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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background to the study

Folklore refers to the collective traditions, customs, stories, songs, beliefs, rituals, and

practices passed down orally or through practice within a community. It serves as a repository of

cultural knowledge, reflecting societal values, historical context, and communal identity.

Folklore encompasses myths, legends, fairy tales, proverbs, jokes, and rituals, connecting past

and present while evolving with societal changes. The term ‘folklore’ applies to various time of

oral prose and consequently there is disagreement in defining the genres characteristics. The

folklore differs from other types of epics in the sense that its imparted by its narrator and

perceived by its hearers first and foremost as a poetic invention and a play of imagination. This,

however, does not deprive the folklore with reality; it is reality that determines the folklore the

ideological content, language, plot motifs, and images. Many folklore reflect primitive social

relations and concepts. Totemism and animism. Folklores that originated during the period of

feudalism contain such figures as tsar. Tsarevich, knight and king. During the period of

capitalism, the folk narrators turned increasingly to the themes of money and trade. Folklore

express the contrast between wealth and poverty and to even greater extent, contained motifs of

class antagonism. Today some folklores still survive in books, while others have disappeared;

some are of interest only to the children, and others continue to interest adult audiences.

Folklore is an old beliefs, customs, stories, songs, and practices that has been to again and

again, often for generations. It is made up of two words ‘folk’ and ‘lore’. According to The new

lexicon webster’s dictionary of the English (2008) folk is defined as People belonging to a class,
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the great mass of common people that made up a nation, produced its unsophisticated art and

continue its traditions.

Its also defines ‘folklore’ as an anonymous traditional beliefs, customs, stories, songs,

and practices transmitted, the subjects rarely being tied to a particular time or place. A traditional

lores or legend originating among a particular people, handed down especially by word of mouth

and sometimes in written form.

Folklore are beliefs, customs, stories, songs, and practices that grew out of the lives and

imaginations of people, or folk. They have always been children’s favorite type of folk literature.

Its a tale or legend originating and tradition among a people or folk, especially one forming part

of the oral tradition of common people. A folklore is the oral traditional beliefs, customs, stories,

songs, and practices that is common to a specific culture and often passed along orally .

The folklore of all people have much in common, owing to similar cultural and historical

conditions. At the same time, they possessed national characteristics and reflect the way of life of

a given people, its work, everyday life, and natural surroundings. The narrator impart to the

folklores they perform their own individual traits and consequently most folklores are known in

many variants. Each of the most characteristics group of folklores has it’s own distinct

morphological structure. Some of these folklores originated before the formation of totemism. In

the cost of time they lost their mythological and magical character and became akin to

moralizing fables. Some fairy tails were also originally connected with myths and had a magical

character. Fairy tales about combat with dragons, about step-mother and step daughter-daughters

and about obtaining miraculous objects and became prevalent throughout the world. The fairy

tales of all peoples are richly ornamented stylistically and are marked by repetitions and by

intricate introductions and conclusions. Tales of adventures recount the unusual adventures of a
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hero, generally without magical fantasy. The heroes of these tales are quick-witted, resourceful

and shrewd. Akin to these works are tales about historical figures. Folklores about everyday life

often have a strong social orientation, the hero is usually a poor peasant, worker , or soldier, and

the setting is one familiar to the narrator. folklores have been the subject of great of research.

Folklorists who adhere to mythological theory have have studied it as ‘subject of ancient myths’.

Comparatist have generally have been concerned with the similarities between lots and motifs in

the tales of various people and have sought to establish the route taken by folklores in their

migration. Folklore , general term for any of the numerous varieties of traditional narrative. The

telling of story appears to be a cultural universal, common to the pre-industrial, ancient, and

more of modern and developed society alike. Even the forms of folklore are demonstrably

similar from culture to culture and comparative studies of the themes and narrative techniques

have been successful in showing the relationships. Among the foremost folklorists of the 19 th

century were Oskar Dahnhardt in Germany, S.O Addy in England, paul sebillot in france, and

Y.M Sokolov in Russia. Major 20th century scholars in the field include Franz Boaz, Richard

chase. Maria Campbell and Stith Thompson. Folklorist make distinction among the category of

folklores. Legends and traditions are narratives of an explanatory nature concerning creation and

tribal beginnings, supernatural beings and quasi-historical figures. These stories are related as

fact and concern a specific time and place. Fairy tales are entirely fictional and often begin with

such formulas as ‘ once upon a time’ and ‘in a certain country there lived’. Animal tales abound

in every culture; most of them are clearly anthropomorphic, the animals assuming human

personalities.

