Development of Self-Instructional Manual in Teaching Tailoring Techniques for Home Economics Students in Universities of North Central, Nigeria

Abstract

This study developed a self-instructional manual for teaching tailoring techniques to home economics students in universities. The study is aimed at enhancing students’ acquisitions of some skills in tailoring techniques. The students were found to be facing some technical challenges in acquiring these skills largely because of the following reasons: too few teachers that lack the competence in tailoring skills impacting the to the students; technical instructor who are unwilling to devote enough time to instruct the students; competing demands on the time of the students which resulted in not allotting enough time to the course; Clothing construction and tailoring textbooks which could have been of help are scarce to come by and are too costly for the students to afford. The purpose of this study therefore was to develop self-instructional manual in tailoring techniques for Home Economics students in universities. Eight specific purposes guided the study. The study answered eight research questions and tested only one hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. The area of the study was north central geo-political zone of Nigeria. The study adopted Research and Development (R&D) design. It was carried out in five phases as follows; Phase 1- Development of Tailoring Technique Need Assessment Questionnaire, Phase II- Development of the self-instructional manual on tailoring techniques, Phase III – validation of the self-instructional manual, Phase 1V- teaching students tailoring techniques with the draft self-instructional Manual and Phase V- Testing the effectiveness of the self-instructional manual. The study was conducted in three universities out of seven universities that offer clothing construction courses. The population was 4052 comprising all the Home Economics lecturers, all the technical instructors, all registered tailors in the area, and all final year Home Economics students offering clothing and textile in the universities in the area of study. Purposive sampling technique was used to sample three universities as well as tailors. All the Home Economics lecturers in the three sampled universities totalling 14 and the 3 technical instructors- one from each university and all the final year students in the sampled universities totalling 139 students were entirely studied including 116 sampled tailors. Four sets of instruments were used for data collection. They are as follows-Tailoring Technique Need Assessment Questionnaire (TTNAQ), Self-instructional manual in tailoring techniques (SIMITT), Validates Assessment Questionnaire (VAQ), Practical skill test items in tailoring techniques (PSTIITT). Mean, ANCOVA and t-test were used to analyze the data collected. Major findings of the study include: self-instructional manual with pictorial views, Developed in students saleable skills suitable for successful careers in tailoring and develop in students’ positive attitudes and proper working habits for sustainable employment among others. A total of 97 tasks for achieving the specific objectives of tailoring techniques were determined, A total of 21 consumable materials and 35 instructional tools and equipment were required for the study, A total of 80 step by step procedure and 33 self- evaluation guidelines were developed for the study. The study found out that effective skill acquisition is possible with repeated exercises. The null hypothesis was rejected because those students that used the SIM performed better than those that used conventional method. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others, that in order to stimulate meaningful understanding and skill acquisition, students and teachers should adopt the use of self- instructional manuals. University council should organize workshops, seminars and conferences for the teachers to enlighten them on the importance and use of instructional manuals. The Nigerian government is encouraged to make good use of the information generated in this study either in print or in electronics in facilitating skill acquisition in Nigeria.