Understanding and interpretation

Teaching and learning are two interrelated concepts. This is because the purpose of teaching is to bring about learning. Teaching, as defined by Olori (2007), is a conscious effort by an experienced person to impart knowledge, skills, values or information to a less experienced person who is equally willing to learn. It is a deliberate activity which is geared towards inducing learning between a teacher who teaches and the leaner that learns. From the aforementioned, it is evident that teaching cannot be said to have taken place without learning.

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Dada (1999) also observes that teaching is usually considered in relation to learning since in order to teach, we need to have learners. He also notes that in our everyday classroom activities as teachers, each time we teach, our purpose is to bring about learning or to facilitate it. He consequently defines teaching as a system of instructional activities which are intended to bring about, or facilitate learning and carried out in such a way as to respect students‟ intellectual integrity and capacity for independent judgment. This view is given support by Okeowo (2009) who notes that the key role of a teacher is to teach the students and to ensure that they are learning through the various teaching skills which abound in the classroom situation. Consequently, teaching can be defined as a deliberate and purposeful activity carried out by a well trained personality with the sole aim of bringing about a desired change in learners‟

behaviour.

Although the main aim of teaching is to bring about learning, it should be noted that not all teaching activities cause learning. Factors such as teachers‟ personal quality, physical condition of the classroom and students‟ interests interact to bring about meaningful learning. This is perhaps the reason behind the submission of Okeowo (2009) that the task of teaching is too important, complex, and challenging to be left in the hands of individuals who are not well equipped and knowledgeable to fully help students acquire knowledge, skills and appreciation by means of systematic method of instruction.

From our discussion so far, learning can be viewed as a product of teaching.

Learning occupies a very important place in our life. Most of what we do or not do is influenced by what we learn and how we have learnt it. Chauhan (2001) describes learning as any change in the general activity of an organism, the effects of which persist and recur over a period of time and which are strengthened by repetition or practice.

Also, Adesemowo, Sotonade & Okubanjo (1998) define learning as the relatively permanent change in behavioural potentiality that occurs in learning environment as a result of reinforcement, practice and experience

Although there are many definitions of learning, there is a meeting point in the various definitions of learning put forward by researchers, psychologists and educationists. Scholars (Okoye 1982, Adesemowo, Sotonade & Okubanjo 1998, Dada 1999, Chauhan 2000, Mangal 2002, Olori 2007 and Okeowo 2009) view learning as a

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relatively permanent change in human behaviour which occurs as a result of experience.

From the foregoing, we can infer that in any learning situation, the change in behaviour does not occur in a vacuum but as a result of an exposure to stimuli.

Learning, as a process, is in phases (Adesemowo, Sotonade & Okubanjo 1998).

This means that before learning can take place, several stages have to be involved. The first stage is the acquisition stage where the learner must be ready to learn, acquire a skill or assimilates what he\she is taught. The second stage is the storage or retention stage where the learner is expected to commit what has been acquired in the first stage to memory. The third stage is the retrieval stage where the learner is expected to recall and reproduce the stored experiences or information. If he/she is able to recall the important points that are previously acquired and stored, it shows that effective learning has taken place.

For effective teaching and learning to take place, Olori (2007) identifies the roles of the teacher and the students as:

1. Planning: The primary roles of the teacher in preparing what to teach is to specify the objectives to be achieved. These are what he expects the students to be able to do at the end of the lesson. These will guide him in the selection of subject matter and the methods or strategies to be used to achieve the set objectives.

2. Organising: The teacher must assume the role of a manager and organiser of students in a manner that will assist them to meet the set objectives. The teacher must arrange and present the lesson in such a way that it will have unity, sequence or proper organisation. The teacher should not only be a master of his/her subject, he/she must possess the ability to effectively organise the materials of instruction to suit the age, experience and conditions of the learners.

3. Guiding: One of the primary roles of the teacher is to give educational guidance, vocational guidance and personal counseling to the students. The teacher also shares a warm and helpful relationship with the students that will assist in bringing the best out of them. The teacher should also strive to make learners active participants in the learning process by guiding them to discover things themselves.

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4. Imparting Knowledge: It is important for a teacher to have a good mastery of the subject-matter he/she teaches. Perhaps, the most important role of the teacher in any educational setting is to impart knowledge to others. Adesemowo, Sotonade

& Okubanjo (1998) opine that having a good mastery of the subject matter will enhance the teacher‟s personality. Teachers who do not possess a good mastery of their subject-matter will not be respected by the students. The society relies on the teacher for the impartation of the desired knowledge, values, ideas, concepts, information, principles and skill to the young generations.

5. Evaluation: The teacher has to integrate evaluation procedures into his\her teaching. This is to measure the extent to which the stated objectives have been achieved. Evaluation has to be a continuous process running through every stage of the teaching\learning process. It has to be done at the end of units, at the end of groups of related units etc in order to find out if we are making any progress and at what rate.