Folklores are beliefs, story in the oral tradition, or tales that people tell each other out

loud rather than stories written form. They are closely related to many story telling traditions,
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including fables myths, and fairy tales. Every human society has its own folklores; these well-

known stories, handed down between generations are an important way of passing along

knowledge, information and history. Folklore is used for entertainment and reductive purposes.

Besides entertaining the audience, folklore engages in moral education, social criticism and

philosophical reflection of life. Folklore often contain a lesson to be learned and can take many

forms like febble, tale and even ghost stories. Since they are handed down from generation to

generation, many folklores are not set in a specific time and place. Other particulars are

changeable, too. That way, whosoever is telling the tale can add or change details to make the

belief, customs and story more relevant to his or her culture.

Folklores are conducive for the inheritance of national culture and the cultivation of

children’s local feelings. There are many works in folklores that reflects ethnic customs and

national character. Folklores often transcend time and space with twisted and bizarre beliefs,

customs and stories. They are often fantastic creating a mysterious adventure atmosphere, which

is conducive to children’s imagination, aesthetic ability and creative spirit. Folklore are magical,

fantastic and mysterious, which is in line with the characteristics of students physical

development. Folklores are attractive and appealing to the student and can arouse student’s

curiosity. They provide children with a beautiful space for free imagination, and they are line

with the student’s mental development rules and can stimulate student’s will to study

independently. In using folklore to impart moral values into students, they are significantly

benefitted in terms of language skills, raising cultural awareness, and changing views towards

native and target societies.

Statement of the Problem

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The teaching of folklore in our junior secondary school is very important. The concept of

some folklore has a historical gap with today’s real life. Whether its expression of certain words

in life at a time, or the life event in the story at a time, they can be hardly understood by

children(student). Most teachers only use folklore in the language fields which most of them are

conducted in the form of oral, story-telling and performance. But the topic has not been viewed

from the perspective as it ought to be in schools. The requires the teacher to flexibly process

folkstories, select appropriate themes for teaching, and carryout educational activities, so that

folklores can be better applied and developed in junior secondary schools

Therefore, the main aim of this study is to investigate the importance of using folklore as

a tool for teaching moral values in Junior Secondary School in Onitsha South Local Government

Area of Anambra State.

Purpose of the Study

In the light of the above stated problems, the study therefore seek to identify the teachers

and learners perception folklore as a tool for teaching moral values in Junior Secondary School

in Onitsha South Local Government Area of Anambra State.

This work will be guided with the following objectives:

1. To ascertain the extent student has realized the importance of folklores.

2. To discover the extent of knowledge teachers have about folklores.

3. To ascertain the how the culture of our society can be transferred through folklore.

4. To discover the suitable ways the suitable ways of teaching folklore in junior

secondary school.
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Research Questions.

This study will be guided with the following research questions.

1. To what extent has student realize the importance of folklores.?

2. What knowledge do teachers have about folklores?

3. How can the culture of our society be transferred through folklore?

4. What are the suitable ways of teaching folklore in junior secondary school ?

Significance of the study

The study will benefit a number of individuals such as the teachers, students, curriculum
planners and future researchers.
The Teacher : the teacher stands to benefit from the study as it will expose to the various

techniques and strategies to adopt in teaching folklore to the student.

The student: this study will enable the student develop strong reading and listening skills

for the story of past history, study other cultures, model positive character traits, and discover a

love for stories that impact moral values.

This study provides valuable insights for curriculum planners on how folklore can be effectively

used to promote moral values among junior secondary school students. It encourages the integration of

culturally relevant teaching strategies into moral instruction, thereby improving classroom engagement

and learning outcomes.

Researcher: this study will serve as a spring board for future researchers who may wish to

carry out a study on folklore. It will also make the researchers to realize the implication of

inadequate use of folklore in teaching moral values.

Scope of the Study.

