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The major aim of this study was to examine the effectiveness of primary school teachers teaching English language in Tanzania. Specifically, the study addressed four objectives which are to (1) investigate subject mastery of teaching English in primary schools; (2) examine teacher's competence in the application of Technological, Pedagogical and Content knowledge (3) examine learners' communicative ability in English and (4) examine how English teachers cope with challenges facing them while teaching English language in primary schools. The study mainly employed the qualitative approach. In particular, it employed a descriptive survey design. Four school categories, two with more competent teachers (MCT) and the two with less competent teachers (LCT), were selected for comparison. A total of 64 respondents were involved in this study. All groups of respondents were selected using purposive sampling technique. Data was collected through, interviews, observation, questionnaires, and through setting a test that was done by learners to measure their ability in English language skills. The qualitative data was analysed and presented descriptively. However, in some qualitative elements, simple statistics like numbers and percentages were used to draw some inferences.
The findings of this study, generally, revealed that teachers were ineffective in language fluency and in pedagogy. This was found to have a direct relationship with pupil‟s deficiencies in core skills of English language. This implies that the existing policy of formally introducing teaching and learning of English at primary level is not translated into concrete achievement in language skills. Both teachers and learners failed to use English language in the classroom as expected. Therefore, based on the findings, English language teachers should be provided with in-service training continuously so that they can be in a better position to assist pupils to improve their language skills. |
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