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This study investigates the relationship between the language of instruction and learning of literacy skills among pre-primary school children in a multilingual environment. The sample consists of 1867 learners from low-income urban households, attending 147 low-cost private pre-primary schools located in low-income areas of Nairobi, Kenya. About one-half (48.4%) of the learners were taught basic aspects of literacy such as letter naming, letters sounds and rhymes using Kiswahili (a local...

This study investigates the relationship between the language of instruction and learning of literacy skills among pre-primary school children in a multilingual environment. The sample consists of 1867 learners from lowincome urban households, attending 147 low-cost private pre-primary schools located in low-income areas of Nairobi, Kenya. About one-half (48.4%) of the learners were taught basic aspects of literacy such as letter naming, letters sounds and rhymes using Kiswahili (a local...

Free Primary Education Initiative has been running for more than a decade and its purpose has been to help Kenya achieve equity, parity, quality and higher retention rate in primary schools. This study investigated the impact of FPE inputs on educational outcomes in Kenya. The objective of the study was to determine the rates of enrolment and retention at Primary school level. Random sampling was used for data collection at school level; purposive sampling for teachers namely Head teachers,...

Limited rigorous evidence is available from sub-Saharan Africa regarding whether children who learn to read in their mother tongue will have higher learning outcomes in other subjects. A randomised controlled trial of mother-tongue literacy instruction, the Primary Math and Reading (PRIMR) Initiative, was implemented in Kenya from 2013 to 2014. We compared the impacts of the PRIMR mother-tongue treatment group in two languages with those of another group that did not use mother tongue, but...

In this paper, we exemplify the resourcefulness of using non-sanctioned ways of speaking in classroom communication within a cross-age literacy collaboration between elementary-level grade 5 and high-school level grade 9 students in Nairobi, Kenya. Our goal is two-fold: to contribute to scholarship that affirms this resourcefulness, and to respond to the need for more studies within western scholarship that are based on non-western linguistic and cultural contexts. Through spotlighting some...

The central hypothesis of this study is that gender-based inequality in education in Africa depends to a significant degree on electricity supply, and access to water and improved sanitation. Gender-based educational inequality is operationalized in terms of the proportion of females to males within any given group of educated people. Three groups, people with basic literacy skills, people with primary education, and people with a secondary education, are considered....

The purpose of this study was to provide a systematic review of research that has been carried out between 2006 and 2016 on the role of language in early grade (Grades 1-4) mathematics teaching and learning in three countries--Kenya, Malawi and South Africa. These countries were selected because they have similar characteristics: teaching and learning occur in a multilingual context; their language in education policies are similar; transition from mother tongue to English happens during the...

The purpose of this study was to provide a systematic review of research that has been carried out between 2006 and 2016 on the role of language in early grade (Grades 1-4) mathematics teaching and learning in three countries--Kenya, Malawi and South Africa. These countries were selected because they have similar characteristics: teaching and learning occur in a multilingual context; their language in education policies are similar; transition from mother tongue to English happens during the...

The adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in September 2015 marked a new milestone for early childhood education, care, and development. For the first time in the framework of global goals, preschool education was described as integral to children's school readiness. Yet with few exceptions, much of the research on the impact of preschool has stemmed from high-income countries. Even fewer studies have examined preschool participation and later learning across multiple...

Using a large-scale, standardised English language proficiency test (TOEFL® "Primary"™), this study examined Kenyan primary school students' English reading and listening proficiency and explored challenges primary school teachers face in using English as the medium of instruction (EMI) to teach their multilingual students. The test was taken by 4768 students in Standards 3-7 from 51 primary schools across the country in Kenya. Seventeen primary school teachers, representing six major...

Research in educational linguistics is now challenging the efficacy of monolingual approaches that often dominate educational practices in multilingual settings. In most African nations where multilingualism is the norm, there remains a persistent reluctance by educational stakeholders (principals, teachers, parents, and students) to embrace multilingualism in education or to reposition local languages as resources in classrooms. This article draws on qualitative data from a multilingual,...

Globally, ODL institutions experience mismatch between scalability of numbers and scalability of success rates. This study explored the scalability of success rates in open, distance e-learning as perceived by the learners within the "Chain of Response Model." The primary aim of the study was to look at online learners' success rate by focusing on two institutional factors drawn from the Model, namely: the learner's study modules related challenges and support services. The results of an...

Globally, ODL institutions experience mismatch between scalability of numbers and scalability of success rates. This study explored the scalability of success rates in open, distance e-learning as perceived by the learners within the "Chain of Response Model." The primary aim of the study was to look at online learners' success rate by focusing on two institutional factors drawn from the Model, namely: the learner's study modules related challenges and support services. The results of an...

This article reports findings of a study conducted in public primary schools in Narok County Kenya. A sample size comprising 74 children in Grade 3 (37 who did not attend preschool and 37 who attended preschool), 18 head teachers, 66 lower primary school teacher's and five education officers were selected for the study. Learners' reading ability was tested using the Kenya Early Grade Reading Assessment Tests for English and Kiswahili adapted from Department for International Development end...

The Blinder-Oaxaca approach has been used to decompose the gender gap in mathematics test scores in private and public primary schools in Kenya. That is, the mathematics production functions are estimated separately for boys and girls, the difference between the boys' and girls' average scores is estimated and then decomposed into three components. That is, gap due to differences in resources between boys and girls, gap resulting from difference in utilization of educational resources and...

The Blinder-Oaxaca approach has been used to decompose the gender gap in mathematics test scores in private and public primary schools in Kenya. That is, the mathematics production functions are estimated separately for boys and girls, the difference between the boys' and girls' average scores is estimated and then decomposed into three components. That is, gap due to differences in resources between boys and girls, gap resulting from difference in utilization of educational resources and...

Assessment is an integral part of the teaching-learning process in both conventional and distance education contexts. Literature suggests that with the increase in the use of Information and Communications Technology in the delivery of learning, a number of institutions are resorting to formative assessment practices that are mediated by technology to not only provide flexible and more efficient means of assessment but also attain improved learning outcomes. This paper investigated student...

Kenya, like many African countries, has faced enormous challenges in the production of and access to quality relevant teaching and learning materials and resources in primary and secondary school classrooms. This has been occasioned by a plethora of factors which include, but are not limited to, lack of finances, tradition, competence, and the experience to develop such resources. Such a situation has persisted despite the existence and availability of many Open Educational Resources (OERs)...

Given the dearth of research on early numeracy interventions in low- and middle-income countries, this paper presents the instructional methodology and impact results of the Tayari program. Tayari is a preprimary intervention in Kenya (2014-2019) that prepares children aged four and five for entry into primary school by providing materials for students, training for teachers, and continuous in-classroom support. The Tayari methodology was built on the Kenyan government's preprimary syllabus...

Using a randomized control trial, this study examined the causal evidence of cross-language transfer of phonological awareness and letter knowledge (names and sounds) using data from multilingual 1st-grade children (N = 322) in Kenya. Children in the treatment condition received an 8-week instruction on phonological awareness and letter knowledge in Kiswahili. The comparison group received business-as-usual classroom instruction. Children in the treatment condition showed greater improvement...