EFFECT OF ANIMATION AND PICTURES ON STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT IN POETRY IN SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN EDO STATE

The study examined the effect of the use of animation and picture on Senior Secondary School one (SSS1) students’ performance in poetry in senior secondary schools in Edo state. The study also sought to determine whether other demographic variables like sex and school type have effect on students’ performance in poetry. Eight research questions and eight hypotheses were raised to guide the study. The sample of the study was made up of two hundred and seventy-three (273) male students and two hundred and sixty-five (265) female students. One hundred and six (106) of the students were from all-boys schools, two hundred and nine (209) were from all-girls schools, while two hundred and twenty-three (223) students were from coeducational schools. The study adopted a quasi-experimental design, using the pre-test – post-test control group design, which resulted in a 3x2x3 factorial format. The independent variable in this study is the instructional method with three levels – animation, pictures and ‘chalk and talk’ method. The moderator (intervening) variables are gender with two levels – male and female and school type with three levels – all-boys, all-girls and co-educational schools. The dependent variable is students’ performance scores in poetry. One instrument was used for data collection for the study; a “Poetry Performance Test (PPT)” , with two sections A and B. Section A seeks to elicit respondents’ demographic data such as gender. Section B is an achievement test on Poetry with particular reference to the two poems The leader and the led by Niyi Osundare and Journey of the Magi by T. S. Eliot. The reliability of the PPT was estimated using the Kuder-Richardson Formula 20 (KR-20) and a reliability coefficient of 0.826 was obtained. Data collected were analysed using descriptive – percentage, mean and standard deviation and inferential statistics – xiii Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) and Independent Samples t-test. The level of significance was set at 0.05 level. The findings of the study revealed that students’ performance in poetry is dependent on the instructional method. It also revealed that the difference in students’ performance in poetry is based on the method used. This is hinged on the fact that students taught with animation performed better than those taught with picture and the “chalk and talk” method. The findings of this study revealed that sex and school type were significant factors in students’ performance in poetry. These findings pose very serious challenge to curriculum planners and English-in- Literature teachers on what to do to significantly reduce the effect of these variables on students’ performance in poetry. There were significant two-way and three-way interaction effects of method by sex, method by school type and method by sex, and school type on students’ performance in poetry respectively. The following recommendation among others was made; that Literature-in-English teachers in senior secondary schools should be encouraged to use animation in poetry teaching.