CHAPTER ONE/INTRODUCTION

Sefi Atta was born in Lagos Nigeria, in 1964, to a family of five children. Her father Abudul-Aziz Atta was the secretary to the federal government and head of civil service until his death in 1972, and she was raised by her mother Iyabo Atta. She attended Queens College, Lagos and mill field school in England in 1985; she graduated from Birmingham University and trained as a charted accountant. She moved from England to the United States in 1994 with her husband, GboyeyaRansome-Kuti, a medical doctor and son of profession OlikoyeRansome-Kuti and they are blessed with one daughter. She currently lives in Meridian Mississippi.

Sefi Atta delved into writing while working as a C.P.A in New York and in 2001, she graduated from creative writing program at Antioch University Los- Angeles. Her short stories have appeared in literary journals such as Los-Angeles review, Mississippi review and world literature today possible, her books have been translated to several languages. Her novel include Bit of difference a (2009)Swallow (2010), Everything Good Will Come (2005). Her short stories collections include News From Home (2010), An Ordinary Legacy, The Muson Festival, Muson Centre (2010), The Naming Ceremony, New World Nigeria.

Her selected awards and recognitions include Wole Soyinka prize for literature in Africa (2006), Noma award for publishing in Africa (2009), Caine prize for African literature, shortlist (2006), PEN international David TK Wong prize, 1^st Prize (2005), BBC African Performance, 2^nd prize (2004), Glimmer Trains very short fiction Award, finalist (2003), Red Hen Press Short Story Award, 1^st Prize (2003), EcoleNormalesuperjeure de Lyon (2010), Northern Western University (2008), University of Southern Mississippi (2008).

In a nutshell, Sefi Atta is one of active Feminists in modern African literature. Her works and numerous contributions have no doubts aided to the promotion of the life standard of womenfolk’s in contemporary African literature

Tess onwueme

Nigerian-born playwright and 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature nominee, Tess Onwueme is an internationally known playwright and scholar, who rose to prominence writing plays with themes of social justice, women, culture and the environment. She held the exclusive and eminent position of University Professor of Global Letters, and Professor of English, at the University of Wisconsin- EC for nearly three decades.

She has won several international awards, including: the Fonlon-Nichols Award (2009); the Phyllis Wheatley/Nwapa Award for Outstanding Black Writers (2008); the Martin Luther King Jr./Caeser Chavez Distinguished Writers Award (1989 & 90); the African Distinguished Authors Award (1988): and the only four-time winner of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Drama Prize with her plays: The Desert Encroaches (1985); Tell It to Women (1995); Then She Said It (2003) and Shakara; Dance-Hall Queen (2001). Among her other award-winning works are: The Missing Face (2002); No Vacancy (2005); What Mama Said (2004); Legacies (1989); The Broken Calabash (1984); The Reign of Wazobia (1988; 2014), and the novel Why the Elephant Has No Butt (2000).

Tess Onwueme was appointed to the US Department Public Diplomacy Speaker/Specialist Program for India in 2007. The 2009 Tess International Conference––exclusively devoted to Onwueme’s work––was held in her honor by international writers and scholars in the Nigerian capital Abuja in 2009. The mother of five children whose lifework is officially housed in the University of Wisconsin System Archives, following the 2014 Declaration of a Proclamation in her honor by the Senate/Legislature of the State of Wisconsin, USA, the award-winning author is highly celebrated as a ground-breaking pioneer female dramatist, acclaimed by notable writers and scholars around the world as they comment:

