Effectiveness of Role Play and Bibliotherapy in Attitude Change of Primary School Pupils towards Learners with Special Needs in Nigeria
Abstract
Purpose: The research addressed two major problems, namely, the persistent negative attitude towards learners with special needs; and the effectiveness of role play and bibliotherapy in changing the attitude of primary school pupils towards their differently-abled fellow students.
Method: Two null hypotheses guided the conduct of the study. Albert Bandura’s Theory of Social Learning (1977) provided the theoretical framework for the study and the Solomon four-group design was followed in practice. The study population consisted of all the Primary Six school pupils in the 502 primary schools in Owerri educational zone. From a total of 76,481 Primary Six pupils, a sample of 80 students from two schools was selected for the study. One instrument - Attitude Towards the Disabled Rating Scale (ATDRS) - and two programmes - Nwachukwu’s Role Play Exercise Programme (NRPEP) and Nwachukwu’s Bibliotherapy Programme (NBP) - were used for the successful implementation of the study, which was validated by experts. The hypotheses were tested using t-test for correlated and independent samples.
Results: The findings indicated that the pupils’ attitudes towards learners with special needs in Owerri educational zone improved significantly after they were exposed to the NRPEP and NBP respectively, indicating the effectiveness of the two programmes.
Conclusion: Education policy makers, the Ministry of Education and State Universal Basic Education Boards should recommend the use of inclusion books and encourage the practice of role play in schools for the success of inclusive education in Nigeria.
Full text article
Authors
Copyright (c) 2017 The Author(s)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License By-NC-ND 4.0 that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
