Evaluation of Methods Teachers Use in Teaching Shakespearean Drama in Senior Secondary Schools in Edo State

Abstract

Shakespeare continues to take the pride of place in the teaching of classical literature in English as a Second Language (ESL) classroom. Despite this, many students and even some teachers flinch at the thought of reading Shakespeare plays and this has had adverse consequences on students’ enrolment and achievement in Literature-in-English. Thus, this study aimed to identify the methods and strategies employed by teachers in teaching Shakespeare plays in senior secondary schools in Edo State, Nigeria. The study was conducted in public secondary schools in Benin Metropolis. A questionnaire was used as the primary means of data collection. The findings show that the discussion and lecture method is popularly employed by teachers, followed by the reading the play method. The findings indicate that the performance-based and technology enhanced teaching methods are not popular with the teachers. The implication is that teachers still prefer to teach Shakespeare in the “traditional way” which has not been beneficial for the students. The findings also reveal that demographic and study related variables (gender, teaching experience, type of training and number of periods) did not influence teachers’ use of teaching methods. To this end, it is recommended that teachers should adopt more active performance-based and technology enhanced teaching strategies that can greatly enhance their classroom presentation of Shakespeare's plays.