The teaching of English language in Tanzania secondary schools

This is a descriptive and evaluative study of the teaching-learning process of English Language in Secondary schools of Mainland Tanza.nia. It seeks to find out the problems that teachers and learners encounter in their daily activities as English language teachers and/or learners. The specific variables under examination include (1) Teachers and/or students' attitudes towards English language, (2) Teaching materials, (3) Teaching methods and classroom techniques and (4) the syllabus. The study was based on four secondary schools situated in Dar es Salaam, Documentation, non-participant observation, unstructured interviews and questionnaires constituted four main methods of collecting data from two main categories of the population sample - eighty students and twenty teachers. he following were the main findings: (1) An overwhelming majority of students and teachers demonstrate positive attitudes towards English language in spite of the pre- availing socio-political climate that appears to favour the development of Kiswahili not only as a lingua franca for Tanzania but even for the whole of Pan Africa.(2) The schools' manpower is of a high academic qualification but the methods of teaching and classroom techniques are not equally good. The problem would be alleviated by providing In-service courses or seminars to the teachers who are already in the field and for the prospective English teachers still undergoing training more attention should be given to learning proper teaching methods as well as a thorough understanding of the psychology of learners. (3) Shortage of teaching materials and other facilities is an acute problem making the Teachers' work difficult, Four to five students for example find themselves sharing a Language III text book. In connection with teaching materials two recommendations are being made: {a} that teachers who are unable to prepare their own teaching materials for practice in class be provided with such materials, and (b) that to enable teachers to make full use of teaching materials in the schools book stores non-teaching members of staff be put in charge of the stores. A suggestion is also made that the Institute of Education, National Examination Council and sections of the Ministry of National Education that deal with curriculum development and evaluation be merged into one institution for better service to teachers and students. Lastly, since it is imperative for a curriculum developer to know the role of a particular subject before he is able to develop a proper syllabus for that particular subject it is essential that Tanzania's language policy be stated in absolute terms to allow curriculum developers prepare a better English language syllabus. The study consists of five chapters containing the following:(1) The first chapter is a discussion of the problem and its importance, (2) The second chapter consists of a review of the related literature plus suggestions as to what methods of teaching English should be used, (3) The third chapter is a presentation of the research design, methods of sampling, data collection, data processing, analysis and limitations.(4) The fourth chapter is a presentation of the findings.(5) The fifth chapter presents a summary and discussion of the findings. Finally in a form of appendices are the instruments used for data collection, correlation between language learning and educational achievement, opportunities for 1972 Form IV school leavers on the Pre-Service Training courses in 1973 and a few samples of Form IV student s English.