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The study of this covers the importance of using folklore in teaching moral values in

junior secondary schools. The case study of this work covers some selected junior secondary

schools in the Onitsha South Local Government Area of Anambra State.

CHAPTER TWO

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This review of related literature of this project will be done under the following sub-headings:

Conceptual framework, theoretical framework, empirical framework, and summary of literature

review.

Conceptual Framework.

Concept of Literature.

Literature is a term used to describe written and sometimes spoken materials. It is derived

from the latin word ‘litera’ meaning ‘writing formed with letters’. Literature most times refers to

work of creative imagination, including poetry, drama, fiction, non-fiction and some instances,

journalism and song. In simple term, literature represents the culture and tradition of a language

of a people. The concept is difficult to precisely define, though many have tried; its clear that the

accepted definition of literature is constantly changing and evolving.

The 11th edition of Merriam Webster’s collegiate dictionary considers literature to be

“writings having excellence of form or expression, expressing ideas of permanent or universal

interest “the 19th century critics Walter Pater referred to” the matter of imagination or artistic

literature” as “a transcript, not of mere fact, but fact in its infinitely varied form”. Deriving from

the Latin word litra, “ a letter of the alphabet”, literature first and foremost human kinds entire
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body of writing: after that it’s a body of writing belonging to a given language of people; then its

is individual pieces of writing. Literature is product of human imagination employing language

creatively to reflect to man’s relationship within his or her environment. It’s a morrow that

reflects the reality of the society. Literature is the use of language in a peculiar way in order to

reflect social realities through artistic use of language. Literature is an imitation and creative

writing which uses language to express human reality.

Forms of literature

Majorly there are two forms of literature, which are written and oral literature.

Written literature is a form of human expression through writing. That is to say, it is a

literature expressed or conveyed through written forms. Unlike oral literature, this kind of

literature began with the invention of writing. Oral literature is the standard form of literature

found in the societies without writing. The term oral literature is used to describe the tradition in

written civilizations which certain genres are transmitted by word of mouth or a confined to the

so-called folk. Oral literature is arguably the best phrase available for describing these two

senses. The term oral covers both, but these two meanings should be distinguished. While the

certain forms such as folklore continue to exist, especially among the unlettered component of

complex sentence, what might be also called oral tradition pr folk literature is inevitably

influenced by the elite written culture. Oral tradition is the passing along of knowledge including

tradition, custom and skills by words of mouth from one generation to the other. Oral literature is

very strong and forceful in the entertainment and educative of the lives of our society.

Concept of folklores

Folklore encompasses the traditional beliefs, customs, stories, songs, and practices passed
down through generations within a culture, typically transmitted orally. It includes myths,
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legends, fairy tales, proverbs, and rituals that reflect a community's values, history, and
worldview.

In recent years, several authors and artists have drawn inspiration from folklore, integrating it
into their works to explore cultural identity, history, and societal themes. Notable examples
include:

Paulina (2023) a Polish artist who transformed a traditional wooden house in Rabka-

Zdrój into a space for art residencies and heritage preservation. Her work delves into Polish

folklore and mythology, blending traditional craft with contemporary art. Bonfante (2019), an

American author who created the "Full Moon Fairy" tradition, a series of children's books

inspired by folklore. Her stories aim to teach children about lunar cycles while imparting values

of respect and connection to nature. Action, (2023), author of "Oaklore," a book celebrating the

British oak tree and its significance in folklore. Acton emphasizes the need to protect ancient

oaks, highlighting their historical and ecological importance.

Nwapa (2019), a pioneering Nigerian author who incorporated elements of African

folklore and myth into her novels, such as "Efuru" and "Idu." Her work showcases how myth

serves as a plot generator, reflecting cultural interpretations and societal values.

Folklore continues to be a rich source of inspiration for contemporary authors, who

reimagine traditional tales to explore modern themes and diverse cultural narratives. Here are

some notable examples: Katherine Arden: In her "Winternight Trilogy," beginning with The

Bear and the Nightingale, Arden draws from Slavic folklore, weaving a narrative set during the

rise of Christianity in Russia.

Madeline(2018), known for her novels The Song of Achilles and Circe, Miller

reinterprets ancient Greek myths, providing fresh perspectives on classic tales. Neil Gaiman:
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Gaiman's works, such as American Gods and Norse Mythology, blend various mythological

elements into contemporary settings, creating rich, fantastical narratives.

