Sampling

This study used stratified sampling for selecting teachers. Stratified sampling was used because it was the best strategy to provide a relevant representative sample (from subgroups) of teachers more than any other sampling strategy. The characteristics of the wider population that needed to be identified by the researcher were standard four teachers teaching in Zomba rural schools; teachers who had similar academic qualification, had undergone similar mode of in service training and had similar teaching experience. Then the researcher randomly selected twelve teachers as a sample from within these subgroups. Teachers and the schools they were teaching at were used as the unit for random assignment. Using the sampling frame of standard four teachers with same academic qualifications, similar mode of training, similar number of years of teaching experience, twelve teachers representing twelve schools were randomly selected for the study. The indicators of teachers’ background characteristics included teachers’ professional training, level of education/certification, and level of teaching experience. Information on teachers’ background characteristics was collected from education authorities in Zomba district.

The location of the schools (urban/rural), economic status of the community surrounding the school, ratio of desks/tables to pupils, number of text-books available and number of pupils to a class were some of the factors that were also considered.

Indicators for pupils’ background characteristics included age, sex, socioeconomic status, and home language. The educational level of the father/mother indicated the socioeconomic status of the pupil. Information on pupils’ background characteristics was collected from teachers and pupils themselves during the administration of the pre-tests and post-tests.

The sample size was determined by economic and time factors. The researcher had a limited budget to cover both the pilot and the main study therefore could not cover too many schools beyond twelve. Coverage of twelve schools meant twelve days of visits to each school per month per each researcher. Each visit meant taking time off at the researchers’ work place (the whole day). So the figure twelve was felt to be

reasonable. Whereas it was possible to randomly assign teachers to the control and experimental groups, it was problematic to randomly assign pupils to the experimental and control groups. School authorities do not permit researchers to do this. Instead, pupils were assigned according to their teachers. It was felt that this was less disruptive to the school routine.

a) Characteristics of teachers

A total of twelve teachers were included in the sample, two female teachers and ten males. All the twelve teachers were holders of Malawi Junior Certificate of Education (awarded after two years of secondary education). They were all trained under the MIITEP programme. In Malawi there are five public teacher training colleges and three private ones. All the twelve teachers were trained in one of the five public colleges. The teachers were all experienced teachers who had taught for not less than ten years. The number of years of teaching experience ranged from eleven to fifteen. Four teachers had taught for eleven years, three teachers for twelve years, the next three teachers for fourteen years and two teachers for fifteen years. All the twelve teachers indicated that they had learnt theories of how to teach reading such as whole word and phonics while on training at college. Seven of the sample teachers pointed out that the training period at college was so short that they did not go into details of how to teach phonics. Instead they read about teaching phonics from the handbooks that they were given.

b) Characteristics of schools i) Resources

The twelve sample schools were all in low socioeconomic status areas. From classroom observations and interviews with teachers the primary schools in the sample had scarce resources such as desks, books and teaching and learning materials. The schools were not provided with adequate basic classroom resources such as text books, desks, classroom library, charts, book shelves, supplementary readers, teacher’s table and chair. Table 3 below seems to suggest that the education system is struggling to make adequate provision for resources when one compares schools’ enrolment numbers with availability of resources in the sample schools.

Table 3: Enrolment numbers against availability of some resources Name of school No. of pupils No. of Eng text books No. of desks Availability of library at school

Chiphoola 135 35 none none

Domasi

C.C.A.P. 60 none none none

Lomoni 27 4 none none

Malemia 91 15 none Yes

Matawale 169 30 none none

Mbidi 30 none none none

Mchengawedi 108 49 available Yes

Mulunguzi 108 11 none none

Naisi 146 16 none none

Namilambe 45 none none none

Namiwawa 115 40 none Yes

Ntondo 80 2 none none

The 1997 MOEST Education statistics showed that there were 119 pupils to a permanent classroom, 38 pupils per desk, 48 pupils per chair and 24 pupils per text book (English, Mathematics and Chichewa). The situation has not improved that much to date. Between the years 2004 and 2006 the pupil/classroom ratios were on average about 107 pupils to a classroom. In the year 2007 the pupil/classroom ratio went down slightly to 104 pupils to a classroom (MOEST and Malawi National Commission for UNESCO 2008). Table 3 above indicates and confirms acute shortage of resources in the sample schools. Out of twelve sample schools, only one school had desks for pupils. Eleven schools had no desks. Pupils sat on the floor in rows and used their laps for writing. As can be seen from the table above, in schools where pupils were more than sixty, pupils were so crowded that it was difficult for the teacher or an observer to move around the classroom to see how pupils were carrying out an activity.

