TEACHERS’ OPINION ON THE RELEVANCE OF YORUBA MYTHS AMONG YOUTHS IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY NIGERIA

Abstract

This study examined teachers’ opinion on the relevance of Yoruba myths among the youths in the twenty-first century Nigeria. The study was descriptive in nature where 207 randomly selected basic school teachers of Yoruba language participated. An eighteen-item researcher-designed questionnaire was employed to elicit responses from the respondents. A research question and one hypothesis were answered and tested respectively. The research question was answered using mean and standard deviation, while the t-test was employed to test the hypothesis. The teachers’ opinion was measured on a 4-point scale of Strongly Disagree (1.00-1.49); Disagree (1.50-2.49); Agree (2.50-3.49); and Strongly Agree (3.50-4.00). The findings of the study revealed that teachers had an “Agree” opinion on the relevance of Yoruba myths among the youths in the twenty-first century Nigeria with a mean score and standard deviation of 2.67 and 0.613 respectively; and gender significantly influenced teachers’ opinion. The study concluded that Yoruba myths are still relevant to instill fear and teach morals, among others in the youths in the twenty-first century Nigeria. It thus recommended that teachers should maintain and sustain narration of Yoruba folk stories, especially myths in order to employ the values of these stories to enrich the youths.