Anita, (2018): In her novel the wind on her tongue, Kopacz reimagines the Yoruba Orisha Oya in

1870s America, exploring themes of power and resilience. Mark (2017), his collection Dogs and

Monsters reworks ancient myths, such as those from Homer and Ovid, into modern narratives,

showcasing the enduring relevance of these stories.These authors demonstrate the versatility of

folklore as a foundation for storytelling, allowing for the exploration of contemporary issues

through the lens of traditional narratives.

Composition of Folklore

Memorization is the key factor of folklores as in all oral poetry, the storyteller simply

goes fluently through the delivery of his or her story because he has already memorized it from

the already existing words, which bas been composed before. In nenwe, the performer does not

add his or her own words especially when delivering a popular folklore. He only needs to deliver

the story as it is. Even among children during storytelling, when the performer omits or adds a

line in the popular story, one person normally interrupt him or her from audience by either

adding the omitted line or ejective the new word.

Jacob Prachier “The African folklore” published in Nigeria magazine (1980:18), states that these

folklores, songs, riddles and proverbs are for traditional African themselves. The Africans

therefore has their own literature before the advent of written literature and Deny Thompson in

the distant poetry of the pre-literate confirm it thus

Through oral, their composition have to be called

‘literature’ because there is no other word oral poems

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Are positively not rudimentary form of written

Poetry but an independent mode.

According to Peters Helen in “Reflection on the preservation of Igbo folk literature” in

The couch (1971 pg 7)… is especially an oral literature. The folklore, myths, legends, proverbs,

riddles and folk speech are prevalent genres of Igbo literature.

The folklore is very common among its users and possibly, the most popular and widely of all

igbo narratives. It is apparent therefore that all Igbo narratives. It is apparent therefore that

folklores has an important role in the life of the people, otherwise it would not be so popular and

so widely used. The question is now what exactly is nature of his role associated with folklores?

According to Peters Helen un the same book stated above “folklores in general shows their

derivation cultural setting which they occur more clearly than other forms”.

Different views have been expressed as to whether it has other social values. In Professor E.N

Obiechina’s Transition from oral Literary Tradition (1907)”two schools- the entertainment and

functions schools hold the following view on this matter. The entertainment school holds that

oral literature was a form of primitive art and as such, it had no real purpose except to entertain,

while the functional school holds that entertainment is purely incidental but a social motive lies

behind folk literature”.

For the purpose of this study, the last assertion seems more acceptable, especially when we

consider the nature of the folklores. To any indigene of folklores are both a medium through

which the youth are given moral education and are also introduced in the culture of the people.

Importance of Folklore
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A folklore has an important role in knowledge transfer and personality development. It also

has power to influence people’s attitude, behavior, and many other factors important to human’s

life as well as the society. Folklore can be used to help children develop strong reading skills,

study other cultures, model positive character traits, and discover a love for stories. Since

folklore have been passed down through the oral tradition, they were easy to remember and

share. As a result, folklore makes it easier for children to differentiate characters, follow a

plotline or recall a sequence of events. Not surprisingly, working with folklores can also help

students develop the critical reading skills of comprehension, vocabulary fluency and phonics

needed to meet the requirements defined in the common core standards for reading.

However, folklore are not only highly entertaining, they also play an important role in

passing along core values or character traits. Folklore were often employed to share a common

history, tom reinforce cultural values or highlight important traditions. Folklore can demonstrate

the importance of making difficult decisions under challenging circumstances. Engaging students

in discussions about the consequences of making poorly thought-out or rash decisions, helps

them to see the importance of making effective decisions in their lives. Folklores by their nature

celebrate diversity. By experiencing stories from different cultures, students can discover

valuable insights about another culture’s values, beliefs, history, practices and customs. When

students learn about diverse cultural traditions, they don’t only broaden their view of the world,

they may also develop a greater appreciation of their own family’s heritage.

Folklore can be used in a variety of ways to help students:

 Model character traits

 Study their cultures and other people’s cultures

 Develop stronger reading skills

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 Appreciate other traditions

 Learn about decision making

 Explore new ways of seeing the world

 Discover a love of stories

Concept of English language.

