Communication Expediency of Secondary School Teachers Lagos State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined the level of expediency with which teacher-student communication is carried out in schools by investigating whether or not teachers apply the appropriate measures in communicating lessons to students in the class; and whether or not students consider their teachers’ communication measures, methods and skills to be appropriate. Educators’ Proficiency Scale (EPS), was used to obtain information from 576 participants (192 teachers; 384 students) drawn from 24 secondary schools in the Lagos State, Nigeria. To analyze the resulting data, means, Univariate Analysis of Variance, which was supplemented with confidence intervals, effect sizes, post hoc tests, figures and tables were applied. The results provided that teachers in Lagos State are adequate in communicating with the students, however, school teachers rated teachers’ communication efficiency lower than the students do though no significant difference existed between their means, F (7, 325) = 1.09, p = .375. The study has exposed many areas that impede efficient communication in the classroom that deserves further thorough investigation and eventual adjustment,; the availability/sufficiency/adequacy of communication facilities in Lagos state secondary school classrooms, particularly, the incorporation of ICT in the teaching–learning activities that take place in the classroom, as well as the complicity of gender, environment and social factor. These are suggested areas for future studies.

Key words: Communication expediency, I.C.T., Expressive skills, Non-verbal communication.