IMPACT OF LANGUAGE LABORATORY ON THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN SELECTED SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ADO LOCAL

IMPACT OF LANGUAGE LABORATORY ON THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN SELECTED SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ADO LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF EKITI STATE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE                                                                                    i
APPROVAL PAGE                                                                          ii
CERTIFICATION                                                                                      iii
DEDICATION                                                                                  iv
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS                                                                 v
TABLE OF CONTENTS                                                                           vi
LIST OF TABLE                                                                              viii
ABSTRACT                                                                                     ix
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
  • Background of the Study                                         
1.2     Statement of the problem                                            
1.3     Purpose of the study                                
1.4     Significance of the study                                             
1.5     Delimitation of the study                                             
  • Research Questions                                        
1.7     Assumptions                                                     
CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF LITERATURE
2.1     Introduction                                                                 
2.2     Brief History of the English Language in Nigeria
2.3     Meaning of Language Laboratory                      
2.4     Types of Language Laboratory                                              
2.5     Importance of Language Laboratory with Language skill
2.6     The Need for a Language Laboratory
2.7     The Significance and Relevance of the Language Laboratory
2.8     The Influence of Language Laboratory on Teaching
and Learning of English Language’
2.9     Summary of Literature Reviewed
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY
3.1     Introduction                                                                 
3.2     Research Design                                                 
3.3     Area of study
3.4     Population of the study                                      
3.5     Sample of the study                                           
3.6     Instrument for Data Collection                                    
3.7     Validation of Instrument                                             
3.8     Reliability of the instrument                     
3.9     Administration of the Instrument             
3.10   Method of Data Analysis                                             
CHAPTER IV: PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA
4.1     Data Analysis                                                    
4.2     Discussion of the findings                                  
CHAPTER V: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1     Summary                                                           
5.2     Conclusion                                                         
5.3     Implication of the study                                     
5.4     Recommendations                                                       
5.5     Limitations                                                         
5.6     Suggestion for further Research                                   
References                                                                    
Appendices                                                                           
LIST OF TABLES
  1. Teachers’ gender
  2. Teachers’ Experience
  3. Teachers’ Academic Qualification
  4. Teachers’ Opinion on language laboratory
  5. Usage of language laboratory equipment in teaching
  6. Teachers’ response on language laboratory
  7. Teachers’ response on language laboratory teaching
  8. Students’ gender
  9. Students’ class
  10. Students’ opinion on language laboratory
  11. Usage of language laboratory equipment in learning
  12. Students’ responses on language laboratory teaching and learning
  13. Students’ responses on language laboratory
  14. Teachers’ gender opinion on language laboratory
  15. Teachers’ gender responses on language laboratory
  16. Teachers’ gender responses on language teaching and learning
  17. Teachers’ qualification opinion on language laboratory
  18. Teachers’ qualification responses on language laboratory
  19. Teachers’ qualification responses on language teaching and learning
  20. Students’ gender opinion on language laboratory
  21. Students’ gender responses on language laboratory teaching and learning
  22. Students’ gender responses on language laboratory
ABSTRACT
This study investigated the impact of language laboratory on teaching and learning of English language in secondary schools. It is believed that Language laboratory teaching in secondary schools would have improved teaching and learning of English language in secondary schools, but there is no language laboratory in many schools in Ekiti State. And also, teachers and students were not trained to use language laboratory. The research was carried out in four (4) secondary in Ado local government. A total number of 100 respondents were used as samples, and the samples used in analyzing the data were based on simple percentage count frequency. The instrument used in this study was a questionnaire designed by the researcher which was validated and proved reliable by the supervisor. The research finding revealed that there is absence of language laboratory in secondary schools in Ekiti state which make teaching and learning of English language ineffective in secondary schools in the state. Based on the findings, it is recommended that there should be provision for language laboratory in schools in order to foster effective teaching and learning of English language, stakeholders in Education should make implementation of language laboratory in curriculum planning. Proper training should be given to teachers/instructors and students on how to use language laboratory equipments, Government and Public should assist in provision of language laboratory equipments to enhance teaching and learning of English language.
 CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
English Language has remained the language of government, law, administration, politics, mass media, commerce and all sorts of social engagement for people from different language groups in Nigeria. It is the language of education and medium of instruction for all subjects expect the indigenous languages or French. A credit or at least a pass in it is one of the prerequisites for admission into any higher institution of learning in the country. Therefore English has become so important that we cannot avoid speaking or writing it in a way that is universally accepted. An appreciable degree of competence is expected from the learners of English. In various domains in Nigeria, English language has proven to be a more efficient medium than any of the native languages.
According to Bamisaye (2004), English language is one of the most important languages of the world. Spoken by 370 million people as a first language in the United Kingdom, the United States and former British Empire, it is the largest of the occidental languages. English, however, is not the most widely used language in the world. Chinese is spoken by more than a billion people in China alone. Some of the European languages are comparable with English in reflecting the forces of history especially with regard to European expansion since the sixteen century. Spanish, next in size to English, is spoken by about 210 million people, Russian by 210 million, Portuguese by 125 million, German by 110 million, French by 85 million native speakers (and a large number of second language speakers), Italian by 65 million speakers.
Attah (2010) opined that, a language may be important as lingua franca in a country or region which has different languages or dialects would otherwise be unable to communicate. This is especially true in the former colonies of England and France whose colonial languages have remained indispensable even after independence and often in spite of outright hostility to the political and cultural values that the European languages represent. French and English are both languages of wider communication, yet the changing position of the two languages in international affairs during the past century illustrate the extent to which the status of a language depends on extra linguistic factors.
According to Bamisaye (2006), English Language is the language used in Education sector, it is introduced as a subject in first year of the primary school up to secondary school and including the university level; it is a medium of instruction. Therefore it is necessary that student should understand it because of the greater importance attached to it. Most students dread from it because there are mass failures in the subject, reason been there are no competent teachers to handle the subject and also there are inadequate or no Language Laboratories in most of the Secondary Schools.
Hindu (2006), Define Language Laboratory as a room in a school, college, training institute, university or academy that contains special equipment to help students learn foreign languages by listening to tapes or CDs, watching videos, recording themselves, etc. The Language Laboratory is an audio or audio-visual installation used as an aid in modern language teaching. It was also called Speech and Writing Laboratory. All the four language learning skills (Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing) are given importance and learners are provided with ample opportunities to practice by listening to the audio programmer and watching the video clips. In other words, a Language Laboratory is a room consisting of instructional technology tools source unit that can disseminate audio, audio-visual, and/or written materials to any number of students at individual seats or carrels, with a wide variety of potential feedback mechanisms to the student, teacher, or other students.
The Language Laboratory is used for language tutorials, which are attended by the students and persons who voluntarily opt for remedial English classes. Lessons and exercises are recorded on a cassette or computer so that the students are exposed to a variety of listening and speaking drills, This especially benefits students who are deficient in English and also aims at confidence-building for interviews and competitive examinations. The Language Laboratory sessions include word games, quizzes, extemporary speaking, debates, skits etc. These sessions can also be conducted online where many websites provide practice sessions.
According to Deepika and Kalaiarasan (2012), Language Laboratory is an audio­visual installation used in modem teaching methods to learn the foreign languages. Perhaps the first Language Laboratory was at the University of Grenoble. In the 1950s up until the 1990s, they were tape based system using reel to reel or (latterly) cassette. But the current installations are generally multimedia computers. The Language Laboratory is a technological break for imparting skills in English Language. The Language Laboratory offers an exclusive result oriented and efficient to enrich the English Language learning process. The multimedia based Language Laboratory help to learn and enhance the language proficiency by sharing the course materials with in a second where the teacher and the students involved effortlessly. The Language Laboratory is developed on the methodology of Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing skills (LSRW).