English Language is the primary Language of several countries, including Australia,

Canada, New Zealand, The United Kingdom and many of its former colonies and the United

States and it is second Language in a number of multi lingual countries. According to online

vocabulary.com dictionary, the term English is derived from “Anglisc the speech of the Angles

one of the three Germanic tribe that invaded England during the fifth century”. Adetunji (2019)

stated that “English is conventionally divided into three major historical period, old English,

middle English and modern English”. He further explains that English on its own is an Indo

European Language in the western Germanic Language group. Modern English is widely

considered to be the lingua franca of the world and it is the standard Language in a wild variety

of field including, computer cording, international businesses and higher education. According to

Adegbija (2018) “English Language belong to indo Europian family of languages and it is

therefore related to most other Language spoken in Europe and western Asia from Iceland to

India. The parent tongue called proto-Indo European, was spoken about 5000 years ago by

nomads who were believed to have roamed the south east European plain. Germanic one of the

Language group descended from this ancestral speech, is usually divided by scholars into three

groups.

Although German is related to English but remain far more conservative than English

Language its retention of a fairly elaborate system of reflection. Odejide (2019) emphasized that
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modern English is analytic, that is, it is relatively uninflected, whereas proto-indo European the

ancestral tongue of most of the modern European Language like German, French Russian and

Greek.

During the course of thousands of years, English words have been slowly simplified from

inflected variable form found in Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, Russia and German towards invariable

form as in Chinese and Vietnamese. The German and Chinese word for the noun man, for

example has five forms, Mann, Mannes, Manne, manner and manner. While English on its own

stands with four forms, man, man’s, men and men’s. Odejide (2019) stated that English is the

only European Language to employ uninflected adjectives. However, the importance of English

Language grew as it stated to be use as official document, popular literature and new versions of

the bible.

Importance of teaching and learning

Teaching and learning goes hand in hand, effective teaching continually improves their

skill by learning about the latest trend in the field of education. According to Mbakwem (2011)

“teaching and learning refers to interaction among the student, teacher, content and the

knowledge, skill and disposition students will need for growth and development of intellect”.

This means that teaching and learning leads to intellectual development of the students.

There are numerous reasons people get involved with teaching and learning. Some have love for

knowledge and the prestige it brings. Others for the promise of better life that comes with

promotion at work which is directly proportional qualification. According to Odusanya (2011)

“teaching and learning raises Nigerians human development index [HDI]. This HDI is computed

with several parameters and the number of educated people. That is the literacy level of the

people of a country”. Teaching and learning increases the knowledge. The price people pay for
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ignorance is exorbitant. Since education increases knowledge which on itself is the cure for

ignorance, it should be important to us as an individual because it can better our lives and makes

us more civil citizens of our country Nigeria.

Adelue (2011) also stated that “teaching and learning also enables peers to experience

social interactions with their teachers and develop children socially within the realm of their

academics”. Teaching and learning brings about socialization. Through education, people get to

know the value, norms and the value of places in which they live. They get to interact with a

number of people from teachers to students’ relationship [formal setting] or teacher apprentice

relationship [informal setting]. The most important is that it brings people together and in the

process of learning, people can increase their social capital and build interrelationship skill.

According to Belewa (2011) “teaching and learning helps to train younger experts to take service

rendition from aging superior”. While this point is self-explanatory, several examples can

buttress it more. Teachers are trained in universities and colleges of educations to take up the

duties of aging teachers and retired ones. Education training is what people need to education ass

through, despite your field of interest. Hence it is clear that education is what Nigerians need to

build a strong team of experts into her work force for a higher degree of efficiency and

productivity.

Schools are the second place after home where student’s behavior and future education

success are shaped. At school, there are many element or factors that can influence the teaching

and learning process. For instance in Nigeria schools feeding program was introduced by federal

government for basic pupils and lower basic classes. This program was an effort to bring

children into the classroom and keep them there sufficiently enough to get basic education which

will make their lives as young people good and their adulthood a lot better.
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When teaching and learning takes place in a good and conducive environment, it provides

power of education to our youths, thereby given them the possibility of a better future. Adeleke

(2002) emphasis that “through teaching, the teacher simplifies the complex and makes abstract

concept accessible to the student and also expose children to the idea and topics that they might

otherwise not come into contact with”.

