention and motivating learners. When appropriately instructional materials are used to introduce, develop or conclude a teaching-learning session, learners’ interests are aroused and developed throughout the lesson.
• Instructional materials lend support and authenticity to whatever the teacher says through the use of media, the learner will be made to confirm or refute the teacher’s assertion.
• It makes learning to become real and concrete. It adds aural and visual dimensions to learning thus discouraging rote learning. Use of motion pictures and real objects can concretize learner’s experience, thereby making learning to become real, concrete and immediate. Computer Assisted Programmed Instruction helps individualisation of instruction possible. Learners can go at their own pace, rate and convenience.
• Learning effectiveness is increased. Learners are likely to retain recall with ease a greater percentage of what they hear, see and manipulate.
• It is therefore important that teachers use instructional materials to aid their teaching for the benefit of the learners.