Strategies Applied By Teachers of Integrated English to Enhance Performance of English in Public Secondary Schools in Embakasi, Nairobi County,

Abstract

This study sought to evaluate the strategies applied by teachers of Integrated English to enhance performance of students in English subject in public secondary schools in Embakasi sub-county, Nairobi. The performance of English subject in Embakasi District has been steadily improving even though it is lower than the performance of English nationally, it is with this in mind that this study sought to find out which strategies have been put in place by the teachers of Integrated English so as to enhance the performance of students in Integrated English in Embakasi sub-county, Nairobi County. The inquiry was guided by the following specific objectives: to establish teachers‟ awareness and use of the effective teaching - learning strategies, to assess the strategies being applied by teachers in teaching of IE, to establish the learners‟ attitudes towards the strategies used in the teaching - learning of Integrated English and finally, to establish the effect of teaching and learning resources on the choice of teaching-learning strategies of Integrated English. This study will be significant to; teachers of English to design practical activities, language teacher educators to prepare teacher trainees and curriculum developers to be able to improve the English language curriculum. The study was guided by holistic Education model by Miller and Dewey (1971). The study employed a descriptive survey design. The target population for this study was the 7 public secondary schools in Embakasi District. The sampled respondents from these schools, 37 teachers of English, and 79 form three students, which comprised 116 respondents. The data were collected through questionnaires, interview schedule and observations using observation schedules. The researcher targeted the teachers and students with specific questionnaires in order to gather the relevant data. Also, the researcher completed copies of observation schedules tailor-made to answer the study questions by way of observations while seated at the back of the selected form 3 classes. The data were organized in excels and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). From the definitions of the English teachers, it is clear that the teachers understand literature skills and language skills should be impacted to the learners concurrently and not as separate subjects. However, they have a challenge implementing it. The study evaluated the strategies applied by the teachers and found that lecture methods were commonly used. However, the study established that majority of schools have organized in-service courses on integrated English. The study also found out that learners had positive attitude towards the teaching strategies used by their teachers. The major challenge was students expressing themselves in speaking and in writing. There were inadequate resources in teaching English subject. The study concluded that teachers know what is expected of them but there is a lapse in terms of how they were trained to teach English and how they are expected to teach. The method commonly used was lecture method. The study recommends that the schools should increase the in-service training in their schools and regionally as well as team teaching so as to encourage the teacher‟s efforts for effective teaching of the English subject, adequate resources should be increased and a review of the integrated course to minimize the content per term for adequate learning.