PhD Viva Voce

Qualifications Attained:

Ms. Emanuel is a PhD candidate (by Course Work and Dissertation) in the Department of Educational Psychology and Curriculum Studies from the School of Education at the University of Dar es Salaam. She holds a Master Degree of Arts in Kiswahili and Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) with Education both from the University of Dar es Salaam. Currently, Ms. Emanuel is an Assistant Lecturer of Language in Education at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. In addition to teaching at the University of Dar es Salaam, she participated in numerous projects on teachers’ professional development, early childhood education and language and literature teaching. Her areas of interest are language in education policy, foreign language teaching and learning; literacy, multilingualism, and Kiswahili literature, Kiswahili teaching and learning.

Abstract:

Secondary school teachers’ beliefs and practices in teaching Kiswahili literature in Tanzania were explored in this study. The study was guided by four objectives. Firstly, to explore teachers’ beliefs in using LCA to teach Kiswahili literature; secondly, to investigate teachers’ teaching practices in teaching Kiswahili literature; thirdly, to examine how teachers’ beliefs were reflected in their teaching practices; and fourthly, to find out factors affecting the reflection of teachers’ beliefs in their teaching practices. It utilised two theories namely: the reader response and the cognitive dissonance. A qualitative research approach and a case study design were employed.  It was conducted in the Kilimanjaro and Dar es Salaam regions involving eight Kiswahili literature secondary school teachers with teaching experiences ranging from one to twenty-five years who were selected purposefully. Data were collected through interviews, classroom observations and documentary review and analysed thematically. The findings revealed the following: First, Kiswahili literature teachers harboured different beliefs about using LCA in teaching Kiswahili literature. Second, teachers’ practices were charactirised by the use of many closed-ended questions, few open-ended questions, minimal small group discussion supervision, minimal classroom interaction, traditional sitting arrangement and limited use of LCA teaching methods. Third, the reflection of teachers’ beliefs in their teaching practices showed an alignment and misalignment between teachers’ beliefs and practices. Fourth, the reflection of teachers’ beliefs in their practices was affected by the shortage of Kiswahili literature books, large classes, shortage of time and a lack of students’ readiness to effectively participate in classroom activities.  Decisively, secondary school Kiswahili literature teachers had varied beliefs about using LCA to teach Kiswahili literature however demonstrated similar teaching practices showing that LCA is yet to be fully adopted. Thus, an in-service teachers’ programme is recommended to equip them with critical self-reflection by questioning their beliefs as a foundation for fully adopting LCA in teaching Kiswahili literature.