Published Article

ABSTRACT
Teachers' communication skills are essential for success in the classroom. It is
related to how the teacher speaks, listens, writes, and behaves while teaching. The
purpose of the study was to investigate the extent of influence of communication
skills on Agriculture teachers‟ teaching competency in public secondary schools in
the ONNA Local Government Area. One research question was postulated to guide
the study. A descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. The population of
the study consisted of all secondary school teachers teaching Agricultural subjects in
public secondary schools in the study area. The sample was purposively drawn to
include all the 42 Agriculture teachers in public secondary schools in the area. A
reliable and validated researcher-designed instrument was used for data collection.
Mean and standard deviation statistics were used for data analysis. The highest
mean of 3.94, indicating the highest influence was obtained in item no 6. "Speaking
clearly helps me to gain the attention of students in class", seconded by item no.1
"Listening gives me extra insight needed to answer questions to solve learners‟
problem", with the mean at 3.87, and thirdly, item no 11. "Using different
behaviours as body language facilitates my communication with students" had a
mean of 3.79. Teachers should adopt proper communication skills in classrooms to
boost their competency in teaching and for the students to gain meaningful learning
experiences.
KEYWORDS: Communication Skills, Learning, Teaching and Competency