An appraisal of intergrated versus non-intergrated approach in teaching: the case of Kiswahili composition and literature in Tanzania mainland
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Date
1992
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University of Dar es Salaam
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to compare and contrast the teaching and learning effectiveness between schools that used an integrated behaviour approach in teaching Kiswahili composition and literature and those which did not use the approach. The study was prompted by a controversy regarding the usefulness of instructional objectives in teaching. Literature review in the area yielded an equivocal stance regarding the effectiveness of using instructional objectives. This study was thus developed under the assumption that there were conditions under which instructional objectives would tend to enhance the quality of teaching and learning. The literature survey led to the hypothesis that one of the conditions was the teacher's ability to state and use the objectives in an integrated behaviour approach, that is, in an effort to effect the development of all the human capabilities of the cognitive affective and psychomotor domains. Such an integration was seen to be most appropriate in language skills since linguistic theory advocates the development of the human being as an organism in the learning of language through listening, speaking, reading and writing. According to this study, an involvement of all the human capabilities in the three behaviour domains was regarded as an integrated behaviour approach in teaching and learning. An involvement of capabilities in only two or one domain was considered non-integrated. The study adopted the pretest posttest control group design in order to compare the teaching and learning effectiveness of Kiswahili composition and literature between experimental and control groups using the integrated and non-integrated behaviour approaches respectively. Stufflebeam's Context, Input, Process and Product (CIPP) model of evaluation along with a corresponding evaluation plan were randomly used for the collection of data. There were six schools for the experiment, three from each group chosen on the basis of a previous survey conducted throughout the zones of Tanzania mainland. The accessible population, Forms II and III, was chosen because of the satisfactory entry characteristics in the respective subject areas, namely, Kiswahili composition and literature, from which streams were picked out randomly for the pretests and posttests. Students from both groups had similar geographical locations, academic biases, types of school and sex; and their Kiswahili teachers had similarities in their qualifications and teaching experiences. Research instruments which were used in the study included teachers' questionnaire which collected data for the input evaluation, and students' questionnaires which were meant for assessing the extent of behaviour integration during the process evaluation. There was also an observation schedule modified after Flanders interaction Analysis Categories used during the process of teaching for the process evaluation stage. This was supplemented by documentary analysis of lesson plans of teachers from the experimental schools, as well as unstructured interviews with teachers from the control schools. Finally, the study used achievement tests in both Kiswahili composition and literature. The tests, based on the current Kiswahili syllabus for secondary schools and format as used in previous researches, such as that by Fagan et al. (1975 ), were meant to compare the learning outcomes between the two groups during the product evaluation stage. These tests as well as the questionnaires were piloted in Azania and Forodhani Secondary Schools in Dar es Salaam (eastern zone) to ascertain further their validity and acceptability. Findings related to the hypotheses have shown that as a result of the Context and Input evaluations the Kiswahili syllabus for secondary schools as it was then was not adequate enough to cater for the integrated behaviour approach in terms of how its objectives were stated as well as of content and teaching guidelines for both Kiswahili composition and literature. The expectation that there would be better teaching and learning atmosphere where integrated behaviour approach was used in teaching was realized in the sense that, during the process evaluation, the experimental group indicated a higher level of behaviour integration than the control group. Finally, statistical analyses have shown that in most of the tests made the experimental group was in more favourable circumstances in achievement during the product evaluation than the control group. The similarities that were observed during the study, especially in the teaching of Kiswahili composition in both groups could be attributed to the positive attitudes towards the subject area that teachers and students had, and to the interdependence of the behaviour categories whereby there is the tendency for one to evoke the other easily. Generally, the findings have shown that instructional objectives when stated and used in an integrated behaviour approach will engender better teaching and learning atmosphere and outcomes than otherwise in the teaching of Kiswahili composition and literature in secondary schools in Tanzania mainland.
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Keywords
Swahili language, Study and teaching
Citation
Mbunda, F. L (1992)An appraisal of intergrated versus non-intergrated approach in teaching: the case of Kiswahili composition and literature in Tanzania mainland, Doctoral dissertation, University of Dar es Salaam. Available at (http://41.86.178.3/internetserver3.1.2/detail.aspx?parentpriref= )