Bygate ( 2001), pointed out that since the mid-1970s tape-recording has been sufficiently cheap and practical to enable the widespread study of talk—whether native speaker talk or learner talk—and use of tape recorders in language classrooms. Besides tape recorders, the audio-language laboratory has been highly used in language teaching to make students aware of the characteristics of spoken discourse. The audio-language laboratory has played an important role in language teaching for a long time. Its main objective was to help language students improve the aural-oral skills. With the implementation of the Language Laboratory, many language teachers developed new techniques in order to derive all possible advantages of this tool in the field of applied linguistics.
Bygate (2001) expanded on this and says that when tape recorder and Language Laboratories gradually came into existence in the 1950s, they were mainly used for pronunciation, grammar and translation practice, often in the context of courses named as such. During the 1960s, the Language Laboratory rapidly became one of the most innovative audio components ever built; however, just as it became popular among some language teachers, others strongly criticized its use. This situation occurred for two main reasons. Certain language teachers who used the Laboratory failed to implement appropriate activities especially designed for Language Laboratory sessions. Other teachers confused its role in the language classroom.
Deepika and Kalarasan(2012), opined that with the most of advance computer hardware performance and multimedia technology, pure software companies with the experience in teaching software, providing pure software based Language Laboratory solution. It contains the following advantages: Using "Function Oriented" design concept, divided teaching method, with the user-friendly interface, user can use it easily. By using professional sound technology with video broadcasting function, the Language Laboratory provides a rich environment to learning English Language. Break through the traditional teaching method with the rich teaching material content, the digital Language Laboratory motivates student's learning attitude, providing an interactive learning environment for teaching of learning and teaching English Language.
Kilickaya (2004) explained that language learners feel better with authentic materials helping them involve in the real language as long as we, as teachers, provide them with pedagogical support. Instructors may create tasks from short academic lectures, radio programs, authentic conversations, audio-books, songs, or short stories. In addition, audio-visual equipment should be part of all language courses hi which technology facilitates the teaching-learning process. In regard to listening comprehension, most language programs include tape recording, digital data or even computer software in their curriculum.
Smriti (2013) opined that Laboratories were used in schools for the science subjects. This implied that there has been no growth of Language Laboratory in schools, colleges and tertiary institutions, reason been that, there is low/no adequate fund for Language Laboratory in schools in Nigeria. This hindered the effective teaching and learning of English Language in schools.
Oyinloye (2010) stated that the teaching and learning of English Language has been observed to be dwindling in the Primary and Secondary schools in Nigeria. One of the reasons for this is that most teachers are not competent enough to handle most aspects of the language teaching (i.e Grammar, oral English and literature). The attitude of these categories of teachers to the study of one aspect in English language when they were in the college or university constitute to their inability to teach English language. In addition to this, most universities lack the basic equipment like language laboratory hence, the teaching and learning of English language becomes very difficult when it is taught without enough practice with equipments, learning becomes boring and learners usually lose interest. It has been observed that most of the Secondary schools lack Language Laboratory, in other case, some has but it is not well equipped with Language Laboratory equipments.
Smriti (2013) opined that despite this essential setback, teachers and researchers claim that there are benefits of using Language Laboratory in English Language classrooms. Some of the benefits are as follows: the use of a modern Language Laboratory or reading lab system will allow the students to learn any language or improve their own reading and speaking skills and develop their own native language comprehension at an accelerated rate. Listening skills are primary in becoming fluent. Even Level II Language Laboratory (the simplest type of system) help develop listening skills, allowing the students to focus on the spoken word and there enhancing their ability to repeat and understand the spoken language. In a Laboratory setting the students can be subdivided into groups to either listen or respond to the instructor's program material or interact with each other in conversational exercises. There are many types of exercises and activities that can be developed by instructors for both mainstream and special needs. The ability of each student to speak at the same time and yet be audibly isolated from each other allows efficient use of time and a higher degree of practice and learning. All students can practice simultaneously (rather than one at a time) thus increasing the student's actual practice and fluency.
