Tag Archive for: Unfamiliarity.

The study assessed class teachers’ familiarity with the official language of instruction in selected urban government primary schools in Solwezi District of Zambia. The objectives of the study were to determine class teachers’ familiarity with the official language of instruction; establish the effects of teachers’ familiarity with the official language of instruction on literacy achievement among urban Grade 3 learners; and ascertain the language instructional strategies teachers who were non-speakers of the language of instruction used to teach in class. The study was guided by The Mother Tongue Instruction Theory, and employed a mixed methods design. Data were collected through interview, lesson observation and fluency test. The study established that teachers who were non-speakers were unfamiliar with the language of classroom instruction, kiikaonde. The fluency test results showed that the teachers’ oral fluency, reading fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, linguistic performance and articulation was generally poor. Interview and observation results showed that the teachers’ unfamiliarity with the official language of instruction impended teaching, learning and learners’ understanding in those classrooms. For instance, the learners misunderstood the concepts, it was time consuming, teachers could not deliver lessons very well because of language barrier and learners did not get the best from the teachers resulting in under performance among teachers and learners. The study also established that the unfamiliar teachers with the language of instruction used variety coping language strategies in the classrooms such as translation, code-switch, group work, individual work and question and answer. The study recommends teachers should be capacity built in familiar language through training in colleges and CPD in schools. The teachers who were unfamiliar with the official familiar language of classroom instruction should not be allocated to teach lower primary classes before they learn the familiar language of instruction by MOE authorities; and the use of variety coping strategies should be encouraged.