Teaching English Language through Informal School Club Activities: The Perception of Teachers and Students in Ogbomoso, Nigeria

The study investigated teachers’ and students’ perception on the effectiveness of teaching English language through informal school club activities in Ogbomoso township, Oyo State. Five hundred participants were involved in the study. Purposive sampling technique was adopted to select six senior secondary schools that had functional informal school club activities in Ogbomoso North and Ogbomoso South LGAs. The instruments: used were questionnaire on teachers’ perception on the effectiveness of teaching English language through informal school club activities (r=0.74) and questionnaire on students’ perception on the effectiveness of teaching English language through informal school club activities (r=0.76). Data were analysed using descriptive statistics of frequency distribution, percentage, mean and standard deviation. Results indicated that Young farmers club, Entrepreneur club, Press club, Drama club, Literary and debating society, Jet club and Cultural club were the available informal school club activities in the schools used for this study. Teachers perception on the effectiveness of teaching English language through informal school club activities was positive ( 3.34 > 2.5 threshold). Students perception on the effectiveness of teaching English language through informal school club activities was also positive (2.98 > 2.5 threshold). There was a significant difference between teachers’ perception ( ) and students perception ( ); (t=6.548,df=411). Based on the findings, it is recommended that informal school club activities should be actively used as a medium of instruction. There should also be a review of the curriculum to accommodate informal school club activities to help enhance the teaching and learning of English Language in schools.