Secondary School English Teachers' Classroom Practices and Students' Aquisition of Functional Writing Skills: A Case of Kiambu County: Kenya
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Date
2019-05
Authors
Kamau, Samuel Kiriiri
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
Students' competence in any field is highly determined by the experiences they are
exposed to by their teachers. Teachers of English in Kenya, especially those tasked
with teaching of writing, may not be employing the best practices in teaching
functional writing according to reports by the Kenya national examinations council.
Therefore, the purpose of the study was to describe teacher classroom practices and
their implication on students' acquisition of functional writing skills in Githunguri
Sub County in Kiambu County. The objectives of this research were: to describe
teacher classroom practices, to describe the nature of classroom talk and find out
challenges that teachers of English face in teaching functional writing. The target
population of the study was 40 government secondary schools, and 90 teachers of
English and 11562 students in the county. The sample composed of 15 schools
randomly selected, making 37% of the population. Five teachers from five schools
were purposively selected those teaching English form 1 and 3 of English for
observation, while two teachers from each school were interviewed on challenges in
functional writing teaching making a total of 30 teachers and 300 form 2 students,20
from each school. to respond to the questionnaire. A naturalistic enquiry design and
discourse analysis was adopted for the study. The study was based on Vygotsky'
theory of constructivism (1978). Data from observation was analyzed through
content analysis, where labelling and classification of common themes was done
and tape recording was transcribed and patterns identified, while data from
interviews WaS coded and themes established. Numerical data collected from
document analysis and questionnaires was presented in percentages and tables. The
bulk of the data was analyzed through detailed narrative description of what was
observed in the classrooms. It was found that most teachers' classroom practices
were teacher controlled and geared to memorization, recall and students spent bulk
of their lesson time listening to teachers talk with little student-student talk.
Challenges teachers faced in teaching functional writing included a wide syllabus, a
high teaching load, lack of students' interest in writing and low use of computers
and the internet to ease writing. The study concluded that teachers should use more
student centered practices, let student talk in class and involve group work.
Description
A Research Project Submitted to the School of Education in Partial Fulfillment of the Degree of Master of Education of Kenyatta University, May, 2019
Keywords
Secondary School, Functional Writing Skills, Kenya