• Internationally renowned for her award-winning plays, Dr. Tess Onwueme is the literary soul-mate of Chinua Achebe, Wole Solyinka, and Ngugi wa Thiong.o. She is the first African woman dramatist to break into their ranks, so that What Mama Said, Tell it to Women, Shakara: Dance-Hall Queen, The Missing Face and The Reign of Wazobia became staples of international college and university curricula in the 21st century…Tess Onwueme’s creative endeavors have led some to call her the “Ibsen of her Culture” and others to rank her artistic contributions with Toni Morrison, Anton Chekov, Albert Camus…Her works have been performed in many locations, like Nigeria, India, Sudan, Sweden, Canada, the UK and the US…Students have read her plays at Cornell and New York Universities, Smith College and where I teach–Sonja Darlington (2014).
• Tess Onwueme has shown daring in her exploration of ideas even if they lead to subjects and themes which may seem taboo… Onwueme is eminently a political dramatist…[she] consolidates her position among the leading dramatists from Africa––Ngugi wa Thiong’o (1997).
• Onwueme’s creative works continue to influence and generate significant interest around the world, as they are widely produced/staged, studied, taught, and written about in scholarly books, dissertations, theses, book chapters, journal articles, and international media. Onwueme’s works have a wide range of social, political, historical, cultural and environmental concerns of the masses in the global community today…[And] Onwueme’s prolific dramaturgy is remarkable for being located within the tradition of cultural activism that challenged the corruption of the Nigerian postcolonial government… and as a Nigerian intellectual living and teaching in the West, she accomplished shuttle diplomacy (Batra 2010).
• Through the voices of women, Onwueme draws out universal themes of conflict. She uses the dramatic form to express an optimism for the future, for change and challenge to the repressive powers over people’s lives––Nina Adams, on the BBC World Drama Service Magazine Production/Broadcast of Onwueme’s Shakara (2004/2005).
• The protagonists of Dr. Onwueme’s plays tend to be women who revolt against their misuse by an outdated and inhumane system… In many ways, one might see Tess Onwueme as the Ibsen of her culture, the playwright who dares to raise new issues and write A Doll’s House – so to speak – for her people. These sociological reasons allow us North Americans to identify strongly with the women in Tess Onwueme’s plays. Her dramas are very much universal plays for an international audience as they speak to basic human rights of nationality, age, sex, or race–Daniella Gioseffi, American Book Award Winner of Women on War (1990).
• Onwueme’s plays “continue to influence and generate significant interest around the world, as they are widely produced/staged, studied, taught, and written about in scholarly books…and international media – Kanika Batra
• Through the voices of women Onwueme draws out universal themes of conflict…She uses the dramatic form to express an optimism for the future, for change and challenge to the repressive powers over people’s lives – Nina Adams, BBC World Drama Service (2004)
• Onwueme’s plays continue to influence and generate significant interest around the world, as they are widely produced/staged, studied, taught, and written about in scholarly books and international media––Kanika Batra (2010).
• From my riveting experience of Onwueme’s drama, I can say that few contemporary playwrights can match and sustain the incredible power and influence of this writer. The number of scholarly works on Tess’s work is an index of the significance of her works to contemporary scholarship. The theatrical productions of her plays done, not just in the continents of her birth and present residence in America but also in Europe and India, speak of the uniqueness and universality of her dramatic writings. Therefore, I delightfully add my own personal insights as a professor and dramatist myself and especially as one who recently produced and directed Tess Onwueme’s award-winning play Shakara: Dance-Hall Queen to critical acclaim in New Delhi. An international conference focusing on Onwueme’s work was held in November in Nigeria, following the author’s Fonlon Nichols award in 2009. The conference was titled “Staging Women, Youth, Globalization and Eco-Literature. A growing army of teachers, protegees, scholars, and performers studying, teaching, writing, and performing Onwueme’s drama, along with critical book-length studies, numerous book chapters, journal articles, and dissertations.- Shiva Prakash (2016).
• Onwueme’s plays not only bring the range and beauty of Nigerian culture to an international audience, they create the artistic bridges crucial to the development of a multicultural educational environment. Her work speaks to studies of gender, race, class, and cultural difference. “Tess is a rare jewel in this country…” – Dr. K. Kendall, Theatre Chair, Smith College, Northampton, MA, USA
• “Tess Onwueme’s What Mama Said is a spellbinding theatre work! It is written as if Dr. Onwueme is composing a symphonic work… Along with her other masterwork, The Missing Face [this drama] places Tess Onwueme in the ranks of Wole Soyinka, Athol Fugard, and Derek Walcott.” – Woodie King, Jr., Producing Director at the New Federal Theatre in New York City.
• “Among her literary soul mates are Wole Soyinka, Ama Ata Aidoo, Samuel Beckett, Derek Walcott, John Pepper Clark, Albert Camus, Chinua Achebe, Toni Morrison, Anton Chekhov, Femi Osofisan, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, George Bernard Shaw, Athol Fugard, August Wilson, Amos Tutuola, Gloria Naylor, Buchi Emecheta, Dennis Brutus, Alex LaGuma, Mariama Ba, and Sembene Ousmane.” – Poet-Laureate, Professor Eugene Redmond, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, IL, USA.
• Tess Onwueme, award-winning playwright, recently served as a Distinguished Visiting Scholar/Artist at the University of Houston. Her presentation stimulated a tremendous amount of interest and enthusiasm…for which she received a standing ovation from The University of Houston campus administrators, faculty, staff, and students as well as its community supporters. Tess Onwueme is an intellectual of the first order; she is a dynamo; she exudes energy.- Dr. Elizabeth Brown-Guillory, Univ. of Houston.
• “Dr. Tess Onwueme by reputation is a powerfully engaging speaker of oratorical dimensions. The audience at the April 2002 African Literature Association (ALA) 28th Annual Conference at la Jolla, San Diego got no less when she addressed them in her Keynote Address… Ebullient, dramatic and of suffusing intensity, she spoke about African womanhood but her concerns were about universal womanhood and she held men and women of all nationalities spellbound with facts which enlightened but disturbed the mind. Tess Onwueme creates passion with her eloquence, enriching every verbal articulation with charisma and charm. She entertains even as she addresses issues of critical substance.” – Professor Ernest N. Emenyonu, Prof. & Chair Department of Africana Studies University of Michigan.