A desk study of all materials that teachers used for their English classes revealed scarcity of teaching and learning materials in all schools. There were few text books that had to be shared among pupils. Besides the few text books available there were no supplementary materials that could be used for teaching literacy. Instead of pupils being given the available text books to read at home the books were stored away after classes awaiting the next English lesson. The implication of this is that teachers could not give homework to pupils. Secondly pupils could not practice reading outside the classroom. So the only exposure to reading books and learning that pupils received was in the classroom. Research has established that time spent reading beyond the classroom can promote reading enjoyment and build pupils’ fluency.

The change of the curriculum had some effect on the availability of the English text books (Chilora et al. 1994) Activities with English: A course for primary schools in schools. Schools were not encouraged to replenish books for the old curriculum when books for the new curriculum were already available in schools for grades one, two, three, five, six, and seven then. In addition to the scarcity of text books nine out of twelve sample schools had no library at the school where pupils could go and read supplementary books besides text books. For schools that had no library at the school, the distance to the nearest library ranged from four to thirteen kilometres away. Pupils could not use such libraries that were far away from them during class time.

ii) Physical school structures

Schools had poor physical facilities and infrastructure. In ten schools the school structures were in a dilapidated condition. Buildings, walls and floors needed some repairs. There was no adequate classroom space. Two of the sample schools (one in the experimental the other in the control) had serious classroom space shortage. In one school standard four pupils were learning outside and literary sat on the floor with sacks used as mats. Some pupils sat on mounted bricks or rocks. In the other school learners were also learning outside but under a big tree. At this school learners used bricks as their stools. The class teacher did not have a table or a chair to sit on. Schools that had classroom space did not have the required furniture such as desks for pupils and the class teacher, storeroom and chairs. Classrooms for eleven schools out of the twelve in the sample had no desks for pupils. Pupils sat on the floor. A number

room, and library. Head teachers of four schools in the sample used a classroom as their office. The same classroom was used for learning. Eleven sample schools did not have a staffroom. This meant that teachers had nowhere to prepare lessons except in the headmaster’s office if they were allowed to do this or at their homes. All the sample schools did not have electricity. However this is regular for rural schools in the country. The majority of rural schools have no electricity. Despite these short falls schools had large classes. Eight out of twelve sample schools had more than sixty pupils enrolled in standard four against one teacher.

iii) Time allocation

All primary schools in Malawi including those in the sample follow one time table. The timetable is centrally controlled. The Ministry of Education allocates time period for each subject or learning area for all schools to follow. Currently standard four is allocated eight English periods per week. Each period lasts thirty five minutes. Reading is given four periods a week. Instructional time in this study was therefore similar in both control and experimental schools. Malawian schools have a strong tradition of whole-class instruction. So both control and experimental schools used whole-class instruction. All schools used textbooks prescribed by the government hence schools selected in the study used a prescribed common English textbook (Chilora et al. 1994) Activities with English: A course for primary schools.

c) Characteristics of pupils

i) Pupils’ age and language spoken at home

Pupils involved in the study aged in range from 7 years to 19 with a mean age of 11.84 and mode of 12. The home and first languages of pupils were Chichewa, Chiyawo, Chilomwe, Chinyanja, Chingoni, Chitumbuka. The majority of pupils spoke Chichewa. About 81 percent of pupils spoke Chichewa followed by about 16 percent who spoke Chiyawo. The rest of the pupils, 2.6 percent, spoke Chilomwe (.6 percent), Chinyanja (1.5 percent), Chingoni (.2 percent), and Chitumbuka (.3 percent).

