Teacher, Learner and School Characteristics that influence Performance in Kiswahili Poetry in Public Secondary Schools, in Kenya

Abstract

Poetry enables students develop a sense of awareness of the self in the mainstream culture through dramatic interpretations of poems. Kiswahili is important among people of East Africa as it fosters unity through border trade. It is used in music as the lyrics, melodies and tunes. Kiswahili is used in literary works as well as in expressing identity among the Swahili people. Despite its importance, Kiswahili poetry and Kiswahili in general is performed poorly in most secondary schools in Bungoma North Sub County. It is suspected that teachers are not carrying out the right activities in the classroom. Equally the learners seem not to be doing enough to develop fluency in Kiswahili language. Equally the school administrators do not provide the required resources for the teaching of poetry besides not enforcing clear language policies in their schools. The purpose of this study was to identify the classroom activities carried out by teachers in the classroom while teaching Kiswahili poetry. It also set out to identify the Kiswahili version that students use commonly and how it influences their performance in poetry. It also set out to establish whether schools had language policies and whether the policies were effectively enforced. The study also set out to investigate on the distribution of teaching resources among the subjects taught in their institutions. The focus of the study was to investigate the relationship between teacher; learner and school characteristics and performance in Kiswahili Poetry in Public Secondary Schools, in Kenya. The study was guided by the following objectives: to identify teacher characteristics influencing performance in Kiswahili poetry in secondary schools in Bungoma North Sub County; to identify student characteristics influencing performance in Kiswahili poetry in public secondary schools in Bungoma North Sub County; to identify school characteristics influence the performance of Kiswahili poetry in public secondary schools in Bungoma North Sub County. The study employed mixed methods research paradigm where the objectives tended towards both qualitative and quantitative a cross-sectional survey design and the target population was Kiswahili teachers and form three students in Bungoma North Sub County secondary schools. Stratified simple random sampling was used in the selection of schools and students whereas purposive sampling was used to select Kiswahili teachers. Data collection was done by self-administration of questionnaires and observation checklist used to ascertain availability of poetry resources and classroom activities students and teachers engage in during poetry lesson. To determine whether there is a correlation between teacher, student and school characteristics and performance in Kiswahili poetry, Pearson moment of correlation (r) was used and p<0.05 was considered significant. Qualitative data obtained from open-ended questions on the questionnaire and that from observation checklist was summarized into themes as they emerged from the responses and presented in a narrative form. The study revealed that the teachers’ attitude towards poetry is low. Sheng influences performance of poetry since in the written performance test students scored below the set average and so was the lack of resources. The curriculum enforcers should sensitize teachers on the need to apply right pedagogy in their teaching of poetry. School administrators to strictly develop and enforce language policies in their institutions besides provision of resources for teaching poetry in Kiswahili.