According to Oyinloye (2010), one of the objectives of teaching and learning English and other languages in the secondary school is to enable the learner to communicate effectively in the target language. This implied that without practicing what have been learnt in the classroom (i.e the use of Language Laboratory) there will be a little set back in teaching and learning of English Language. Therefore, the students should be exposed to the language equipments, in other to practice what they have learnt in class.
Deepika and Kalaiarasan(2012), stated that today's educational climates is increasingly diverse. Art has been seen as visual Language. The Language Laboratory plays a key role to learn the foreign language in a happy atmosphere and in a successful way. Both the teacher and the student's inputs are very important in this kind of learning activity. The efforts of the both make the above points victorious. The Language Laboratory is believed as self learning accessible, we need an expert to handle the classes. Multicultural countries like Nigeria, students are taking taut try to learn the English Language and its proficiency. We need a solution that facilitates Language learning in a trouble-free way.
As a matter of fact, it has been noticed by numerous scholars and researchers that students in both secondary school and university level have not been exposed to Language Laboratory not to talk more of using it. Therefore the effective use of Language Laboratory will widen the learners experiences and give ways of learning with self-expression in essence, the importance of Language Laboratory such as electro-kymograph, earphone or headset and audiovisual resources to the teaching and learning English language cannot be underscored since students academic performance is largely dependent on the amount resources made available for teaching and learning the language effectively.
Statement of the Problem
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Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study is to find out the impact of Language Laboratory on the teaching and learning of English in selected senior secondary schools in Ado Local Government Area of Ekiti State.
This study is therefore intended to find out the following:
  1. The availability of language laboratory in selected schools
  2. The level of students’ ability in using language laboratory in learning of English language.
  3. The level of teachers’ ability in using language laboratory in the teaching of English language
  4. How the teaching /learning of English language can be facilitated through language laboratory
  5. The extent to which language laboratory has assisted students in learning English language
  6. How adequately equipped are the language laboratories
Significance of the Study
This study focused primarily on the impact of Language Laboratory on the Teaching and Learning of English Language in senior secondary schools. Teachers and Students will benefit from the study as if will re-echo the importance and the significance of using Language Laboratory equipment for the teaching and learning of English Language. As it will enhance learners language skills (i.e listening, speaking, reading and writing) and also it will enhance or enable teachers to correct student bilingualism for easiest comprehension. Language laboratory provides a rich environment to learn English as it involve audio-visual (that is, the students will be enabled to hear and see what they want to learn and also give room or playback of recording programmes).
Delimitation of the Study
This study is restricted to some selected senior secondary schools in Ado Local Government Area of Ekiti State. It covers selected secondary schools and the teachers and the students were respondents or case study.

Research Questions
1        Are there language laboratories in the selected schools?
  1. What is the level of students’ ability in using language laboratory in learning English language?
  2. What is the level of teachers’ ability in using language laboratory in the teaching of English language?
  3. How can the teaching and learning of English language be facilitated through language laboratory?
  4. To what extent has language laboratory assisted students in learning English language?
  5. How adequately equipped are the language laboratories?
Assumptions
          According to my own perspective, the use of Language Laboratory has a great impact on the teaching and learning of English language. Language Laboratory in teaching of English language will help teachers as it will enable teachers to correct students’ bilingualism for easiest comprehension.
          Richard (2001), is of the view that language laboratory is very useful in assessing students’ speech. It provides students with technical tools to get the best sample of pronunciation of the language.
          Smriti (2013), also stressed that the use of a modern language laboratory or reading laboratory system will allow the student to learn any language or improve their own reading and speaking skills, and develop listening skills, and their native language comprehension at an accelerated rate. Listening skills are primarily helpful in becoming fluent.
          Even, level 1 language Laboratory (the simplest type of Language Laboratory) helps develop listening skills allowing the student to focus on the spoken word and therefore enhance their ability to repeat and understand the spoken language.

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