Influence of Teacher Characteristics on Preschool Children’s Performance in Visual Discrimination of Words in English in Kairuri Zone, Embu, Kenya.

Abstract

Education is one of the major sectors of the economy that will propel the nation into achieving a middle income status as envisaged in the vision 2030 blueprint. Therefore, provision of education from the preschool years onward will enable the country to achieve this goal. For children to be able to learn, they must acquire the ability to recognize and differentiate objects within their surroundings. Visual discrimination enhances children‟s ability to read hence developing language. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of teacher characteristics on preschool children‟s performance in visual discrimination of words in English in Kairuri Zone, Embu Kenya. The objectives of the study were; to investigate how the teachers attitude towards English influence preschool children‟s performance in visual discrimination of words in English, how teacher‟s academic qualification influence preschool children‟s performance in visual discrimination of words in English, how teacher‟s teaching experience influence preschool children‟s performance in visual discrimination of words in English and how the teacher‟s use of instructional materials influence preschool children‟s performance in visual discrimination of words in English. The study used a descriptive survey design where qualitative and quantitative approaches were applied. Qualitative data was obtained through observation whereby the researcher observed the teachers and the children during lessons. Quantitative data was obtained by recording the observations made in the observation schedule, responses from the questionnaires, the children‟s test and the documentary analysis. The study based its theoretical framework on Vygotsky‟s theory of learning which postulates that children learn most out of social encounter, and that children ought to be assisted to learn through scaffolding. The study targeted a population of 35 preschools, 39 preschool teachers, and 776 preschool children and a sample size of 12 preschools, 13 preschool teachers and 233 preschool children. This sample was picked using stratified random sampling. Data analysis was done using Microsoft Office Excel and descriptive statistics presented using frequency tables and percentages. The study established that children performed better when teachers had a positive attitude towards them. It also established that diploma teachers were more effective in teaching than certificate teachers, teachers with more teaching experience performed better than those with less teaching experience and teachers who used additional instructional materials produced better results than those who only used basic instructional materials. The researcher recommends that teachers should develop and nature a positive attitude towards preschool children, teachers should strive to move up the educational ladder, refresher courses should be availed to teachers to keep them in tandem with changing educational trends and teachers should always strive to develop, acquire and use a variety of instructional resources since these characteristics influence preschool children‟s performance in visual discrimination of words in English. The findings of this study will be useful to the education fraternity as they highlight areas that require improvement in teaching preschool children English activity area, hence developing language.