http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/45 Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:01:21 GMT 2026-04-04T16:01:21Z http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/1454 EFFECTS OF INTEGRATED INSTRUCTIONAL METHODS ON WRITING ACHIEVEMENT OF UNDERGRADUATES IN FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY OWERRI, NIGERIA REGIS-ONUOHA, Adaeze Writing skills are taught to equip students with reading and literacy skills to solve communication problems. However, reports have shown that undergraduates‟ achievement in writing is poor in Federal University of Technology Owerri, Nigeria, particularly in their general course in English language. This has been attributed to General Studies lecturers‟ methods of instruction. Previous studies focused largely on improving primary and secondary school students‟ achievement in writing, neglecting interventions towards improving such among undergraduates. This study, therefore, was carried out to determine the effects of integrated instructional methods (Response to text (RT), Activation of background knowledge (ABK) and Response to text + Activation of background knowledge (RTABK)) on undergraduates‟ achievement in writing in Federal University of Technology Owerri, Nigeria. The moderating effects of gender and verbal ability were also examined. Jerome Bruner‟s Constructivist theory of learning, which assumes that personal experience and previous knowledge are important in the creation of meaning was adopted. The pretest-posttest control group quasi-experimental design with 4x2x3 matrix was used. Four faculties (School of Health Technology, School of Biological Sciences, School of Science and School of Engineering) in Federal University of Technology Owerri were purposively selected based on the failure rate in the use of English course compared to other faculties. Also, these faculties were distant from one another. Four hundred and twenty-five Part One undergraduates were enumerated across the four faculties. Faculties were randomly assigned to RT (123), ABK (94), RTABK (83) and control (125) groups. The instruments used were Writing Achievement Test (r=0.83), Verbal Ability Scale (α=0.78), and instructional guides. Focus group discussions were held with four course representatives. The treatment lasted 5 weeks. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Analysis of covariance and Bonferroni post-hoc test at 0.05 level of significance, while qualitative data were content analysed. Undergraduates‟ age was 18.30 ± 2.60 years and 59.5% were males. The undergraduates‟ verbal ability (76.2%) was low. There was a significant main effect of treatment on writing achievement (F(3,421) = 41.79; partial η2 = 0.24). Undergraduates exposed to RTABK had the highest post mean achievement score (76.52), followed by RT (72.34), ABK (70.57), and control (59.54) groups. There were no significant main effects of gender and verbal ability on writing achievement. The two-way and three way interaction effects were not significant on writing achievement. The undergraduates were enthusiastic with the methods and wished their Use of English course lecturers should continually use the methods. Response to text, activation of background knowledge, and response to text + activation of background knowledge methods enhanced undergraduates‟ writing achievement in Federal University of Technology Owerri, Nigeria. Use of English course lecturers should adopt these methods to improve undergraduate achievement in writing Tue, 01 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/1454 2021-06-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/637 Blavo Etsri Babatunde, Blavo Etsri Patronage, an asymmetric relationship between two individuals of unequal social status, permeated the socio-political landscapes of ancient Rome and modern Nigeria. Previous comparative studies on Rome and Nigeria have focused on literature, legal system and history to the neglect of the patronage system. This study was, therefore, designed to compare and contrast the socio-political significance of patronage in Republican Rome and modern Nigeria, with a view to determining its influence on the socio-political space. The study was anchored on Karl Marx’s Class Theory while the interpretive design was used. Texts drawn from both classical and Nigerian sources were purposively selected due to their depiction of patronage. The texts from classical sources included Dionysius of Halicarnassus’s Antiquitates Romanae(AR), Horace’s Satires and Epistles (SE), Cicero’s On Duties (OD)and Juvenal’s Sixteen Satires(SS). The texts from Nigerian sources included Albert’s Explaining Godfatherism in Nigerian Politics(EGNP), Al Chukwuma’s The Contradiction of Godfatherism in Nigeria Politics(CGNP), Familusi’s Moral and Developmental Issues in Political Godfatherism(MDIPG) and Onwuzurigbo’s Recontextualisation of the concept of Godfatherism(RCG). The texts were subjected to content analysis. The AR traces the origin of patronage to the founder and first king of Rome, Romulus, who divided the citizens into the upper and lower classes of patricians and plebeians respectively. The patricians became the patrons and the