LearningEnglishLanguagebyRadioinPrimarySchoolsin.docx

LearningEnglishLanguagebyRadioinPrimarySchoolsin.docx

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LearningEnglishLanguagebyRadioinPrimarySchoolsin

LearningEnglishLanguagebyRadioinPrimarySchoolsinKenya

By

FlorenceY.Odera（PhD）

P.O.Box2303,Kisumu,Kenya

E-mail:

Introductionandbackgroundinformation

OneoftheobjectivesofteachingEnglishinprimaryschoolsinKenyaistoenablethelearnerstocommunicatefluently,independentlyandaccuratelyinEnglishLanguageineverydaylife.（KenyaInstituteofEducationPrimarysyllabusvol,2002）.ThismeansthatattheendofPrimaryEducationcourse,allpupilsareexpectedtohaveacquiredasufficientcommandofEnglishinspokenandwrittenformstoenablethemtocommunicatefluently,followsubjectcoursesandtextbook,andreadforpleasureandforinformation.Beinganintegralsubjectinthecurriculum,adecliningstandardofperformanceinEnglishatprimarylevelshouldworrymanyteachersandstakeholdersineducationsector,becausewhenprimarychildrenjoinsecondaryschoolswithpoorEnglishlanguagetheywillcontinuewithpoorknowledgeofthelanguage.Eventhoughsomeresearchersandlinguistics（Ngonga2002,andBett2008）havededicatedaconsiderableamountoftimetounravelthecauseofpoorperformanceinEnglishlanguage,thereisanurgentneedforustoreflectonthecausesandpossibleremediestoavertthissituation.Theynotedthatsomeofthefactorsasattitudes,lackofadequateresources,thegrowthof”sheng”aswellasuseofmothertongue.ShengwasoriginallyaslanglanguagethatblendedKiswahiliandEnglish,createdbythechildrenofNairobiCitylivinginEastlandarea.GraduallythislanguageincorporatedotherethnicKenyanlanguages.Theinterferenceof“Sheng”astreetslangcontinuestohavocontheEnglishlanguageacquisitioninprimaryandsecondaryschoolsandthechildrenfacealotofproblemwithspokenEnglish.Atthebeginning,“sheng”wasconfinedtourbancentresbutitslowlyinfiltratedruralareas.

Theprocessoflanguageacquisitionentailslearnerstopracticeallthefourskillsinallcontextssoastograsphowtomanipulateit.SpokenEnglishhasbeenoverriddenby“sheng”asmostlearnersarecomfortableusingitthanEnglish.Theuseofshengmustbediscouragedatallcosts.Forthesereasons,theKenyaGovernmentintroducedschoolsradiolessonstoenhancetheteachingandlearningofEnglishlanguagebyreinforcingtheteacherswork,andtohelpthemdevelopefficientcommunicationskillsinEnglishlanguage.ItwasalsohopedthattheuseofradiolessonswouldhelptoimprovestudentsspokenandwrittenEnglishandalsotosetupauniformstandardofEnglishinallschoolsinKenya.Therefore,allprimaryschoolswereexpectedtoincorporateradiolessonsinteachingandlearningEnglishlanguage.

However,despiteallthegovernmentefforttoimproveEnglishlanguageproficiencyinprimaryschoolsthroughapolicyofschoolradioBroadcasttoschoolspupilsgraduatingfromprimaryschoolscannotcommunicateeffectivelyinEnglishlanguage.Itwasthereforenecessarytofindouttheextentofimplementationofschoolradioprogramgovernmentpolicyinprimaryschools.

BenefitsofusingRadiobroadcastEnglishlessons.

Odera（2006）writingontheuseofschoolradioprograminschools,notedthatradiotechnologyisviewedbyteachersasausefultoolforteachingandlearninglanguageslikeEnglish,French,German,andKiswahiliatalllevelsofeducation.Languageprogrammesonradiohelpstoincreasethestudentsmasteryofvocabularyandpronunciationasstudentslearntoimitatetheradiopresenters.Shefurthernotedthatifthislearningresourceiscarefullyselectedandused,thenlearningbecomesmoreinterestingeffectiveandmeaningful.

Theuseofradiolessonsmotivatesthelearnersiftheyareusedinsuchawayastostimulatelearning（Bates1984）.Radioalsohelpsthelearnersandtheteachertoavoidfallingbacktomothertongue.Broadcastlessonshelpstosimplifylanguageteachingprocessandmakesitperfect.Odera（2008）addsthatbroadcasthelpstoprovideopportunitytoprovidestimulatingandrehearsingcommunicativesituationtobeencounteredoutsidethelanguageclassroom.

Languageisanintegralpartofhumanbehaviour.Itisaskilledbehaviourwhichisonlyeffectivewhentwoormorepeopleareinvolvedandmoresoinusingaudioorfacetofacecommunication,Sincetheintroductionofschoolradiobroadcast,theemphasishasbeenonroleplayedbytheclassroomteacherwhoisexpectedtobeafacilitatordoingonlywhatisdirectedbytheradioteacher.TherationaleisthatlearnersbenefitfromlisteningtothewellresearchedEnglishlessonsandlearnthelanguagetaughtbypreparedradiopresenters.

