Role of oral questioning on performance in English language: a case of selected secondary schools in Eldoret municipality- Kenya

Abstract

This study sought to determine the role of oral questioning on the performance of students in English language as a subject. The objectives of the study were: to find out the relationship between oral questioning skills and student performance in English in Eldoret Municipality; to identify other teaching strategies that are employed by English language teachers in secondary schools and to recommend how oral questioning can be improved in secondary schools within Eldoret Municipality. This study was guided by the Input Hypothesis derived from Krashen‟s Monitor Model (1981b, 1982). The other theory was the Output Hypothesis (Krashen 1981, 1998). Information-Processing Approach Theory (Atkinson and Shiffrin, 1968) has also been applied to give an educational basis. The study employed mixed method design. Population for this study was all form three students and the study relied on a sample size of 180 form three students drawn from six secondary schools within Eldoret Municipality, form three English language teachers, head teachers of the selected schools and education officials in the district. The study employed both probability and non-probability sampling techniques, specifically purposive and stratified random sampling. To collect data, the study used questionnaires, interviews, documentary data and non-participant observation. Both qualitative and quantitative data analyses were employed.The study found that oral questioning as a method of teaching is not being utilized as recommended in secondary schools. Improvement in oral questioning is likely to improve the performance of English language in secondary schools, since it is a language at the centre of the education system of the country. The study recommends that teachers should strive to harness their perception of oral questions in order to improve their questioning behaviour. This has the potential of enriching the oral questions they ask. Similarly, this will enhance the oral responses learners provide as a way of not only boosting the language input and output which facilitates the learning of English language but also as a means of performing better in the subject. The Ministry of Education should organise frequent seminars, workshops and in-service courses for teachers to enlighten, refresh and sharpen teachers‟ knowledge and skills of questioning in relation to current developments in theory and practice