plebs, clients. A patron was a social superior who was socially responsible for looking out for a set of social inferiors (clients), who were in turn loyal and supportive of the patron. Similarly, EGNP traces the origin of patronage in Nigeria to the naming practice of the Catholic Church, as well as instances of its deployment in pre-colonial Nigeria. The RCG espouses the concept of patronage through the activities of the Babaogun(Yoruba), Nnam Ukwu(Igbo) and Maigida(Hausa) who served as power brokers in the socio-political spheres of their respective societies. The OD vividly describes the patronage system as a mechanism of social integration based on social advantage. The patronage system in both societies became degenerated and its cherished traditional function was corrupted. The SS demonstrates that patrons were no longer committed to their responsibilities as demanded by the patronage system. The CGNP and MDIPG reinforce the same concern in Nigeria’s case. The activities of contemporary godfathers in Nigeria’s politics have relatively declined and its fundamental functions of social engineering and social development have been defeated. The patronage system in both Republican Rome and modern Nigeria emerged from a historical and religious context, but later degenerated into a practice that undermined the socio-political space of both historical contexts. Sun, 01 Dec 2019 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/637 2019-12-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/204 FAMILY VIOLENCE IN CLASSICAL AND IGBO LITERATURES NWANORO, EDITH CHINYERE Classical and African literatures have portrayed the family as a nucleus of the societies. Existing studies from the old Graeco-Roman times and Igbo cultures acknowledged this significance by paying adequate attention to issues of marriage, inheritance, finance, and social class in their literatures. However, hardly any one of these studies has exclusively concentrated on or compared the representations of family violence in the literatures. This study therefore, examines the causes, manifestations and effects of family violence in the Classical and Igbo literatures with a view to highlighting their convergences and divergences. Using the descriptive and comparative research design, the study adopts Sigmund Freud’s Instinct theory of Aggression. The primary Classical sources consulted were the works of Aeschylus, Euripides, Sophocles, Suetonius and the Digests of Justinian while the works of Achebe, Ofomata, Ike, Adichie, and oral literature were consulted for the Igbo aspect, because these have large representations of family violence. Data were subjected to thematic and critical analysis. Family violence which is largely a common feature of both Classical and Igbo societies, as portrayed in their literatures, demonstrates that barrenness is hardly tolerated and is blamed on the woman. In Euripides’ Andromache Hermione is repudiated and replaced with another woman on account of barrenness. Osita, Uju’s husband married another wife without her consent in Onye Chi ya Akwatughi written by Ofomata. The auctoritas of the paterfamilias sometimes constitute danger in the household, in Oresteian Trilogy, king Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia in order to gain a favourable weather and passage across the sea. In Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo’s second wife almost lost her life to his gun shot, after being seriously battered because she made a mistake during food preparation. Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus presents Mr. Eugene as a batterer of wife and children on grounds of disobedience. Ezeulu creates a domestic harshness and fear in Achebe’s Arrow of God. Sophocles’ Electra and Ike’s Potter’s Wheel show that abandonment, rejection, and child abuse are traumas which family members suffer as a result of violence. The cruel treatment of a spouse often leads to rash reactions and murder as exemplified in Aeschylus’ Agamemnon, Euripides’ Medea, Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus, among others. The texts also show that false accusation, infidelity, deviant behaviours, incest and denial can both result from or into family violence. However, some cases are peculiar to Classical literature: youths directly or indirectly killing their mothers as observed in Aeschylus’ Libation Bearers and Sophocles’ Women of Trachis. In Igbo literature, wife and child battering (Things Fall Apart, Purple Hibiscus, and Onye Chi Ya Akwatughi) is a common occurrence. While Classical literature often attributes some violent attacks to the influence of the gods, Euripides’ (Bacchae) Igbo literature has no such corollary. Family violence in Classical and Igbo literatures is seated in socio-cultural, biological and economic experiences of the Graeco-Roman and Igbo peoples. Its effects scope over abandonment, battering, divorce and murder, with more cases of battering in Igbo literature; and murder and vengeance of the gods in Classical literature. Key words: Family, Violence, Graeco- Roman literature, Igbo literature. Word count: 499. Sat, 01 Dec 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/204 2012-12-01T00:00:00Z