| dc.description.abstract | The main purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of quality of Kiswahili instructional materials on the performance of Bachelor of Education (arts) University of Nairobi distance education students. The study sought to determine the quality of the instructional materials, also called modules, by looking at the content, the assessment procedures in the materials and the presentation style. Research objectives were therefore formulated covenng the areas of content, assessment and presentation style in the instructional materials. Literature review focused on distance education and quality of print instructional materials.
The study used survey research design. A sample of 60 Kiswahili distance students and 6 Kiswahili lecturers from University of Nairobi participated in this study. Data was collected from the respondents using questionnaire for the students and interview schedules for the lecturers. A document analysis schedule for the instructional materials was also used to analyze the materials. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the quantitative data. Qualitative data was analyzed in themes based on the objectives of the study.
The study revealed that the quality of Kiswahili instructional materials issued to the Bachelor of Education (Arts) distance education students was impaired by the inappropriateness of the content as there was a lot of content that was either irrelevant or partially relevant as compared to the course outlines the lecturers were currently using. Since the materials were developed a number of years ago - some more than twenty years ago (1988) - there was content that had been overtaken by time and was therefore dated. This meant that such materials were not of value to students as they prepared for their examinations and therefore they had little influence on the performance of students.
The study findings indicated that most of the lecturers used their own modified notes to teach the students and they set the examinations from the content in the notes. As a result, majority of the students relied on the lecture notes and not the modules provided. This further indicated that there was little significance in the influence of modules on the performance of students. In the light of the study findings several recommendations were made.
Key among them was that Kiswahili instructional materials content should be reviewed and written in line with the current updated course outlines that most lecturers were using to teach and examine the students. Another key recommendation was that lecturers teaching the Kiswahili courses currently should be used in the revision of the modules. It is suggested that further research could be done to assess the influence of instructional materials on performance of distance education students in other disciplines. | en_US |
