Teacher's perception of current radio literacy programme's effectiveness for the development of basic language skills in the primary school pupils: the case of Cross River Radio

Abstract

In spite of the numerous literacy programmes aired through the radio, Nigeria is still ranked among the ten nations of the world that experience high illiteracy rate. This research was to find out teachers' perception of the effectiveness of the current radio literacy programme including the development of the basic language skills by the Cross River Radio among primary school pupils in Calabar Municipality, Odukpani and Akpabuyo Local Government Areas (L.G.As) of Cross River State. The subjects were 120 sandwich undergraduate students of Elementary Education, who are teaching in Calabar Municipality, Odukpani and Akpabuyo Local Government Areas. The study was guided by three research questions that tried to find out the level of teacher-involvement in the radio progbamme; the extent to which the programme helped the pupils acquire the four basic language skills and to find out other variables that make the progrmme irrelevant to the school experiences of the pupils. Teachers' Perceived Radio Programme Questionnaire (TPRPQ), a four-point likert instrument was used. The generated data were analysed using simple percentages and the following deductions were made: a that most teachers are not involved in the current radio literacy programme; b that the programme has not helped pupils to attain the basic language skills; c that the language needs of the pupils are not considered by the programmers and there is no collaboration between the radio and the school, hence the radio programme is ineffective in aiding the acquisition of literacy skills. A new focus for the radio programme was recommended and some counseling implications were reviewed. Key Words: Teachers, Perception, Radio, Literacy and Collaboration. Global Jnl of Humanities Vol.2(1&2) 2003: 62-65