Theoretical Framework

Theories of Folklore in literature.

Theories are bringing up a broader understanding of folklores. They complement the

social functions and educational values of the folklore. Tales are the mirror of the society, which

are ticinisekisimasiko (validation of culture), bulingisimdlalo (dramatic performance) and

likhonobulandzi (narrative technigues). Folklore is part of oral tradition and oral literature.

Folklore needs an acknowdgement as one of the oral literature part perspective that is

educational and culture-bound.

During folklore performances, culture and communication are evident (Martin and

Nakayama 2013). The tone of the voice, facial expression and gestures all influence the

dimensions of verbal and nonverbal communications.

The Theory of Vladimir Propp the Russian folklorist

His theory concentrated on the syntagmatic organization of the folklore called the

morphology of the folklore. He seeks to analyze folklore according to its component parts. He

divides this into variables and functions. He defines a function as an act of a character seen from

the point of view of its significance for the course of the action (Propp (1958:21). Propp

maintains that function is the basic structural unit. From many Russian fairly tales that Propp
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analysed, the conclusion he arrived at the number of functions known to a folklore is 31. The

variables on the other hand are non-constant, they are characters and attributes.

The Theory of Axel Olrik

According to Olrik’s laws (Olrik 1908 in Dundes 1965:129), a tale has a beginning (law

of opening), a middle or body, which presents the conflict between the protagonist and

antagonist, and the ending or resolution (law of closing) in which conflict is resolved and

harmony is re-established. Harold Scheub (26 August 1931 to 16 October 2019) an American

Africanist recorded and compiled Oral literature across Southern African. The Scheubean

approach on folklore is much broader, it analyses not only the structure, but also the theme,

setting, characterization and style (mainly the use of repetition and ideophones). Scheub admits

that there is repertory of core-images which gives the artist a variety of choices in the

construction of a folklore (Scheub, 1975: 96). Scheub insists that this core images, whose core-

cliché is a song, a chant of a saying, is a structural unit because during performance it is

expanded to create a tension of conflict and resolution. The broadness of the Scheub’s theory

coves the plot structure from exposition, rising action, climax and denouement to an end as well

as the repetition techniques that are evident in a literary and linguistic discourse.

Thwala Jozi Joseph a Siswati folklorist born on 22 April 1959 argues that African people

were previously known as people without literature and culture. However, through the

intellectuals of Africa, this has proved to be incorrect assertion. African people did have culture,

but there were no written records of literature. They narrated events and stories out of memory.

The absence of written records compelled the African people to be excellent in their memory.

African narrative prose was studied by most African authors and some started their studies of the

subject by expressing their views on this aspect of the cultural life of the people of Africa.
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Review of Empirical Studies

According to Chinyere (2004) “Folklore as a tool for teaching moral values in Adazi-enu

in Aniocha L.G.A Anambra State”. Memorization is the key factor of folklore, the story telling

simply goes fluently through the delivery of his or her story because he has already memorized it

from the already existing words, which has been composed before. In Adazi-enu the performer

does not add his own works especially when delivering a popular folklore. He only needs to

deliver the story as it is. Even among children during story-telling, when the performer omits or

adds a line in a popular story, one person normally interrupts him or her from the audience by

either adding the omitted or rejecting the new one”.

This study examined the uses of folklores to inculcate values in adolescents in secondary

schools. The descriptive correlational research method was employed. Data were collected using

the structured questionnaire" Test System Based (IELTS-Based) test. Further, this study utilized

the frequency and percentage, mean, standard deviation. t-test and ANOVA. The findings of the

study revealed among others that the contents of folklore for use in inculcating values in

adolescents include fables, jokes, legends, drama among others. It was recommended among

others that parents and teachers as stakeholders in the child upbringing should as a matter of

necessity, stand firm at their duty post by employing folklores and short stories to entertain and

inculcate the right type of values that will equip adolescents to positively contribute to the

development of the society.

Karen and Bangelisan (2018) also studied on "Folklore as a tool for teaching moral

values in Idemili North in Aniocha L.G.A in Anambra State". The study was carried out among
 19

the fifty respondents. The descriptive correlational research method was employed. Data were

collected using the International English Language" Test System Based (IELTS-Based) test.

Further, this study utilized the frequency and percentage, mean, standard deviation. t-test and

ANOVA. Results revealed that even among children during story telling, when the performer

omits or adds a line in a popular story in English. Furthermore, results revealed that the

respondents' speaking and listening skill revealed a high significance which can be deduced that

the respondents are not effective communicator. Hence, addressing this gap, a Communication

Enhancement Program was proposed to address the speaking and listening needs of the

respondents.

Summary of Literature Review

This chapter of the study reviewed some related literature surrounding folklore as a tool

for teaching moral values in Junior Secondary School. The review began with the conceptual

review exposed this study to various definitions of the concepts of Literature, Concept of

folklores, importance of folklore.

Some theories that guided this study which includes The theory of Vladimir Propp the

Russian folklorist. His theory concentrated on the syntagmatic organization of the folklore called

the morphology of the folklore. He seeks to analyze folklore according to its component parts.

Another theory is the theory of Axel Olrik. The founder propounded it in 1908 and was cited in

Dundes 1965).

Under empirical studies, the study reviewed past scholarly works which were conducted

on the folklore as a tool for teaching moral values in Junior Secondary School. According to

Chinyere (2004) “Folklore as a tool for teaching moral values in Adazi-Enu in Aniocha L.G.A

Anambra State”. Karen and Bangelisan (2018) also studied on "Folklore as a tool for teaching
 20

moral values in Idemili North in Aniocha L.G.A in Anambra State".

In this study the researcher endeavored to investigate the folklore as a tool for teaching moral

values in Junior Secondary School.

CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH METHOD

This chapter is concerned with the method adopted in the study. It is therefore a plan of activities

that have been implemented by the researcher towards ensuring successful accomplishment of

this work. In so doing, the researcher describe how problem stated in research will be studied

inorder to ensure validity of the research as well as to avoid misconception.

This chapter will be discussed under the following sub-heading: A research design, Area

of study, Population of study, sample and sampling technique, Instrument for validation of data,

reliability of the instrument, method of data collection and method of data analysis.

Research Design

Descriptive research design was used for the study. Survey according to Ugbede (2006) is

the study of both large and small population by selecting and studying samples chosen from the

population to discover audience distribution and interrelations of sociological and variable. The

survey design is considered apt for this study because it enables the researcher to generate data

through standard collection of procedures based on highly structured research instrument(s) and

well defined study concepts and related variables.

Area of the Study

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Onitsha South is a local government area in Anambra North Senatorial Zone of

Anambra State, Nigeria. The headquarters is in Fegge, Onitsha. Onitsha South is predominantly

commercial with popular markets such as Ochanja market which attracts thousands of buyers

and sellers of variety of commodities. The revenue of the Onitsha South local government area is

generated mostly from commercial activities. It has a total Area of 4.12gm (10.66km²) and

population of about two hundred and twenty-six thousand. There are five public secondary
34
schools in Onitsha South local government namely, Metu Memorial Secondary School, Urban

Girls Secondary School Onitsha, Urban Boys Secondary School Onitsha, Modebe Memorial

Secondary School, Special Secondary School for the Deaf Odakopu.

Population of the Study

The total population of this study was 3019 students. The population of this study

comprised all government secondary school students in Onitsha South Local Government Area

of Anambra State which are, Metu Memorial Secondary School, Urban Girls Secondary School

Onitsha, Urban Boys Secondary School Onitsha, Modebe Memorial Secondary School, Special

Secondary School for the Deaf Odakopu.

Sample and Sampling Technique

Purposive sampling technique was used in this research in order to focus on a limited

number of respondents. The respondent for this study were randomly selected. Purposive

sampling was used to draw seventy five (75) numbers of both teachers and students from each

school making it a total of three hundred (300) in all the four public schools in Onitsha South

Local Government Area of Anambra State.

Instrument for Data Collection

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The instrument used for data collection was a questionnaire. The instrument was self-

developed by the researcher title importance of using folklore in teaching moral values in junior

secondary schools Questionnaire. The questionnaire was developed from the literature in line

with the objectives of the study. It was organized in three sections: A and B. Section A is used to

obtain relevant personal information about the respondent while Section B was used to gather

formation on the knowledge of health implication of drug abuse among the students, the

questionnaire was structured based on the Likert scale structure of Strongly Agreed (SA) 4,

Agreed (A) 3, Disagreed (D) 2, Strongly Disagreed (SD) 1point respectively.

