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Education, Summer, 2009 by Bridget O. Inegbeboh

Benson Idahosa University is a Christian University with the aim to change Nigeria and change the world by producing men and women who are sound in mind and body and who would by precept and example carry the gospel of Jesus Christ to all the comers of the world. There are one hundred and twenty-five (125) students in the 100 level Spoken English class in Benson Idahosa University. Fifty-one (51) are females, while seventy-four (74) are males. The Spoken English course is meant to enhance students spoken English, by concentrating on exercises on conversational English, using relevant phonological materials.

Research Methodology

The Research Methodology used includes library research and observation of students at work. The last semester’s result sheet in Spoken English was examined and the percentage passes for the male and female students were analysed.

Impediments

Female students in Benson Idahosa University have been discriminated against from birth in their various cultures and this affects the way they perform in the Spoken English class and the way they rate themselves. This discrimination is universal and women have been crying against it. It is the bone of contention in the forever raging war between the sexes. Moreover, it militates against meaningful development in the society. Ezigbo (1996) laments that:

   gender discrimination is the worst
   form of oppression the woman suffers
   worldwide. Her sex is used
   against her. She is ridiculed, raped,
   calumniated, used, condemned and
   sometimes abandoned. In her natal
   home the woman is expendable, and
   in her matrimonial home, she is a
   nonentity and is not reckoned with.
   We have heard of societies where
   the female child is often murdered
   at birth. In some places like India,
   the bride pays dowry to the bridegroom
   and his family; thus it
   becomes a "curse" to have too many
   female children in a family.

The female students in the 100 level Spoken English class find themselves contending with male students who already have a stereotyped idea about who a female member of the society should be:

“she should be seen and not heard.”

The male students are more vocal in the Spoken English class while the female students are shy to speak.

Strategies for Enhancing Female Performance in the Spoken English Class

We adapted the curricula to suit the female students. According to NUCVIHEP (2004):

   The curricula in higher educational
   institutions must be reviewed with
   a view to removing all forms of gender
   bias in content. Select content
   and learning experiences that depict
   the contributions of women in
   human endeavours.

On discovering that the female students were shy and not forth-coming, the female students were given the orientation that they are very important people.

Resource persons were invited to give the girls self-image enhancing talks. The girls were also given extra lectures on phonetics and phonology. They were given extra classes on dialogue making and they picked up well. They were taught structures for conversational exercises in English and they filled up gaps from lists of available structures. The girls said the experience was exhilarating.

Result

Discussion of Results

Male students are more in the 70-100% bracket. A boy scored the highest mark of 92%. However, the female students are more consistent in the number and quality of successes recorded. Forty-two (42) out of seventy-four (74) boys passed. Forty-nine (49) out of fifty-one (51) girls passed
male enhancement exercises