IMPLICATIONS OF TEACHER PLANNING ON THE COMPETENCY OF UPPER PRIMARY SCHOOL LEARNERS IN COMPOSITION WRITING IN BOMET COUNTY IN KENYA

Abstract

In Kenya, English language is a compulsory subject from primary school level of education. It is also a medium of instruction from upper primary school and beyond and an official language in the country. However, despite the position that English language (EL) holds, reports from the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) from the year 2014 to 2018 indicate that the performance in composition writing in Kenya's Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE), has been deteriorating. Teacher planning for instruction contributes to learner competency in language learning. This paper is a report of a study that examined the implications of teacher planning for instruction on competencies of upper primary school learners in composition writing in English language. The study was conducted in Bomet County, Kenya, in the year 2019 and was guided by Communicative Language Theory (CLT) advanced by Hymes and Wilkins. A mixed-methods approach was utilised and adopted a sequential mixed-method design. The respondents of the study consisted of teachers of English in upper primary classes in public schools. Data were collected using questionnaires, document analyses, and teachers' interviews. The findings revealed that teacher planning for instruction had great influence and statistical significance in contributing to learner competencies in composition writing (B= -.585, p˂ 0.05). Teachers prepared schemes of work frequently but did not frequently prepare lesson plans, and hardly prepared lesson notes. The study recommends that teachers of English should immediately allocate lessons to teach composition writing every week. They should also be consistent in the preparation and the effective use of professional documents for instruction. This study makes a significant contribution to the teaching of composition writing for learner competency in upper primary school nationally and globally. Article visualizations: