Browsing by Author "Kithinji, Franklin Gikunda"

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    Assesment of English Language Oral Skills in Sampled Secondary Schools in Meru County, Kenya
    (Kenyatta University, 2025-11) Kithinji, Franklin Gikunda
    The purpose of this study was to assess how oral skills are presented in the approved Form One course books, find out the activities that the teachers of English use in the pronunciation classroom to evaluate the mastery of proper pronunciation as well as study the end of year teacher made tests to determine whether pronunciation is adequately assessed in Form One. The study objectives were: To find out the in-class methods teachers use in evaluating pronunciation of English phonemes, to examine the end of year teacher-made tests in assessing pronunciation of English phonemes and to assess how oral skills are presented in the approved Form One course books. The study was based on Baker and Westrup’s (2000) PPP (Presentation Practice and Production) model. The research adopted a descriptive survey design and it targeted 9 teachers of English in form one, three approved English course books and five teacher-made end of year tests. Purposive sampling technique was used to sample the schools, teachers and students involved in the study. The data collection instrument was a questionnaire for the teacher, a test assessment checklist and a course book evaluation checklist. Data collected was analysed both qualitatively and quantitatively. Frequencies of the problematic sounds were drawn and then the figures were presented in tables and graphs. The findings of the study reveal that the teachers use a variety of in-class activities to test the mastery of English phonemes, there are inconsistencies in the presentation of English phonemes assessment practices despite the teachers acknowledging the importance of proper pronunciation and that the presentation of phonemes did not uniformly cut across the sampled approved course books with some of the books with some of the books having a fair presentation of the phonemes while others ignored some of the phonemes that should be handled in class. The study recommends the integration of oral assessment in the national examinations, the revision of the approved course books to reflect more comprehensive oral activities and the provision of resources to support oral assessment.