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Study report Essay The purpose of the research reported on by Hardman, Abd-Kadir Smith (2007) was to examine the instructional practices of teachers in primary schools in Nigeria. The research questions, though not explicitly stated, were to examine the type and quality of teacher-student interactions, to review the comparative extent of student and teacher participation in discourse and further to make recommendations on how primary education in Nigeria can be improved, based on these findings. The research focused on the Sub-Saharan nation of Nigeria. Initially a representation of twenty primary schools was randomly selected from among twenty Nigerian states resulting in two schools per state with an average of 45 students per school. However three states had to be excluded from the analysis resulting in 14 schools being covered in the survey. In each school the researchers focused on a Primary 6 lesson in Mathematics, English or Science. A combination of techniques was used to gather data. These involved observations, in the form of videotaped lessons and a questionnaire administered to the classroom teachers. The duration of the videotaping exercise in each school covered one lesson in each of the three subject areas. 59 teachers completed the questionnaires. To determine classroom interaction the researchers logged, from the videotape, the type of questions teachers asked and who responded and teachers’ follow-up to responses. 12 of the lessons were transcribed and linguistic analysis conducted to analyse the type of classroom discourse. Additionally the responses on the questions were compared to actual classroom practice to determine inconsistencies. The authors conclude that Nigerian primary classrooms are very teacher-centred, heavily focused on rote learning, did not offer individualized attention but entailed whole-class responses and allowed for very little student interaction. One positive of the research is that it examined instructional practices in different subject areas and across different regions because these factors can sometimes determine how teachers behave in the classroom. The major weakness with this research, I find, is that only a single lesson in each subject was video-recorded. It could very well be that the lessons were a-typical for the teacher who taught with the knowledge that the lesson was being video-taped and even for the students as well. References Hardman, F. , Abd-Kadir Smith, F. (2008). Pedagogical renewal: Improving the quality of classroom interaction in Nigerian primary schools. International Journal of Educational Development, 28, 55-69.