Asian Research Journal of Arts & Social Sciences

The current study aims to examine Omani English language teachers’ use of their learners’ L1 in L2 classrooms. The study takes as to design a mix of qualitative case study and grounded theory research. The participant sample consists of three Omani English male teachers from Cycle Two Schools in Al Dahira Governorate in Oman. Data is collected through interviews and classroom observations. Qualitative content analysis is employed to analyze observations; while Charmaz's constructivist grounded theory is used to analyze the interview data.

The findings of the study reveal that the teachers’ use of learners’ L1 in the observed classes is significantly high as it is found that the teachers’ average use of L1 is 28% of their classroom discourse. However, at the same time, it is found that the teachers have demonstrated a high degree of understanding of the disadvantages of overusing L1; of the optimal amount of L1; and of the different avoidance strategies that minimize the use of L1 in L2 classrooms. Hence, the study concludes that the teachers’ shift to L1 is shaped by the challenges they face in their classrooms rather than by their understanding. These challenges are found to be a lack of teaching materials, time constraints, a lack of teaching experience, class size, the learners’ low level of proficiency in English, the teachers’ lack of training, the types of activities used, and the heavy syllabus.

The study examined the private car users’ willingness to pay for designated parking spaces in Ile-Ife, Nigeria. This is with a view to providing information for sustainable provision of car park and its inherent facilities in major activity centers of the urban environment. Data were obtained from 167 private car users in major activity centers of the study area through purposive sampling technique. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Relative Willingness Index (RWI) in the study area showed that the car users were most willing to pay for ‘surface car park’ and ‘shared car park’ with indices of 4.47 and 3.39 respectively. The basic car park attributes preferred were: car washing service, toilet facilities, security service and surveillance cameras among others. It was also established that the willingness to pay (WTP) for parking space varied directly with the education (primary _RWI= 2.97; secondary _RWI= 3.44; tertiary _RWI= 4.15) and income statuses (low _RWI= 2.72, middle _RWI= 3.61; high _RWI= 3.94) of the users. The minimum, maximum and average amount of money that the users could afford and willing to pay after using parking space and inherent facilities were respectively N50, N250 and N175 (US$1 = N365). The study concluded that the information obtained on the car owners’ WTP for parking space and associated facilities could be effective device in the hands of policy makers and private investors at ensuring that the problems of the unavailability of car parks in the urban environment are curbed.

Studying and analyzing the newspaper coverage on issues of children is sine- qua non to the overall development of Nigeria because it would serve as an insight into the conditions in which our children find themselves today and a guide for preparing them to be socially and spiritually responsible in the society. This study, therefore, analyzed the manifest media contents of two major newspapers in Nigeria namely Daily Sun and Punch (January-April 2017) with a view of ascertaining the frequency, depth, direction and prominence of coverage of reports on child rights in Nigeria. Based on the findings from the content analyzed newspapers, it was discovered that the select newspapers did not give adequate coverage on child rights abuse issues in Nigeria. Both newspapers did not give prominence to the stories reported as almost all were buried in the inside pages. The study recommends that Newspapers publishers in Nigeria should train reporters that will report daily on child right abuse so as to increase the visibility of child rights reports in the media. Also, Newspapers in Nigeria should give more prominence to child right abuse cases by placing them on the front pages of their editions and publishing periodic editorials on child rights related issues.

School mapping in secondary education has witnessed a lot of distortion in Nigeria largely because the allocation of educational resources is embedded in politics of education. Consequently, the paper examined trends in the politics of school mapping and spatial distribution of secondary schools in Rivers state. Three research questions guided the study. The document analysis research method was utilized which involved extensive analysis of records and documents. Data collected were descriptively analysed. Findings revealed spatial imbalance in the distribution of public secondary schools, and neglect of population factor in siting secondary schools in Rivers State. Recommendations aimed at enhancing even distribution of public secondary schools were proffered. The paper concluded that school distribution system that ignores basic school mapping process could undermine the overall educational development in Rivers State.

This study examined costume enterprise as a panacea for poverty reduction among young people in Nigeria by x-raying the potentials embedded in it, in order to ascertain its viability for poverty reduction. The objective of the study therefore was to fill this knowledge gap by carrying out empirical study on the business potentials resident in costume entrepreneurship. The methodology followed survey research design and involved generating data from individuals who are involved in costume enterprise businesses from the six geo-political zones in Nigeria. Primary data sources came from phone call interview and questionnaire survey. In both cases, the respondents for the study were asked questions regarding their average monthly income from their costume business. The result findings revealed that the average monthly income of retail costume entrepreneurs was N30,625; exceeding the monthly earnings of some employed people in Nigeria and even beyond the minimum wage agitated by the Nigeria Labour Union in 2018. The study also discovered that the costume entrepreneurs in the Northern region do not earn as much as those in the Southern region. Bearing all these facts in mind, the study, therefore, concludes that costume enterprise is a viable venture capable of reducing poverty. It is also concluded from the study that Northern Nigeria (the North Central, North East and North West), are still lagging behind in harnessing costuming arts potentials in the region, for revenue earnings.  It is therefore recommended that the government should create enabling environment for both local and foreign earnings through costume entrepreneurship. It is also suggested that theatre departments and closely related fields in Nigerian tertiary institutions should incorporate costume arts into their curriculum as a gainful enterprise for job creators and job seekers.