The application of audio-visual aids in the teaching of English language in senior secondary schools in Oyo state, Nigeria

The use of audio-visual (AV) aids is highly advocated for English language teaching in Nigerian senior secondary schools. However, there is little evidence at the local level about which aids teachers consider appropriate, how they evaluate the worth of the aids and what impedes their use. This descriptive survey examines these questions in Oyo West Local Government Area (LGA), Oyo State based on Dual Coding Theory, Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning and the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework. Sixteen-item Yes/No questionnaire administered on fifty English teachers in five randomly selected senior secondary schools. Data were analyzed with percentages, 95% Wilson confidence intervals, and exact binomial tests against an even split. Laptops and tablets (96%), shared digital resources (84%), data projectors (82%) and interactive whiteboards (72%) were considered suitable by teachers. The majority of respondents agreed that AV aids made teaching easier (82%) and helped students to learn more (74%) but only 32% thought they made classrooms more interesting and the level of agreement that they speed up teaching (42%) or simplify difficult content (40%) was not significantly different from an even split. The most frequently reported barriers were insufficient competence of teachers (92%), unstable power supply (86%), big classes (84%) and absence of aids in schools (72%) . Read the theoretical framework The results indicate that access and infrastructure are necessary but not sufficient: teachers’ technological-pedagogical knowledge and lesson design determine whether AV aids add instructional value. This study contributes LGA-level evidence from south-western Nigeria and derives implications for school-based professional development, low-power AV options and large-class strategies. Findings are limited by small sample, single LGA and reliance on self-report.