Towards the Utilization of Instructional Media for Effective Teaching and Learning of English in Kenya

Abstract

Although English language is a compulsory subject in the Kenyan school curriculum, its teaching faces enhancement challenges. English language has been allotted more time for effective teaching and learning, this is however, not reflected in students’ performance results in many public secondary schools in Kenya. In assessing the cause of this poor performance, teachers are said to have absconded their duties.  Most teachers in public schools are said to absent themselves from school, while those who attend classes do not carry out their responsibilities when teaching. Moreover, since the introduction of free primary education in 2002, the number of pupils joining schools increased tremendously. This has seen an increased number of primary level graduates transit to secondary schools whereas the number of teachers remained the same.  The huge numbers of students in classes has posed a great challenge to effective teaching and instruction and to the use of teaching resources available.  In many instances, teachers have reverted to using only the traditional methods of teaching and instruction. Thus, this paper assesses the place and role of instructional media in enhancing teaching and learning of English language subject in Kenya. The paper urges for a renewed emphasis towards the use of Instructional Media by teachers and stakeholders. The paper proposes for a mandatory use of instructional media while teaching to enhance learning English language subject in Kenya.

Keywords: Instructional media, Language teaching, instructional objectives, performance