CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1            Background to the Study

Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge to fostering skills and character traits education originated as the transmission of cultural heritage from one generation to the next. Today, education goals increasingly encompass new ideas such as the liberation of learners, skills needed for modern society, empathy and complex vocational skills. The main purpose of education is to provide the opportunity for acquiring knowledge and skills that will enable people to develop their full potential and become successful members of the society. It does not just involve letters and numbers, but also teachers and the entire education system where students are taught critical thinking honesty and humanitarianism. Commitment is a psychological attachment to an organization in which people give their loyalty to its values and goals.

A teacher is a person trained in knowledge, skills, attitude and values, in a formal training institution, to teach or impart same to the learners in the most acceptable way (Nwankwo & Okonkwo  2015). Asiabaka and Emenalo (2015) describes the teacher as the human catalyst who intentionally influences the interaction among teachers, learners and the environment of the learner by restructuring the environment in such a way that the learners will acquire the desired knowledge, skills and attitudes and meaningfully contribute to the development of humanity at an appropriate time. Hence, the success or failure of any education system depends to a large extent on the quality and calibre of teachers who are the interpreters and transmitters of desirable knowledge, skills, attitudes and values in the society

Teacher commitment is an internal force that drives teachers to invest more time and energy in keeping up involvement in the school. This willingness of promoting the school creates an emotional link between teachers and the school which ultimately inspires teachers to seek ways to enhance teaching profession and establish an effective learning environment to allow students to reach their target.

According to Olaniyan (2016), commitment of teachers might be depicted as the responsibilities executed by an instructor at a particular time in the educational structure in attaining administrative objectives. Commitment is somewhat, what a singular individual does. Execution of the instructors in educational institutions is exceedingly impacted by motivation. Emphasizing on principals’ communication skills and teacher’s commitment.

Communication skills are the abilities used when giving and receiving different kinds of information. Communication skills are important for a teacher in the delivery of education to students. It involves listening, speaking as well as reading and writing. Effective communication skills are really important for a teacher in the transmitting of education, classroom management and interactions with students in the class.

Good communication skill minimizes the potential of unkind feeling, during the process of teaching. Verbal communication skill is the interaction achieved through speaking and conversation. In verbal communication, the teachers provides an explanation in the class and also understand the students verbal communication and are able to help students improve their verbal communication. Nonverbal communication skill is the transmission of messages or signals through a nonverbal platform such as eye contact, facial expressions, gestures, posture and body language.

Nonverbal communication is often more precise more effective and can convey better meaning than words. Active listening communication skill refers to a way of listening and responding to another person that improves mutual understanding. It goes beyond simply hearing the words that another person speaks but also seeking to understand the meaning and intent behind them.

It requires being an active participant in the communication process.

Written communication skill involves expressing clearly using language with precision, constructing a logical argument, note taking, writing report, editing and summarizing. It differs from verbal communication in that it is words noted down rather than spoken. In written communication, you can consciously choose and edit words to best get your point across.

Being able to communicate is vital to being an effective education communication does not only convey information, but it encourages effort, modifies attitudes, and stimulates thinking. Without it, messages becomes distorted and learning is stifled. The success of an educational program and improvement in education standard depend on the effectiveness of teachers because they translate the aims and objectives of educations into actions in the class. Understanding the fact that the school is a system, and for the school to work effectively it needs mutual understanding, and mutual understanding is a product of good communication skills. Without these mutual understanding, the school would fail to achieve its purpose. One of the principal factor in the school is the teacher and the commitment of the teacher determines how much the school would achieve her aim and objectives. In as much as the school is all around the students, the teacher is the main factor and therefore mutual understanding and co-existence, to really work depends on communication skills. Without these communication skills teachers commitment would be tampered with. Commitment of teachers is solely dependent on how much communication is being received, accessed and interpreted in the school.

