QUALITY ASSURANCE IN THE INSTRUCTION AND LEARNING OF SHORTHAND SKILLS IN TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS IN ENUGU STATE

Abstract

In pursuance of quality assurance in teaching and learning of shorthand in tertiary institutions, it became pertinent in this study to survey the problems encountered by students in learning shorthand as perceived by both students and lecturers. The population consisted of 281 students and 20 lecturers drawn from the two tertiary institutions offering shorthand courses at ND and NCE levels in Enugu State. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select 196 (70%) students used in the study. All the 20 lecturers were used since the population was manageable. Three research questions were raised to guide the study, and two null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. A total of 185 (94%) sets of questionnaire duly completed and returned by the students and 20 (100%) sets of questionnaire completed and returned by the lecturers were used for the study. Mean was used in analyzing the data collected, and the hypotheses formulated were tested using the t-test. The results of data analyzed showed that students and lecturers were unanimous in their opinion
regarding what constitutes problems to students in learning shorthand skills at both ND and NCE levels. It was recommended that lecturers should aim at sustaining students' interest and improving their performance in learning shorthand skills. There is need for the students to begin early enough to practise and drill on printed shorthand on daily basis to enhance recall of outlines during dictation. Given also the complementary nature of typing skills to shorthand, the interest of shorthand students should be sufficiently aroused and sustained in learning and perfecting in typewriting skills.