Browsing by Author "Mbilinyi, Dorothy Amos Sengoka"

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    Home processes that contribute to performance in reading and writing among Tanzanian primary schoolchildren: A case study of standard three children in Same District
    (University of Dar es Salaam, 1984) Mbilinyi, Dorothy Amos Sengoka
    Literacy skills attainment is a prerequisite for all primary school leavers in Tanzania. Several sources have alleged that for more than a decade now some primary seven graduates leaves school illiterate or semi-literate. This short –coming has been found to result from a few factors, home background being one which the home environmental processes effect the children’s performance in reading and writing. The study was conducted under the assumption of five null hypotheses which were based on five home processes originally used by Dave (bloom, 1980). Precisely, the five home processes focused upon were; home work habits; parental academic guidance and support; intellectual stimulation in homes, language models; and parental aspirations and expectations on their children. The research was carried out in 10 schools of same district with the target population being parents and standard 111 children stratified random sampling and purposeful sampling methods were used in each school to select a sample of 10pupils, 5 best and 5 poorest performers in reading and writing. The instrumentation included an achievement test which consisted of reading, dictation and copying exercises; and interviews for pupils, parents and Kiswahili teachers. The two instruments collected data for the main variables of this study: performance in reading and writing; and home processes score values. The chi-square statistic was used to test the significance of the relationship between variables; and to show the coefficient of contingency which in turn indicates the degree of the variable association. All the five null hypotheses were rejected. Therefore it was found that the difference in performance between children from homes with favorable conditions and those from homes with unfavorable conditions pertaining to the five home processes was significant at P <.O5. The association test indicated a positive direction with a high degree of association except for hypothesis one where the association was rather weak. The conclusion from the findings is that the home environment processes strongly affect the children’s performance in reading and writing. Suggestions to promote the home environment or to provide its alternatives, and some recommendations for further research were given.