Leveraging instructional audio-visual resources to improve oral Kiswahili proficiency in secondary schools: Implications for language pedagogy in North Rift Region, Kenya

Abstract

The primary goal of education is to enhance the learning experience by incorporating innovation and student-centered methods. Different techniques are currently being utilized in the process of teaching and learning Kiswahili yet the performance is still poor. Performance in Kiswahili is poor. Empirical research revealed that the retention of information is significantly improved when using audio-visual aids in teaching. The purpose of this study was to assess how oral Kiswahili proficiency is enhanced through instructional audio-visual resources in Secondary Schools in North rift. The study was guided by the following objectives: To determine the Oral ability of the learners prior to the use of Audio-visual in teaching and learning of Oral Skills in Kiswahili in public secondary schools in north rift region, Kenya, to examine the difference between the Kiswahili performances of students taught using Audio-visual and those taught using conventional technique in public secondary schools in north rift region, Kenya and to assess the difference between the Kiswahili performances of the male students taught using Audio-visual and their female counterparts in public secondary schools in north rift region in Kenya. The population of this research comprised of 571 form two students. The study was guided by Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning by Richard Mayer. This research was Quantitative research thus positivism philosophical paradigm. It utilized a quasi-experimental research design; instruments used were Pre- test and the Post-test of both the control group and the experimental group and content validity was used. Null hypothesis was tested at P ≤ 0.05 Spearman Rank Co-relation was used to determine the degree to which each student's rank in one set of scores tends to be correlated with a rank on another set of scores. Two-tailed tests were used to measure the significant difference in means between the groups. The researcher used simple random sampling to determine which class were the experimental group and the control group. Based on the findings of the study, it was evident that the mean scores in Control group was 41.7 (SD = 15.8), whereas the mean in Experimental group was 54.1 (SD = 16.3). A Welch two-sample t-test results showed that the observed difference was statistically significant, t (1138.5) = -13.013, p < 2.2e-1616. Therefore the results of the first independent t test for Kiswahili scores indicated that indeed there is a significance difference between the mean of those students who used the conventional means and those students who used the Audio-visual. The mean score for the male students was 46.2 (SD=17.9), while the female students had a mean score of 60.8 (SD=10.1). The t-test results t (312.19) = p < 0.0001 and a 95% confidence level shows that the difference lies in the interval of[ 11.77187 − 17.44789].The Spearman's rank correlation rho = 0.5521, with a p-value < 2.2e-16.It was therefore, concluded that the provision of Educational Audio-visual for teaching in schools has a positive impact on the student’s performance hance oral Kiswahili proficiency is enhanced therefore should be accorded top priority by stakeholders in the education sector. It was recommended that curriculum planners should encourage the utilization of Audio-visual materials in teaching/learning in schools by ensuring the inclusion of their usage in the Kiswahili curriculum at all levels.