Languagethereforefunctionsasameansofcommunicationbetweentwoormorepeople.Thesenderistheteacherandthereceiver（whoarethepupils）.Thesenderofthemessage（theteacher）mayintendtoinstructordirectlearners.Forexample,whenanEnglishteacherteacherstheprepositionon-apencilonthetableandunderthetablethelearnerwillbeshownandasked‘’isthepencilonthetable?

Theclassroomteacheralsorespondstotheradioteachers’’instruction.Therefore,beforeateacherstartteachinglanguagetoanychilditisimportanttoknowwhatstageoflanguagelearningthechildisandtobeawareofwhatleveloflanguagelearningtheclasshasreached.ThisimportantbecausechildrenwhoaretaughtinEnglishforthefirsttimeexperienceproblemstounderstandthewords,sentencesstructures,phrasesandpronunciationofwords.SchoolradiolessonsareveryusefulandareusedtoimprovethequalityoflearningnewEnglishwordsandtosetupstandardforthespokenandwrittenEnglish（Thompson1982）.

Furthermore,schoolradiobroadcastEnglishprogramaimstoassistteachersandpupilstodevelopfurtherthenecessarylanguageskillswhichenablethemtoimproveontheirspokenandwrittenEnglish.Italsoaimstoimprovetheircommandofthevarioussentencesstructure,vocabulary,variousgrammaticalerrors,structuresencounteredinprimaryEnglishlanguageandwideningtheirhorizonandscopeinallsubjects（Bates1984）.

ExpertsinLinguisticshavedemonstratedthatcommunicativecompetenceinanylanguagerequiresmorethansimplyknowingpronunciationofwordformationandvocabulary（KIE2002）.Thelearnerneedstounderstandhowtoorganisespeechbeyondthelevelofsinglesentences,abouthowthelanguageisusedindifferentsituations（Odera1996）.ScholarsHeininchRussell,MolendaandSmaldino（2002）,notedthevalueofradiotechnologyandrecommendeditsusetoincreaseandimprovelearnersimaginationandlisteningskills.Theyrecognisedtheimportanceofradioasamediumthatreliesonasinglesense（hearing）andwithwhichlisteningistheonlymethodoflearn

ImprovestudentsconfidenceinspokenEnglish

TheuseofradiohasbeenwidelyarguedtobecapableofmotivatinglearnerstodevelopconfidencetolearnandcommunicateeffectivelyinEnglishLanguage.Thisincludeslisteningtoradiopresentsastheytalkandpronouncedifferentwordscorrectly.Thishelpslistenerstosetuppatternofspeech,phrase,andsentencepatternthroughdistancelearning（Odera2006）

EnglishlanguageisthebaseonwhichthewholeschoolcurriculumstandsinKenya.Itisimportanttonotethatachild’spersonaldevelopmentstemsfromhis/herabilitytospeak,toread,andtowrite.Learningtospeakreliesheavilyonlistening,andthatallthelinguisticskillscanbestbefosteredwhenthechildhasexperiencesdirectlygainedfromlisteningandseeing..Therefore,lackofsetstandardleadstoconfusionamongteachersandpupilswhentheyareteachingandlearningEnglishlanguage.ThishasalsobeenconfirmedbyareportintheEastAfricanStandardNewspaperof19THJune2010whichindicatedthatteachersofEnglishareconfusedbecauseprimaryschoolsbookslackuniformityandstandardformatEnglishbooksfromdifferentpublishersgivevaryingordersofadjectives.Forexample,inLongmanpublisherstandardeightEnglishbookstheorderislistedasopinion,size,shape,age,colour,nationalityandmaterials.ButtheprogressiveEnglishforstandardeightliststheorderassize,generaldescriptions,age,shape,colour,materialandnoun.Thesameseriesforstandardfivegivestheorderassize,colour,materialandnouninEnglish.Itiscommontousemorethanoneadjectivebeforeanounthatisareputintherightorderaccordingtotype.

TheuseofschoolsbroadcasthelpssuchpupilstolearntheconceptsandprovidesauniformstandardinteachingandlearningEnglishandremovesanyformofconfusioninteachingandlearningEnglish.TheprogramsupportstheteachersworkbecausethebroadcastmaterialsarewellresearchedandproducedbyEnglishexperts（Odera2008）,wouldremovealltheseconfusionandprovideauniformstandardof.

Theoreticalframework

Thisstudyisguidedbytheworkof（Bates1984）whoidentifieddifferentaimsandobjectivesoftheuseofEducationalradiobroadcastinteachingandlearningwhichincludes:

toimprovethequalityoflearningandeducation,extendeducationalopportunitiesthroughdistancelearning,improvingthequalityofclassroominstruction,teachingcommunicationskillsandsupportingteachersworkaswellupgradetheirqualification.

Researchquestions

Thisstudywasguidedbythefollowingquestions

Doschoolshavefunctionalradiosets?

AreteachersusingradiolessonsinteachingandlearningEnglishlanguage?

Whatsupportmaterialsareavailableforteacherstouseduringbroadcasttoschools?

Howdoteacherspreparetheirlearnerstolistentobroadcastlesson

Aretherefactorsaffectingtheuseofradiointeachingandlearning?

Methodology

Theresearchdesignusedwast