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An Investigation Into The Impact Of Teaching In Local Languages On Pupils And Teachers (Advantages, Challenges, Opportunities, Etc) In Selected Primary Schools In Kitwe District Of The Copperbelt Province Of Zambia
[Full Text]
AUTHOR(S)
Francis Kafata
KEYWORDS
Advantages, challenges,Impact, local languages, opportunities, pupils, teachers, teaching.
ABSTRACT
The study assessed the impact of teaching in local languages on pupils and teachers of grades one (1) to four (4) (advantages, challenges, opportunities, etc) in selected primary schools of Kitwe District of Zambia. Recently, in response to poor educational outcomes and political pressure, a number of Sub-Saharan African countries including Zambia have taken measures to include local languages in their formal education sectors, a practice often referred to as mother tongue instruction (MTI). Theoretically, the effect of MTI is ambiguous and a number of studies argue that MTI is superior to second language instruction in facilitating effective classroom communication, thereby increasing access and quality of education.In view of the aforementioned, the objective of the study was to find out the impact of using local language as a medium of instructions to pupils of grades one (1) to four (4) in terms of advantages, challenges and opportunities. A survey design which used both quantitative and qualitative aspects of research was used in the study. Questionnaires and interview schedules were used to collect data. The sample included forty five (45) respondents from 20 Primary Schools of Kitwe Districts. Three categories of respondents were identified: (i) Twenty (20) Headmasters (School Managers) (ii) Twenty (20) Teachers and (iii) Five (5) Grade 4 and below pupils.The methods used included three sets of structured questionnaires and personal interviews. The data was analysed using statistical software called STATA. Data was checked for validity, reliability, identification outliners and normality. The findings of the study revealed that issuing instructions in local language is more beneficial as the pupils grasp things faster, pupils’ participations in classroom improves greatly however some pupils may face language barrier more especially to pupils who come from transfer from other regions and one issue that come out strongly was the lack of teaching and learning materials. This calls for the school administration and the ministry of education to stock the schools with the teaching and reading. The significant challenges were the lack of teaching materials in local language, language barrier to pupils and teachers who come on transfer from other regions while the main advantages were fast learning of the pupils, contribution and participation of pupils in class will be high, pupils continue with the language of play and that makes them acquire knowledge fast. The using of local language to issue instructions in class is a good development that will improve the performance of pupils in all areas of study.
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