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Conceptual framework and Historical Background of Accounting

There is no accurate record as to when accounts started, but available information suggests that record keeping is as old as man. The starting point can be linked to the merchants in the Babylonian and Assyrian civilizations, about 4000 year B C. the mode operandi for keeping records then was to make mark on the wall or stone or papyrus or wax tablets. The method of keeping financial record was highly primitive. Accounting is also motivated in the Christian Bible (Matthew 25:19) in the parable of the talents.The history of accounting is not complete without mentioning the name of an Italian monk and Mathematician LUCCA PACIOLO. In 1494, the crucial event in accounting was the introduction of double entry book system in Italy described as “Italian Method”. In his famous treatise Summa De. Arithmetical Geometrical Proportion etproportionalita in 1994 in Venice.Reverend father Lucca Paciolo by giving insight into the reasoning behind accounting records. He postulated that all entries must have a double- entry one a debtor, and one a creditor. Even though during this period the records were prepared to show statement for the business rather than the owner, but the yearly preparation was still lacking.

After Paciolo, a Dutchman advocated the profit and loss account at yearly interval. The level of civilization and technological advancement helped in the development of modern method of accounting.

During the industrial revolution there was need to sophisticated accounting methods. Different professional bodies were formed e.g. ICA Scotland in 1854. ICA England and Wales in 1880, etc. With the development of new methods ownership was separated from management. Since the discovery of the double entry principle, there has been tremendous development in accounting theories and methods. The introduction of micro and mini computers have brought enhanced performance but the fundamental principles remain unchanged.                                                                                                                                                        In Nigeria, record keeping has antecedents in the ancient kingdoms and Empire and prominent then was the periodic contributions which were recorded on the wall. But the granting of royal character to Royal Niger Company was the turning point period in record keeping. The governing accounting principles in Nigeria as almost the same as the one’s in Britain.

In 1965, the institute of chartered Accountants of Nigeria was established and affiliated with the professional institutes in Britain and USA. Many Nigerians came back as professional accountants and became members. The institute was charged with the responsibilities of regulating accounting procedures and practice in Nigeria.

In 1982, Nigeria Accounting standard Board was established to set standards to guide accounting operations. Members include Accounting Teachers Association, Chamber of Commerce, Central Bank of Nigeria, Finance Ministry of Nigeria, etc. Now in Nigeria/ there are two recognized bodies namely institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANA)of Nigeria.(Essential accounting textbook for senior secondary school).

LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ON TEACHING AND LEARNING

A range of theories of teaching have developed over the past century. The most influential in terms of teaching practices have probably been behaviourism, which underlies a lot of the work on Direct Instruction, and constructivist theories such as those of Vygotsky (1978) and von Glasersfeld (1985) which have been influential in the development of more self-directed learning approaches. While influential, both theories have significant weaknesses and are increasingly being superceded by brain and neuro-scientific research (Muijs, 2008).

Behaviorism Theory of Teaching

Behaviourism is a teaching theory that only focuses on objectively observable behaviours and discounts any independent activities of the mind. Behavior theorist define learning as nothing more than the acquisition of new behavior based on environmental conditions.

Experiments by behaviorists identify conditioning as a universal teaching process. There are two different types of conditioning, each yielding a different behavioral pattern.

Classic conditioning occurs when a natural reflex responds to a stimulus. We are biologically “wired” so that a certain stimulus will produce a specific response. One of the more common examples of classical conditioning in the educational environment is in situations where students exhibit irrational fears and anxieties like fear of failure, fear of public speaking and general school phobia.

Behavioral or operant conditioning occurs when a response to a stimulus is reinforced. Basically, operant conditioning is a simple feedback system: If a reward or reinforcement follows the response to a stimulus, then the response becomes more probable in the future. For example, leading behaviorist B.F. Skinner used reinforcement techniques to teach pigeons to dance and bowl a ball in a mini-alley.

There have been many criticisms of behaviorism, including the following:

• Behaviorism does not account for all kinds of teaching, since it disregards the activities of the mind.
• Behaviorism does not explain some teaching–such as the recognition of new language patterns by young children–for which there is no reinforcement mechanism.
• Research has shown that animals adapt their reinforced patterns to new information. For instance, a rat can shift its behavior to respond to changes in the layout of a maze it had previously mastered through reinforcements.

How Behaviorism impacts Teaching

This theory is relatively simple to understand because it relies only on observable behavior and describes several universal laws of behavior. Its positive and negative reinforcement techniques can be very effective–such as in treatments for human disorders including autism, anxiety disorders and antisocial behavior. Behaviorism is often used by teachers who reward or punish student behaviors.