  Mbiti (2018) remarked that communication is the lifeblood of any organization. No institution can meet the needs of its people without proper communication. Information has to flow from the school management to the staff and students. The principals must brief heads of departments before disseminating the news to other members of staff and students. Principals should however make judicious use of communication skills to encourage good communication between the school and community, establish close relationship between parents by holding meetings with them at intervals, and building parentsteachers link (Wilbur, 2015). This is important for the successful administration of the school. The importance of communication skills in administrative effectiveness of the principals cannot be over emphasized perhaps, that is why Morgan (2012) lamented that; possibly the most vital and fundamental element in the management process is based on working with people, which is done through some forms of communication. He stated further that the success of administrative actions depends to a large extent on the effective use of communication process. Nwankwo & Okonkwo (2015) also stated that keeping everyone informed is a positive way of ensuring effective leadership, co-operation, co-ordination, support and commitment and improving job. Several studies emphasize that effective communication can enhance institutional outcomes (Garnett, Marlowe, and Pandey, 2018). Communication can influence the perceptions and opinions about persons, communities, organizations, governments, and even society. One of the outcomes of administrative communication is related to the flow of information, regulations, policies, and procedures (Harold, 2018). Communication is essential to any kind of organization and information plays a crucial role in effective communication. Theories on organizational communication has evolved from the concept as a tool of management designed to facilitate task completion and as such was to operate as one of many organizational variables (Shockley-Zalabak, 2016). As a tool of management, communication is “the central means by which individual activity is coordinated to devise, disseminate, and pursue organizational goals” (Morgan 2012). It is a tool for an organization to operate as a system. From the scientific management point of view, communication is a tool of organizational design to facilitate and operate task completion so that the theorists had emphasis on communication flow from supervisors to subordinates (Shockley-Zalabak, 2016). Likewise, Taylor’s scientific management was operated by a well-defined chain of command and specific division of labour. These two principles were developed based on work standards and measurement of standards. From his point of view, communication can be explained as a tool to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the chain of command, rules, and regulations. On the other hand, many scholars view communication as a core process of organizing (Jones, Watson, Garner, and Gallois, 2014). As the human behaviour perspective has been important in the atmosphere to emphasize cooperation, participation, satisfaction, and interpersonal relationships among workers, communication-related issues have also been recognized for organizing processes. Effective communication was a cornerstone of the human behaviour perspective, so theorists emphasized interactive communication among employees to improve mutual trust. They also recognized the importance of both formal and informal communication (Morgan 2012). This perspective has provided an idea about communication as an organizing process of human interaction and has influenced the theoretical backgrounds of communication theorists. Morgan (2012) for example, said “Interpersonal communication is the essence of organization because it creates structures that then affect what else gets said and done and by who the structures themselves create additional resources for communication such as hierarchical levels, common tasks, exchangeable commodities, and negotiable dependencies.” Morgan (2012) also understood communication as “an essential element in the on-going organizing process through which social structures are produced, reproduced and changed.” As an organizing process, communication is not just a tool of management but a critical element to affect management. Empirical evidence shows that communication breakdown was the greatest barrier to cooperate excellence. Inefficient communication in any organization (school) is symptomatic of a faulty cooperate chain. Effective communication promotes good working relationship between the management and the organizational workers. It also enhances good rapport between the superior and subordinates and everybody working in a particular organization. It must be noted that organizational efficiency depends on the effective communication patterns adopted by the organization (Mbiti 2018). Palsey (2016) in his research on thinking about school as organization concluded that organization may be said to exist, when there are people with abilities to communicate, willingness to contribute and who have aims and purposes in common. To explain the influence of communication skill on administrative effectiveness of principals therefore Mbiti (2018) mentioned four (4) major functions of communication as follows: 1 Communication gives employees the opportunity of expressing their feelings and also serves as a medium for conflict resolutions, reducing tensions and refining direction for individuals. 2 It serves a motivational function of encouraging achievements in subordinates. 3 It provides the necessary information for decision-making. 4 It is used to control the activities in an organization (school).

Palsey (2016) survey of 143 9th and 10th grade high school staff investigated the relationship between the perceived communication style of the principal and staff’s emotional state, job performance and job commitment  and found that there is a significant effect of principal's communication styles on teacher's job commitment and performance. In his series of studies over a five-year period,

Also Whaley, (2016) attempted to determine whether or not a relationship existed between a school principal's communication effectiveness and teacher's performance on the job. Respondents rated their immediate supervisor's effectiveness in communicating five factors: mission, goals, feedback, rewards, and support. The results indicated that there were similar perceptions of principals' communication effectiveness as well as degrees of job satisfaction of staff. In other words, the researcher found out that there is a significant relationship between how they perceived their principals' communication and how satisfied they are on the job (Whaley, 2016). Whaley (2016) indicated that when both styles were used (transformational or transactional), staff were motivated to achieve, and that both styles were significantly positively correlated with staff’ achievement motivation. Another study by Wilbur (2015) revealed that communication within the school merely transmitted the information necessary for conducting daily work, resulting in predictable behaviours, rather than stimulating learning and encouraging challenging dialogue about significant pedagogical and school improvement issues. The researcher divided his study into four subject areas: information flow, communication climate, message content, and organizational development. Motivation is a critical variable in educational institutions as it upgrades staff productivity and commitment. In truth, it is essential in deciding the effect of education. This is on account of the fact that committed teachers will probably be focused on educational improvement of students and achievement of learning outcomes. Therefore, the teachers should be committed with a specific end goal to enhance their job productivity. By and large, pay rates and wages are imperative stimulating components since they go far in fulfilling fundamental needs. In the event that a teacher is not committed, the nature of job productivity will weaken. According to Latt (2018), motivation and productivity are essential elements as far as association’s achievements and accomplishments are concerned. In the event that progressions happen in outside setting then it is essential for an association to embrace that alteration since it might persuade to pick up a focused improvement. In support of this, the primary concern they required is the gifted and capable workers.

