The use of learner centered techniques in the teaching of english language in selected secondary schools of lundazi district

Abstract

The teaching of English language in the secondary schools of Zambia is usually text based. Teachers graduate from different colleges and universities with diplomas and degrees and go to teach the secondary school learners. The purpose of this study was to assess the usage of learner centred techniques in the teaching of English language in the secondary schools of Lundazi district. The objectives of the study were to: establish how children were learning English using learner centred techniques and identify the challenges in using the learner centred activities in the secondary schools of Lundazi. The study used a mixed methods design and adopted concurrent triangulation on a population of 99 respondents. 72 respondents were pupils, 24 were teachers of English while 4 were heads of departments for languages in the secondary schools. Focus group discussions were used to collect data from 32 learners and 24 teachers while 39 answered a likert scaled questionnaire and 4 heads of departments were interviewed. Microsoft excel was used to analyse quantitative data while thematic analysis was used to analyse qualitative data. The findings revealed that teachers were not interested in teaching using learner centred techniques hence they used a limited number of learner centred activities. Despite this, pupils were interested in learning English using the learner centred activities. Challenges included inadequate teaching and learning material, over enrolment, rushing to cover the whole syllabus and teaching to make children pass examinations. The study recommended that teachers should use the continuing professional development meetings to share fully the process of teaching English language using learner centred techniques in the secondary schools. Government should control enrolment in secondary schools so that quality learning can be realized through teaching English using learner centred techniques