A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Master of Arts in Education of the University of Dodoma
This study explored parents' and teachers' conception in the use of first language in child‟s development of pre-reading literacy skills in Tanzania. The study was conducted in 6 public pre-primary classes in Geita District involving 20 parents (9 males and 11 females) and 12 teachers (5 males and 7 females). The study sampled parents conveniently, while pre-primary teachers were purposely sampled. Further, the study employed collective or multiple case study design underpinned by a qualitative approach. To accomplish the study objectives, semi structured interview, FGD and observation were employed in data gathering. The data were analysed based on the themes and resulted into the emergence of different sub-themes.
The findings reveal that both parents and teachers conceived L1 as mother tongue, a language acquired from birth, and which stands as a cultural identity. Further, both believed that L1 has a significant contribution in child‟s development of pre-reading skills. Furthermore, the findings established that the participants held varied conceptions regarding the use of L1 in teaching at pre-primary level. More importantly, the findings revealed that participants held varied conceptions regarding how L1 could be used in teaching. Nevertheless, the findings revealed that classes that constituted majority of L1 learners were characterised by hard of learning, communication barrier and inactive learning climate. The study concludes that, though stakeholders were aware of crucial role of L1, the majority of study participants did not recommend for its use. Further, few study participants recommended for code mixing in teaching at pre-primary level. More importantly, L1 learners experiences hard of learning, challenge in communication, and inactive engagement during teaching and learning. The study recommends for popularisation of Kiswahili due to prevalence of diverse ethnic languages in Tanzania.