Browsing by Author "Mhandeni, Abdulkarim Shaban"

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The influence of language of instruction on students’ academic outcomes: the experience of secondary schools in Morogoro, Tanzania
(SUA, 2014) Mwakapina, Job Wilson; Mhandeni, Abdulkarim Shaban
Many have ascribed the poor performance that secondary school students in Tanzania have suffered in various school subjects in the national examinations to the students’ weakness in English, the Language of Instruction (LoI). This brief paper seeks to determine the influence of LoI on students’ academic success in secondary schools. An English Language Proficiency Test (ELPT) and students’ academic archival reports provided the data and a Statistical Package for Software System (SPSS) facilitated data analysis. Analysis brought to light the finding that proficiency in LoI affects performance only to a slight extent. Non-ELP factors exert a stronger influence on performance in subjects other than English while – not surprisingly – English proficiency does indeed exercise much influence on English achievement. The study concludes that academic performance is a function of several variables and that ELP plays a role in performance but not the major role. The study recommends that the government (1) emphasize the improvement of ELP, since the greater the improvement, the more a positive influence may be anticipated; and (2) consider using ELP as an additional eligibility criterion for admission into higher education.
The role of input simplification and interactional modification strategies in the Tanzanian english-language classroom
(ResearchGate, 2016) Utenga, Adriano; Mohamed, Hashim Issa; Nyinondi, Onesmo Simon; Mhandeni, Abdulkarim Shaban
This paper presents a classroom-based research on input simplification and interactional modification strategies used by English language teachers to make their oral input comprehensible to their learners. The main objective was to examine the input simplification and interactional modification strategies used by English language teachers in EFL classrooms, focusing on lexical and syntactical aspects of the language. Data were collected from four English language teachers and 183 students from four selected classrooms and a review of English language syllabi in Tanzania. The study was carried out by means of audio recordings, classroom observations and interviews.The findings show that teachers employ different linguistic simplifications and interactional modification strategies in EFL classrooms to enhance students‟ comprehension and interlanguage development. The findings further revealed that the use of input simplification and interactional modification strategies is crucial for students‟ comprehension and language development. A combination of factors - personal style of teaching, lesson content, methodology, students‟ proficiency level and linguistic background - was found to influence foreigner talk(FT) strategies. In the present paper, it is recommended that linguistic simplifications and interactional modification strategies in EFL classrooms be systematically used and streamlined in the methodology of teaching EFL. The authors also recommend that the knowledge of native speakers' (NS) / non native Speakers' (NNS) discourse for various contexts, tasks and addressees need to be explored to establish triggers of FT, and then discover which discourse modifications, if any, actually facilitate foreign language learning.
The use of communicative language teaching approach in the teaching of communication skills courses in Tanzanian universities
(International Journal of Research Studies in Language Learning, 2016) Nyinondi, Onesmo Simon; Mhandeni, Abdulkarim Shaban; Mohamed, Hashim Issa
English has been used as a medium of instruction in secondary schools and universities in Tanzanian. Pedagogical practice in these levels has however, continued to generate huge challenges in the education system. Considerable amount of time is wasted by students grappling with the language of instruction instead of learning their other subjects. In universities, Communication Skills (CS) course was introduced primarily to enable students apply the existing knowledge of English to particular skills in order to respond to specific academic communicative needs in their disciplines. But, students’ existing knowledge of English at the moment of joining the university, is often so inadequate to have any meaningful application of such knowledge. This happens against the backdrop of a paradigm shift where communicative language teaching (CLT) has currently permeated pedagogical practice globally. In the current study, the researchers undertook to investigate how universities in Tanzania have been able to implement Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach in the teaching of Communication Skills Courses. Researchers used qualitative study design through interviews of students and staff, focus group interviews with staff, documentary analyses of CS courses, and classrooms Observations. The findings reveal that inadequacy of CS as competency based course, diversity of students in language abilities and disciplines, localization of teaching material, and instructors’ authority working against students’ autonomy have been compromising students’ development of academic communication competence. The study recommends for a scrutiny of CS curricular to make them more competent based, specific and connected to communication rather than linguistic minutia.