LearningEnglishLanguagebyRadioinPrimarySchoolsin.docx

1、LearningEnglishLanguagebyRadioinPrimarySchoolsinLearning English Language by Radio in Primary Schools in Kenya By Florence Y. Odera (PhD) P.O.Box 2303, Kisumu, Kenya E-mail: Introduction and background informationOne of the objectives of teaching English in primary schools in Kenya is to enable the

2、learners to communicate fluently, independently and accurately in English Language in every day life. (Kenya Institute of Education Primary syllabus vol, 2002). This means that at the end of Primary Education course, all pupils are expected to have acquired a sufficient command of English in spoken

3、and written forms to enable them to communicate fluently, follow subject courses and textbook, and read for pleasure and for information. Being an integral subject in the curriculum, a declining standard of performance in English at primary level should worry many teachers and stakeholders in educat

4、ion sector, because when primary children join secondary schools with poor English language they will continue with poor knowledge of the language. Even though some researchers and linguistics (Ngonga 2002, and Bett 2008) have dedicated a considerable amount of time to unravel the cause of poor perf

5、ormance in English language, there is an urgent need for us to reflect on the causes and possible remedies to avert this situation. They noted that some of the factors as attitudes, lack of adequate resources, the growth of ”sheng”as well as use of mother tongue. Sheng was originally a slang languag

6、e that blended Kiswahili and English, created by the children of Nairobi City living in Eastland area. Gradually this language incorporated other ethnic Kenyan languages. The interference of “Sheng” a street slang continues to havoc on the English language acquisition in primary and secondary school

7、s and the children face a lot of problem with spoken English. At the beginning, “sheng” was confined to urban centres but it slowly infiltrated rural areas. The process of language acquisition entails learners to practice all the four skills in all contexts so as to grasp how to manipulate it. Spoke

8、n English has been overridden by “sheng” as most learners are comfortable using it than English. The use of sheng must be discouraged at all costs. For these reasons, the Kenya Government introduced schools radio lessons to enhance the teaching and learning of English language by reinforcing the tea

9、chers work, and to help them develop efficient communication skills in English language. It was also hoped that the use of radio lessons would help to improve students spoken and written English and also to set up a uniform standard of English in all schools in Kenya. Therefore, all primary schools

10、were expected to incorporate radio lessons in teaching and learning English language.However, despite all the government effort to improve English language proficiency in primary schools through a policy of school radio Broadcast to schools pupils graduating from primary schools cannot communicate e

11、ffectively in English language. It was therefore necessary to find out the extent of implementation of school radio program government policy in primary schools.Benefits of using Radio broadcast English lessons.Odera (2006) writing on the use of school radio program in schools, noted that radio tech

12、nology is viewed by teachers as a useful tool for teaching and learning languages like English, French, German, and Kiswahili at all levels of education. Language programmes on radio helps to increase the students mastery of vocabulary and pronunciation as students learn to imitate the radio present

13、ers. She further noted that if this learning resource is carefully selected and used, then learning becomes more interesting effective and meaningful.The use of radio lessons motivates the learners if they are used in such a way as to stimulate learning (Bates 1984). Radio also helps the learners an

14、d the teacher to avoid falling back to mother tongue. Broadcast lessons helps to simplify language teaching process and makes it perfect. Odera (2008) adds that broadcast helps to provide opportunity to provide stimulating and rehearsing communicative situation to be encountered outside the language

15、 classroom.Language is an integral part of human behaviour. It is a skilled behaviour which is only effective when two or more people are involved and more so in using audio or face to face communication, Since the introduction of school radio broadcast, the emphasis has been on role played by the c

16、lassroom teacher who is expected to be a facilitator doing only what is directed by the radio teacher. The rationale is that learners benefit from listening to the well researched English lessons and learn the language taught by prepared radio presenters.Language therefore functions as a means of co

17、mmunication between two or more people. The sender is the teacher and the receiver (who are the pupils). The sender of the message (the teacher) may intend to instruct or direct learners. For example, when an English teacher teachers the preposition on -a pencil on the table and under the table the

18、learner will be shown and asked is the pencil on the table? The classroom teacher also responds to the radio teachers instruction. Therefore, before a teacher start teaching language to any child it is important to know what stage of language learning the child is and to be aware of what level of la

19、nguage learning the class has reached. This important because children who are taught in English for the first time experience problems to understand the words, sentences structures, phrases and pronunciation of words. School radio lessons are very useful and are used to improve the quality of learn

20、ing new English words and to set up standard for the spoken and written English (Thompson 1982).Furthermore, school radio broadcast English program aims to assist teachers and pupils to develop further the necessary language skills which enable them to improve on their spoken and written English. It

21、 also aims to improve their command of the various sentences structure, vocabulary, various grammatical errors, structures encountered in primary English language and widening their horizon and scope in all subjects (Bates 1984).Experts in Linguistics have demonstrated that communicative competence

22、in any language requires more than simply knowing pronunciation of word formation and vocabulary (KIE 2002). The learner needs to understand how to organise speech beyond the level of single sentences, about how the language is used in different situations (Odera 1996). Scholars Heininch Russell, Mo

23、lenda and Smaldino (2002), noted the value of radio technology and recommended its use to increase and improve learners imagination and listening skills. They recognised the importance of radio as a medium that relies on a single sense (hearing) and with which listening is the only method of learnIm

24、prove students confidence in spoken English The use of radio has been widely argued to be capable of motivating learners to develop confidence to learn and communicate effectively in English Language. This includes listening to radio presents as they talk and pronounce different words correctly. Thi

25、s helps listeners to set up pattern of speech, phrase, and sentence pattern through distance learning (Odera 2006)English language is the base on which the whole school curriculum stands in Kenya. It is important to note that a childs personal development stems from his/her ability to speak, to read

26、, and to write. Learning to speak relies heavily on listening, and that all the linguistic skills can best be fostered when the child has experiences directly gained from listening and seeing. Therefore, lack of set standard leads to confusion among teachers and pupils when they are teaching and lea

27、rning English language. This has also been confirmed by a report in the East African Standard Newspaper of 19TH June 2010 which indicated that teachers of English are confused because primary schools books lack uniformity and standard format English books from different publishers give varying order

28、s of adjectives. For example, in Longman publisher standard eight English books the order is listed as opinion, size, shape, age, colour, nationality and materials. But the progressive English for standard eight lists the order as size, general descriptions, age, shape, colour, material and noun. Th

29、e same series for standard five gives the order as size, colour, material and noun in English. It is common to use more than one adjective before a noun that is are put in the right order according to type. The use of schools broadcast helps such pupils to learn the concepts and provides a uniform s

30、tandard in teaching and learning English and removes any form of confusion in teaching and learning English. The program supports the teachers work because the broadcast materials are well researched and produced by English experts (Odera 2008), would remove all these confusion and provide a uniform

31、 standard of.Theoretical framework This study is guided by the work of (Bates 1984) who identified different aims and objectives of the use of Educational radio broadcast in teaching and learning which includes: to improve the quality of learning and education, extend educational opportunities throu

32、gh distance learning, improving the quality of classroom instruction, teaching communication skills and supporting teachers work as well up grade their qualification. Research questionsThis study was guided by the following questionsDo schools have functional radio sets?Are teachers using radio less

33、ons in teaching and learning English language?What support materials are available for teachers to use during broadcast to schools?How do teachers prepare their learners to listen to broadcast lessonAre there factors affecting the use of radio in teaching and learning?MethodologyThe research design used was t