Effects of teachers instructional strategies on pupils performance in English at Kenya Certificate of Primary Examination in Samia District, Kenya

Abstract

The Kenyan government is putting a lot of efforts toward raising the quality of teaching at all levels of school system. However, the relevance and quality of instructional strategies still call for attention. Against this background the study investigated the effects of instructional strategies on pupils performance at KCPE in English language in Samia district. Studies have shown that no single strategy is best for all topics and for all teachers and learners.

The crucial factor is that teaching should focus more on the needs of the learners that is the teacher is required to consider the subject matter, the objective, facilities and other factors in relation to the learners' needs. Some of those important needs are the learners' aspirations, which become a reality through knowledge and skills previously acquired in school. Objectives of the study were; to describe the effects of classroom talk, effects of groupwork, effects of reflective teaching and assess how participatory strategy influence pupils' performance in English at KCPE.

The researcher used descriptive research design. The researcher used stratified random sampling to select, 32 primary schools, 64 English language teachers and 384 standard eight pupils for the study. Questionnaires and observation schedules were used to collect data. Pearson's product moment coefficient of correlation was used to determine the instrument reliability. Questionnaire administration was done in one day to minimize respondents influencing one another.

Data were coded using the process of data entry and application of common statistical procedures such as frequencies and percentages. The findings of the study showed that groupwork is practiced though group sizes are big; teachers question and evaluate their aims and actions, and lecture method is commonly used by teachers to teach pupils. Pupils are given enough time to read story books. Use of dictionary is not satisfactorily done.

Debate is well organized. Teachers provoke pupils to make them participate in class lessons. The researcher recommended that, teachers should attend in-service courses once a year encourage people to participate in debate and group discussion and minimize use of lecture methods. The researcher suggested that, further studies should be carried out on, the effect of language level used by the teacher, teacher's tone, audibility and teachers body language on pupils talk in the class, effect of group size in group work effectiveness, effect of involving parents on reflective teaching