According to Robbins et al., (2016) commitment plays a vital part in the institution since it expands the efficiency of workers and the objectives may be accomplished in an effective way. Workers' conduct can be transformed through motivation in any organization. commitment additionally plays a vital part for teachers in light of the fact that it accomplishes their objectives in a proficient way. According to Mustafa and Othman (2018) teacher commitment is critical in light of the fact that it enhances the abilities and information of teachers since it specifically impacts the student's accomplishment.  Nadeem et al. (2015) stated that principal communication have an effect on their performance and commitment. The level of commitment of teachers reduced, when there is a poor communication in the management of school.

1.2     Statement of the Problem

Education is an instrument for national development and its success or failure is dependent upon the communication skill used in management. However effective communication skills are virtually indispensable in the management of secondary schools; since no rational educational objectives can be achieved without an effective flow of communication among the system. Poor usage of communication skills in public secondary schools in Imo State has been a great concern to the school management. It has brought about decline in standard of education and poor quality of educational performances in Nigeria secondary schools especially in Nkwerre L.G.A of Imo State. Most principals refuse to have listening ears to the members of staff and also not competent to use clear, brief and straight forward language while giving out information which would bring about confusion, tension and conflict in the school.

1.3     Aim and Objectives of the Study

The aim of this study investigated Principals communication skills for teacher’s commitment in public senior secondary schools in Nkwerre LGA of Imo State.

Specifically, the objectives sought to;

1.     examine the extent principal’s verbal communication skill influence teacher’s commitment in public senior secondary school in Nkwerre L.G.A of Imo State.

2.     assess how principal’s non-verbal communication skill influence teachers commitment in public senior secondary school in Nkwerre L.G.A of Imo State.

3.     ascertain how principal’s active listening communication skill influence teachers commitment in public senior secondary school in Nkwerre L.G.A of Imo State.

4.     determine how Principals written communication skill influence teachers commitment in public senior secondary school in Nkwerre L.G.A of Imo State.

1.4     Research Questions

The following research questions  guided the study;

1.     To what extent does principals’ verbal communication skill influence teachers commitment in public senior secondary school Nkwerre L.G.A of Imo State?

2.     To what extent does principals’ non-verbal communication skill influence teacher commitment in public senior secondary school Nkwerre L.G.A of Imo State?

3.     To what extent does principal’s active listening communication skill influence teacher’s commitment in public senior secondary school Nkwerre L.G.A of Imo State?

4.     To what extent does principals’ written communication skill influence teacher’s commitment in public senior secondary school Nkwerre L.G.A of Imo State?

1.4     Significance of the study

This study will be of significance to students teachers, principals and ministry of education.

The students, this study will help students understand the importance of communication and how it can be of great help to them. The teachers, this study will help improve their commitment to works improve their profession performance and develop them. The principals these findings will be an eye opener to oversee the daily operations help him monitor and enforce the draining of teachers and other staff members in the right communication skill to be used in the teaching and learning process. The ministry of education, these findings will help them develop policies and enlightenment campaign on communication skills and how to improve teachers commitment to work.

1.6     Research Hypotheses

The following null, hypotheses are postulated to guide the study;

1.                 There is no significant difference between the mean scores of male and female teachers on the extent principals’ verbal communication skills influence teachers commitment in public senior secondary schools in Nkwerre LGA of Imo State.

2.                 There is no significant difference between the mean scores of male and female teachers on the extent principals’ non verbal communication skills influence teachers commitment in public senior secondary schools in Nkwerre LGA of Imo State.

3.                 There is no significant difference between the mean scores of male and female teachers on the extent principals’ active listening communication skills influence teachers commitment in public senior secondary schools in Nkwerre LGA of Imo State.

4.                 There is no significant difference between the mean scores of male and female teachers on the extent principals’ written communication skills influence teachers commitment in public senior secondary schools in Nkwerre LGA of Imo State

1.7     Delimitations of the Study

The study is delimited to public senior secondary school in Nkwerre Local Government Area of Imo State. It is delimited to principal communication skills as an independent variable while teachers commitment in public senior secondary school students is the dependent variable.

Only public senior secondary school students are used as subjects in the course of the study.

This form helps to give some sense of dread and seriousness which helps to arrest the attention of the listeners around. This is a reaffirmation that virtually all folksongs in traditional Africa had some elements of moral virtues in them. Even in funeral songs as depicted above. The song’s content above depicted a fashionable woman, who has a good character and one who is not a witch nor one who partakes in evil acts. This song likens a virtuous woman to a fashionable woman. This is against the concept of a fashionable woman in contemporary times where they are only known for exposition of some parts of their bodies.