Contiguity Theory

Guthrie’s contiguity theory specifies that “a combination of stimuli which has accompanied a movement will on its recurrence tend to be followed by that movement”. According to Guthrie, all learning was a consequence of association between a particular stimulus and response. Furthermore, Guhrie argued that stimuli and responses affect specific sensory-motor patterns; what is learned are movements, not behaviours.

In contiguity theory, rewards or punishment play no significant role in teaching or learning since they occur after the association between stimulus and response has been made. Teaching or learning takes place in a single trial (all or none).

However, since each stimulus pattern is slightly different, many trials may be necessary to produce a general response. One interesting principle that arises from this position is called “postremity” which specifies that we always learn the last thing we do in response to a specific stimulus situation.

Contiguity theory suggests that forgetting is due to interference rather than the passage of time; stimulus become associated with new responses. Previous conditioning can also be changed by being associated with inhibiting responses such as fear or fatigue. The role of motivation is to create a state of arousal and activity which produces responses that can be conditioned.

Contiguity theory is intended to be a general theory of teaching and learning, although most of the research supporting the theory was done with animals. Guthrine did apply his framework to personality disorders. (Guthrine, 1938).

Principles

1. In order for conditioning to occur, the organism must actively respond (do things)
2. Since teaching involves the conditioning of specific movements, instruction must present very specific tasks.
3. Exposure to many variations of stimulus pattern is desirable in order to produce a generalized response.

Classical Conditioning

The theory of classical conditioning has its root as far back as the middle Ages of Renaissance. According to Susan Wise Bauer (1999), “Classical education depends on a three-part process of training the mind”, often referred to mass the trivium. The three stages of the trivium correlate naturally to the growth and intellectual ability of the children throughout their learning careers. Grammar, logic or dialectic, and rhetoric stages compose the trivium of classical education.

The grammar, or Poll-Parrott (Sayers, 1947) stage is the earliest of learning taking place in classical education. The time period this covers is approximately the entirety of elementary school as it used to be called. As Bauer (1999) point out, “these are the years in which the building blocks for all other learning are laid.” Students in this age range are eager to learn, where learning is mostly memorization of facts and rules. This memorization is fun for most in this age group (Bauer, 1999).

While students are not solely focused on grammar as they may imply, they are focused on learning all the basics, from arithmetic and multiplication, to simple anatomy and history, to spelling and actual grammar. Dorothy Sayers, the main authority on classical Theory in Education, (1947) states, “anything and everything which can be usefully committed to memory should be memorized at this period, whether it is immediately intelligible or not.” In order to be successful in the following stages of classical education, students must have a firm and solid foundation from the grammar stage.

On the other hand, “A student is ready for the logic stage when the capacity for abstract thought begins to mature.” (Bauer,1999). Regardless of how we know when the a child is ready for this stage, students, at this point, want to know more than just the basic facts; they learned much of ‘what’ in the grammar stage. Now they want to know the ‘who’, ‘how’, ‘where’, and ‘why’ involved in all the concepts discussed in school. Generally speaking, the goal is to continue to build students’ knowledge to such a level that they are able to make logical connections from different fields.

(Bauer, 1999) Teachers must also guide students to do their own thinking and finding of information in order to logically come to any sort of conclusion. In summary of the first two stages: “in the grammar stage, observation and memorization are critical; in the dialectic stage discursive, or logical reasoning are highly important.” (Hart, 2006, pg. 79).

In the final stage the rhetoric stage, will take what students have learned in the first two stages and continue to build on it.

The goal of the trivium and classical education is a rigorous education. This process of training the mind is repetitive and language-based. The grammar stage teaches students all the facts and rules of language and other subjects in school; the logic or dialect stage gives students the ability to connect subjects logically and be able to form logical arguments; lastly, the rhetoric stage builds on the first two and requires students to be able to defend, verbally and in written form, their own ideas. The trivium of classical education was more than enough training during the Middle Ages and some, particularly Sayers, would argue that it is still enough education for life during modern times.

Brain Theory

Especially important in brain theory is the role of memory in learning processes. The memory consists of three parts: the sensory buffer, the working memory and the long-term memory.

The memory works as follows: one’s experiences (tactile, visual or auditory) are registered in the sensory buffer, and then converted into the form in which they are employed in the working and long-term memories. The sensory buffer can register a lot of information, but can only hold it briefly. Some parts of the information in it will be lost, other parts will be transmitted to the working memory. The working memory is where „thinking gets done‟. It receives its content from the sensory buffer and the long-term memory but has a limited capacity for storing information, a fact that limits human mental processes. The working memory contains the information that is actively being used at any one time (Muijs, 2010).