ii) Pupils’ attendance

An examination of the attendance register revealed that standard four pupils in the study absented themselves from school. On average pupils in the experimental group were absent from school for about 18 days during the time of treatment. Those in the

control group on average were absent from school for 9 days during the same time. A number of reasons were given for pupils’ absenteeism such as attending initiation ceremonies, getting married, being sent to the market during market days, helping with household chores especially girls. The mean for the pupils in the experimental group is two times higher than that in the control group. One possible explanation for this is that the entry number from the experimental group is far higher than that of the control group. The experimental group also has more girls than boys. In terms of absenteeism girls are more likely to absent themselves from school than boys. In their report the Ministry of Education Science and Technology (MOEST) and Malawi National Commission for UNESCO (2008) say that the primary school completion rate for girls is lower than that of boys, at 37 percent for girls and 46 percent for boys. It is not surprising that pupils were absent from school for so many days. This is consistent with other research findings. Chapter 1 indicated that absenteeism is one of the major problems in primary schools in Malawi. A comparison of Malawi on rate of learner absenteeism with other African countries such as Kenya, Mauritius, Namibia, Zambia, Zanzibar, and Zimbabwe shows Malawi with highest rate of absenteeism (Director-EMAS 2005). 2

Pupils came from homes where there were few or no books to read. About 90 percent of pupils in the study indicated that they had no books to read at home. This is not surprising at all. When Malawi is compared with other African countries, it has the lowest percentage of books at learners’ homes as shown here: (Kenya 38 percent; Mauritius 38 percent; Zambia 32 percent; Namibia 28 percent; Zimbabwe 24 percent; Zanzibar 15 percent; Malawi 13 percent) (Director-EMAS 2005).

iii) Pupils’ enrolment in the research groups

Out of a total enrolment of 20,383 pupils in standard four in Zomba rural area schools 997 pupils were involved in the writing of the tests, 482 boys and 515 girls. However, only 628 pupils making 63 percent of the total number of pupils (997) wrote both the pre-test and post-test. The enrolment numbers show gender imbalance with more girls than boys enrolling in the experimental group and more boys than girls in the control

group. However, having more girls than boys or having equal numbers of boys and girls in the lower classes is in line with what other studies have indicated (see Kadzamira et al. 2001). The enrolment numbers for girls begin to drop sharply in the upper classes from standard five onwards.

iv) Pupils’ home background

About 15.75 percent of pupils did not respond to the question about their father’s education. A majority of the pupils however, indicated that their father had primary education (44.13 percent); secondary education (33.20 percent). Few of pupils’ parents had a diploma (0.30 percent). A further few of the pupils’ fathers did not go to school (5.82 percent).

Just like with the pupils’ fathers, the highest level of academic qualification for the pupils’ mothers was primary education. About 57 percent of pupils’ mothers had primary education followed by 19.76 percent with secondary, and .10 percent diploma. Some pupils’ mothers had a diploma as their highest level of education (.10 percent). About 15 percent of pupils did not respond to the question about their mothers’ highest level of qualification.

About 15.65 percent of the pupils did not respond to the question about their father’s occupation. Nearly half of the pupils’ fathers were subsistence farmers (47.54 percent). A further 14.24 percent of the pupils indicated that their fathers were artisan. Others were civil servants (9.23 percent), entrepreneurs (7.02 percent), watchmen (3.01 percent), and drivers (2.51 percent).

About 15.65 percent of pupils did not respond to the question about their mothers’ occupation. The majority of the pupils’ mothers were subsistence farmers just like their fathers. More than half the pupils’ mothers were subsistence farmers (68.10 percent). A further 0.70 percent of pupils indicated that their mothers were artisans. Others were civil servants (4.11 percent), entrepreneurs (11.13 percent), drivers (.10 percent), and deceased (.20 percent). A higher percentage of pupils’ mothers were involved in entrepreneurship (11.3 percent) more than the fathers (7.02 percent).

highest level of education. More of the pupils’ mothers were involved in small businesses than the fathers. There were fewer pupils’ mothers with secondary education than fathers. The gender difference in academic level of achievement is consistent with known patterns of boys and girls, males and females achievement in the country.