Influence of family background on pre-school children’s performance in English language in Ongata Rongai zone, Kajiado North District, Kajiado County, Kenya

Abstract

This study sought to examine the influence of family background on pre-school children’s performance in English language in Ongata Rongai zone, Kajiado north district, Kajiado County in Kenya. These were necessitated by the desire to establish whether family dynamics could be a reason to the bad academic performance in English Language. Performance will entail the scores in the English Language. The study was guided by the following objectives; to determine the relationship between the family structure and the performance of children in English language; to assess how where the children live affect their performance in English language; to establish the relationship between the parent’s level of education and the children’s performance in English language and finally to determine the relationship between the social economic status of the parents and the children’s performance in English language. The research adopted a descriptive survey design. This was suitable in this study as it helped the researcher establish the existing conditions at the family level. It further allowed identification of standards or norms with which to compare the family background. This eventually impacts performance in English language. The target population was 1 head teacher, 2teachers and 65 pupils. The purposeful sample consisted of the head teacher, the 2 teachers and 20 pupils. A pilot study was carried out on a different set of respondents to better plan for the research. The test-retest procedure was used for testing reliability and it yielded favorable results to warrant reliance on the data collected and its findings. Qualitative and quantitative data was obtained through questionnaires. This was further analyzed and presented through narratives, tables and bar graphs. The study revealed that to improve on the performance of the English language at Ongata Rongai, the family background challenges have to be tackled. The family structure and the place where the family lives were identified as major cause of poor performance. They need to put more resources to improve on the performance. This presents a major challenge because parents settle in places due to other factors beyond their control and as such to invest a lot in education is a challenge. It was clear that the parent’s level of education and their socio-economic standing play a part in poor performance in English language. The study recommends that families should in partnerships with teachers and other education stakeholders, device strategies to help learning and instruction of the English language at schools but also at home. This will greatly improve performance in English language and even in other subjects whose language of instruction is English.