Browsing by Author "Githinji, Wanjohi"

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    Family Income Dynamics’ Ramification Pre-Primary School Pupils’ Reading Readiness in Siaya in Kenya
    (International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), 2021-05) Obilloh, Otieno; Githinji, Wanjohi; Ong'ang'a, Hudson Ouko
    The role of the family in the life of an individual child cannot be overemphasized. Available studies globally have shown that family dynamics have a significant influence on reading readiness of pupils at the early years of school. Many attempts have been made by the government and different organizations to improve reading but not equal effort is put to promote reading readiness. This study therefore explored family dynamics that influence reading readiness among pre-primary school pupils in rural pre-schools in Siaya, Kenya. The study adopted a descriptive research design which allowed for in-depth exploration of the study variables. This study was guided by Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory. The dependent variable for the study is pre-primary pupils’ reading readiness while the independent variables were family dynamics. The target population of the study was pre-primary school pupils in Siaya County. The study adopted stratified random sampling to sample schools as public and private pre-primary schools while purposive sampling was used to select Siaya County for the study. A sample of 96 public pre-primary school pupils and 16 private pre-primary school pupils were sampled for the study. Questionnaires and reading readiness checklists were utilized for data collection. Reading readiness test/checklist analyses gathered pupils’ reading readiness data while questionnaire was used to collect data from the parents. Data collected was analyzed using inferential and descriptive statistics with the help of statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 20. Pearson product moment of correlation was used to test the null hypothesis at p≥0.5 The key findings showed that parental socio-economic statuses significantly influenced pupils’ reading readiness. The main recommendation was that the government and the county government specifically should promote parents’ economic status to promote reading competence levels among early grade learners which can be a great boost for the overall academic performance in higher grades
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    Language of Instruction Practices in Reference to Mother Tongue Policy Implementation in Lower Primary School Classes; A Case of Nyeri County, Kenya
    (RSIS, 2024-09) Githinji, Wanjohi; Wambiri, Gladwell N.; Kamau-Kang’ethe, Rachel W.
    The purpose of this study was to establish the language(s) used for instruction in lower primary school and also find out to what extent various factors related to school, teachers and parents influence the language choices for instruction in the respective classes and schools. This is because in spite of language policy in Kenya stipulating that, learners in lower primary school to be instructed in the language of catchment area, studies in pre-primary school show that some schools are ignoring this rule. This comes at a time that issues have been raised concerning children being introduced to foreign languages too early before they have mastered the first language. Likewise in the recent past a debate has been ranging concerning instructing children in mother tongue at the pre-primary and lower primary schools. The available studies did not focus on language choices made at the lower primary level of education which is crucial transition stage to formal learning. Most of these studies addressed status of the language policy in general or focused on other levels. They have also been exploratory in nature and dwelt on either perceptions, attitudes, values, multilingualism or other aspects of language. The study adopted the Choice theory and Transitional language model in the theoretical framework. The study design was qualitative and adopted descriptive survey methodology which allowed for an in-depth examination of the situation. The independent variables were the factors said to influence the choice of language of instruction while the dependent variable was the language of instruction used at lower primary school. This study was carried out within Nyeri County in which Kikuyu is the dominant language. This county has experienced an outcry in academic performance particularly in languages, mathematics and sciences which has been attributed to the inability to express ideas. The target population of the study was lower primary school classes, teachers and their parents. A multistage sampling technique was adopted. Schools were randomly or purposefully selected at various stages; classes were selected through cluster sampling while teachers were randomly selected. Data was collected from private and public schools in rural and urban areas through lesson observations, interviewing teachers and focus group discussions with parents. A pilot study was conducted to pretest the instruments. Validity and reliability were established through triangulation. The qualitative data collected was analyzed using Kitwoods Qualitative Technique of Analysis to bring out the emerging patterns, themes and trends. Among other findings a variety of languages were being used in the classroom instruction with no consideration of the policy. This was seen to be influenced by choices made by the teachers, parents and schools’ management and school locality. The study recommends a close-monitoring of implementation of language of instruction policy, training of teachers and education officers, community awareness and resource mobilization so as to benefit children at lower primary.