Description:
This paper attempts to present the way English language is taught and learnt in
Tanzanian secondary schools and how teachers/instructors and students feel about this
particular language. The study focused mainly on three specific objectives: to explore the
factors for the choice of English language as a medium of instruction in Tanzanian
secondary schools and its practical implications in classroom situation, to find out the
students‟ perceptions/attitudes on the use of English language as a medium of instruction
in teaching and learning, and to suggest the appropriate method(s) of language teaching
to be used by secondary school teachers in the whole process of teaching and learning,
especially in multilingual countries like Tanzania. The study employed both qualitative and quantitative research design and the primary data were collected through literature review, interviews and questionnaires, whereby interviews were meant for the secondary school English teachers from the selected secondary schools in Dodoma municipality while questionnaires were administered to the secondary school students from the same schools. Data based on the questionnaires were analysed through SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences). The study used a sample size of 140 respondents from 10 secondary schools in Dodoma municipality of which 20 were English language teachers from each school, that is 2 teachers from each school and 120 respondents were secondary school students in a proportion of 12 students from each school. The purposive sampling technique was used to get those teachers who were interviewed and these were basically those who are teaching English language as a subject in these schools under the study. The quota sampling technique was applied in getting the number of students for this study. The paper asserts that the use of English language in Tanzania is like two sides of the same coin which are inseparable as it has some advantages and disadvantages. However, it is still an uphill task for the secondary school students in Tanzania to achieve their 296 learning objectives through the use of English language, unless otherwise English teachers find alternative ways of teaching this particular language. This paper then suggests that this is a proper time for responsible organs to think on revisiting the
language policy of the country in order to reflect the needs and interests of the Tanzanian
learners. The paper concludes by suggesting the appropriate methods to be used in the
whole process of teaching and learning in multilingual countries like Tanzania.