ABSTRACT

This study was carried out to determine the extent of teachers’ adaptability to innovative teaching methods in English language instruction in Public Secondary Schools in the South South Zone, Nigeria. The study investigated the various innovative instructional strategies that could be adapted by English language teachers in the teaching of English. It equally examined the extent to which learning resources are available for ensuring innovative classrooms.  Eight research questions and eight null hypotheses were raised and formulated respectively to guide the study. The population of the study was made up of 1,080 English language teachers in Public Secondary Schools in the South South Zone, Nigeria. A descriptive survey design was used to carry out the study. A reliability coefficient of 0.73 was considered suitable for the study. Three states out of six were selected through stratified random sampling technique and the sample size was 750 male and female English language teachers. The researcher-developed instrument “Teachers Adaptability to Innovative Teaching Methods for English language instruction at Public Secondary School Level Questionnaire (TAITMQ) was used to obtain response from male and female teachers. Data collected were used to answer research questions using mean and standard deviation while t-test statistics was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The study equally revealed that some innovative teaching methods were adapted by teachers in the teaching of English language at the public secondary schools in South-South Zone, Nigeria. These included: blended method-high extent, (HE) instructional scaffolding –Very High Extent (VHE), Jig-saw method – low extent (LE), co-operative learning-low extent (LE), Collaborative mentoring – very high extent (VHE), Gallery walk method – Very low extent (VLE), resources availability – Very low extent (VLE) and schools location – very high extent (VHE). The study showed that not all innovative teaching methods were adapted by English language teachers in teaching English language. It equally revealed that learning resources were grossly unavailable in Public Secondary Schools. Moreso, the location of schools plays pivotal role in teachers’ adaptability to innovative teaching methods in English language instruction in Public Secondary Schools in the South South Zone, Nigeria.