Communally Constructed Texts in The Improvement of English Verbal and Writing Skills of Students in Ngariama Secondary Schools, Kenya

ABSTRACT The study’s investigation was “Communally Constructed Texts (CCTs) in the Improvement of Verbal and Writing Skills of Students in Ngariama Secondary Schools, Kenya”. The study objectives were: to establish the inherent potential CCTs have in fostering improvement of students’ verbal and writing skills; to ascertain the impact CCTs usage has on students’ verbal and writing skills; and to suggest ways of better utilization of CCTs in the teaching/learning of verbal and writing skills. The study employed a case study which made use of a quasiexperimental design. Both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection were employed. The study utilized 125 students and 10 teachers picked from 3776 and 236 respectively from 4 schools in Ngariama Location. A pretest was administered to the sampled students to establish their homogeneity level and to determine the control and experimental groups. A treatment was given to the experimental group; the post test was, then, given to both groups. Inherent potential of CCTs, together with their impact on performance in verbal and written skills were established. In addition, an interview was conducted on teachers to obtain their opinions about students’ usage of CCTs and performance in verbal and writing skills. Data obtained was thematically presented. The findings on objective one revealed that students come into classroom with background cultural knowledge in form of CCTs which facilitates learning of English. Findings on objective two showed that CCTs have a tremendous impact on improving students’ verbal and writing skills; this was evident since the experimental group had a better improvement than the control groups. Findings on objective three revealed that curriculum developers should formulate a syllabus that advocates for multiculturalism. In addition, teachers must appreciate cultural diversity and community of meaning. The researcher concluded that if teachers emphasize use of proverbs and riddles in teaching English language and other classroom activities, there would be improvement in students’ performance in both verbal and written texts. The researcher recommends: curriculum developers ought to formulate a syllabus that advocates for multiculturalism; teachers of English must appreciate community of meaning; and the government through the Ministry of Education should deploy English teachers within their cultural setup such that they are able to inculcate the cultural elements.