Validation of the Instrument

The researcher, in order to ascertain the face validity of the instrument, constructed

questionnaire and gave the draft copy to my supervisor and one other lectures from school of

education Nsugbe. They went through the instruments and made their comments based on their

observations. Their inputs was used by the researcher to modify the items of the questionnaire

before final draft.

Reliability of the Instrument

Test-retest method was used to ascertain the reliability of the study. The researcher used

20 of both junior secondary school teachers and students who did not participate in the main

studies. Copies of questionnaire were given to them to fill and these were collected immediately.

The items of the questionnaire were resulted and re-arranged and then administered to the same

set of students after two weeks. The scores of data collected were analyzed using Pearson

Product Moment Correlation, and it gave rise to 0.75 correlation index which was considered

high hence the instrument was deemed valid for the study.
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Method of Data Collection.

Structured questionnaire is use to collect data for analyzing the research question. Three

hundred questionnaire were administered. The questionnaire consists of two parts. Part 1

concerns the respondent personal data. Part 2 is for item on infrastructural materials. The

questionnaire were administered at a spot by the researchers to all the respondent in the selected

schools and were collected almost immediately.

Method of Data Analysis

Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions. The data were

analysed using mean and standard deviation.

Norminal values was assigned to different scaling statement on a four point –racket scale as

follows

Strongly agree SA =4

Agree A =3

Disagree D =2

Strongly disagree SD =1

The calculation of the design point cut off using the four point scale is

4+ 3+2+1 10
=
4 4

=2.5

Since the score is 2.5, it was decided that any response having a mean score of 2.5 and
above will be accepted to be positive while any other below the mean of 2.5 will be negative.

∑ fx
Formular for the calculation of mean is X
N
 24

Where X = mean

∑ = summation of sign

F = frequency of response or item under each category

X = Normal value of sample
N = Total number of response.
TRANSMITTAL LETTER

Department of English and Literally Studies,

Nwafor Orizu College of Education, Nsugbe,

In Affiliation with University Nigeria, Nsukka.

22nd September, 2025.

Dear Respondent,

REQUEST FOR COMPLETION OF QUESTIONNAIRE

I am a final year student of the above department, currently carrying our research on the

importance of using folklore as a tool for teaching moral values in Junior Secondary School in

Onitsha South Local Government Area of Anambra State.

I therefore rely on your honest and precise answers to enable me execute this project. I

promise that your responses will be treated confidentially.

Thanks for your response in anticipation.

Yours’ Faithfully

Oluebube
(Researcher)
 25

QUESTIONNAIRE

SAECTION A

Please tick (✓) as applicable to you

Sex: i. Male ii. Female

Class i. SS1 ii. SS2 iii SS3

SECTION B

Kindly show tour extent of agreement to each of the following question by ticking (✓) in one of

the boxes against the options using the following key to guide you:

Strongly agreed Agreed Disagree Strongly Disagree

Research Question 1: To what extent has student realize the importance of folklores?

NO ITEMS STATEMENT SA A D SD
1 Folklore has power to influence people’s attitude,
behavior
2 Folklore can be used to help children develop strong
reading skills and study other cultures
3 Folklore play an important role in passing along core
values or character traits
4 Folklore were often employed to share a common
history.
5 Folklore can demonstrate the importance of making
difficult decisions under challenging circumstances

Research Question 2: What knowledge do teachers have about folklores?

NO ITEMS STATEMENT SA A D SD
 26

6 Folklore encompasses the traditional beliefs

7 Folklore continues to be a rich source of inspiration for
contemporary authors
8 The folklore is very common among teachers
9 Folklores has an important role in the life of the people
10 Folk speech are prevalent genres of Igbo literature

Research Question 3: How can the culture of our society be transferred through folklore?

NO ITEMS STATEMENT SA A D SD
11
12
13
14
15

Research Question 4: What are the suitable ways of teaching folklore in junior secondary

school?

NO ITEMS STATEMENT SA A D SD
16
17
18
19
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