Preservation and use of Educational Media in Teaching Oral Literature in Bungoma South District Bungoma County

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of educational media in teaching and preserving oral literature in secondary schools in Bungoma South District, Bungoma County, Kenya. This arose from the fact that the social set up is currently disintegrating as such the oral material is threatened to disappear. The emergence of educational media such as internet, radio and digital programmes are bound to affect the teaching and preservation of oral literature. The study operated with the following objectives; to identify the effect of documenting on the preservation of oral literature, examine whether educational media technology used in oral literature enhances teaching of the genres, establish the challenges encountered in the use of modern technologies in teaching and preservation of oral literature and identify the forms of educational media technology used in teaching Oral Literature. This study was guided by psychoanalytic theory of literature propounded by Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis examines the articulation of our most private anxieties and meanings to culture and gives us a perspective on them as cultural formations. This also reflected in oral literature. The study adopted descriptive survey design. The study targeted all the thirty public schools in Bungoma South District. The participants of this study consisted of selected students of form two classes, eight teachers of Kiswahili, the H.O.Ds and head teachers of the sample schools. The students and the teachers were randomly selected to avoid biasness. Questionnaires and interview guide were used as instruments of data collection. The data collected was edited and coded. The sorted data was analyzed through descriptive statistics namely frequency, and percentage. The beneficiaries of the study found out that the use of educational media was not common in teaching of oral literature. This was owed to the fact that most of the modern educational media are expensive and most schools do not prioritize their procurement. For example, the study found out that radio lessons were not commonly used in teaching oral literature in Kiswahili. In addition, computers were never used in the teaching of oral literature in Kiswahili. Furthermore, there are several challenges in the use of educational media; the technical know-how on their use by teachers and lack of teacher induction on gadgets such as computers and overhead projectors. The government and school sponsors should prioritize procurement of educational media; especially those enhancing teaching of oral literature in Kiswahili. However, a few schools use radio and tape recorders as their main educational media in teaching oral literature but there was no harmonization with the Kenya Institute of Education radio lessons.