COLLABORATIVE TEACHING AND SELF-REGULATION AS DETERMINANTS OF LITERACY SKILLS ACQUISITION OF PUPILS WITH MILD-TO-MODERATE INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY IN KWARA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Pupils with mild-to-moderate intellectual disability often struggle with literacy skills due to challenges like limited working memory and attention span, which are crucial for daily life. However, when these pupils acquire reading and writing skills, they gain the ability to communicate independently, expressing their needs and wants effectively. This study investigated collaborative teaching and self-regulation as determinants of literacy skills acquisition of pupils with mild-to-moderate intellectual disability in Kwara State, Nigeria. Five purposes, three research questions and three hypotheses were formulated. The research design for the study was a descriptive design of correlational type, while the population of this study consisted of 34 teachers teaching pupils with mild-to-moderate intellectual disability, with a sample size of 34 individuals selected from three special schools in Kwara State. A census sampling technique was used to select all the participants from each school. Three instruments were used to collect data from teachers tagged “Collaborative Teaching Questionnaire” (CTQ), “Teacher Self-Regulation Questionnaire” (TSRQ) and “Literacy Skills Acquisition Questionnaire” (LSAQ). The face and content validity of the instruments were ascertained by the researcher’s readers, experts in the field of Special Education. The reliability of the instruments was ascertained through test-retest on the respondents outside the sampled population; afterwards, the results were correlated yield the results at 0.80, 0.79 and 0.80 respectively using Pearson Product-Moment Correlation (PPMC). Research questions were analysed using mean and standard deviation. Hypotheses one and two were tested using Regression, and hypothesis three was tested using an independent sample t-test at a 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that the extent of collaborative teaching of pupils with mild-to-moderate intellectual disability in Kwara State is high (Mean= 3.40). The extent of teacher self-regulation in teaching pupils with mild-to-moderate intellectual disability in Kwara State is high (Mean= 3.40). The level of literacy skills acquisition among pupils with mild-to-moderate intellectual disability in Kwara State is high (Mean= 3.40). Collaborative teaching significantly determined literacy skills acquisition of pupils with mild-to-moderate intellectual disability (?= 0.548; t₃₂ =3.706; P= 0.001). Teachers’ self-regulation significantly determined literacy skills acquisition of pupils with mild-to-moderate intellectual disability (?=0.313; t₃₂=1.866; P = 0.071). There was no significant difference in literacy skills acquisition of pupils with mild-to-moderate intellectual disability in Kwara State based on gender (t₃₂=2.211; P=0.373). It was concluded that collaborative teaching and self-regulation determined literacy skills acquisition among pupils with mild-to-moderate intellectual disability in Kwara State. Therefore, the study recommended that the curriculum planners should effectively develop collaborative teaching method; design and implement collaborative teaching models that pair special education teachers with general education teachers and school administrators should ensure that both male and female pupils with mild-to-moderate intellectual disabilities have equal access to literacy instruction and support.