Matumizi Ya Rasilimali Za Kiswahili Za Mtandao Wa Kiakademia Na Wanafunzi Wa Kiswahili Wa Chuo Kikuu Cha Maseno

Abstract

The Internet has a lot of academic resources that are of significance to university students and their research in regard to various courses. However, most studies have indicated that, most university students use the Internet for entertainment rather than academic purposes. Hence, a lot of Internet academic resources may not be utilised well since most students have no interest in them or they are not aware of their existence. This study has focussed on the use of Kiswahili academic internet resources by Kiswahili students of Maseno University. The objectives of the study included to find out Kiswahili academic internet resources, to determine the use of Kiswahili academic internet resources by Kiswahili students of Maseno University and determine the quality of Kiswahili academic internet resources used by Kiswahili students of Maseno University. The research was guided by the theory of Communication based on Uses and Gratification as explained by Gurevitch & Haas (1973), Katz & Blumler (1974), Mc Quail (1983) and Ruggiero (2000) and its founder Herzog (1944). The tenets of the theory are the choice of media by active audiences to satisfy their needs. Descriptive survey design was employed by use of both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Maseno University was purposefully selected to be used as a sample. Fifty four fourth year undergraduate Kiswahili students were randomly sampled from lecture halls to fill in questionnaires. The researcher administered questionnairres to Kiswahili students, observed Kiswahili resources on the Internet and used the checklist as a guide to identify Kiswahili resources. Data from the questionnaire and the internet was analysed qualitatively by giving explanations on availability and use of Kiswahili Internet resources and quantitatively by giving the number of resources they make use of them. Meta analysis was used to confirm the availability and quality of Kiswahili resources. Data was later presented in table as percentages of the number of responses given by students on the use of Kiswahili Internet resources. The researcher confirmed that the internet has Kiswahili resources and most of the students use them to carry out Kiswahili research. Some Kiswahili internet resources were not used frequently for example dictionaries because they had few words translated from other languages especially English to Kiswahili. The quality of Kiswahili Internet resources were that they are upto date and well developed. Recomendations were that Kiswahili lecturers should continue giving guidance to Kiswahili students on the availability of other Kiswahili Internet resources and that these students should continuosly use Kiswahili Internet resources to develop their Kiswahili studies.