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ROLE OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS IN ACADEMIC

PERFORMANCE IN COMMUNITY SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ROMBO

DISTRICT

JOHN LAWRENCE TETY

A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF EDUCATION IN

ADMINISTRATION, PLANNING AND POLICY STUDIES OF THE OPEN

UNIVERSITY OF TANZANIA

2016
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CERTIFICATION

The undersigned certifies that she has read and hereby recommends for the

acceptance by the Open University of Tanzania dissertation entitled: “Role of

Instructional Materials in Academic Performance in Community Secondary

Schools in Rombo District” in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree

of Master of Education in Administration, Planning, and Policy Studies (MED

APPS) of the Open University of Tanzania.

.................................................

Prof. Elinami V. Swai

(Supervisor)

.................................................

Date
 iii

COPYRIGHT

No part of this dissertation may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system or

transmitted in any form by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying,

recoding or otherwise without prior written permission of the author or the Open

University of Tanzania in that behalf.

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DECLARATION

I, John Lawrence Tety, do hereby declare that this dissertation is my own original

work and that it has not been submitted and it will not be submitted to any other

University for a similar or any other degree award.

………………………………………

Signature

…………………………………………….

Date
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DEDICATION

This work is dedicated to Almighty God and His Prophet T.B Joshua, my wife

Fortunata V. Kimario and to my lovely children Kevin J. Tety, Karina J. Tety and

Kieran J. Tety.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I’m very grateful to my supervisor Prof. Elinami V. Swai for her technical and

professional inputs during the entire period of my research. She worked tirelessly to

correct my work and offered pieces of advice whenever I consulted her. I wish to

express sincere appreciations to Dr. Godfrey Kimario, Dr. Lawi and Mr. Mbilinyi for

their unlimited support and encouragement throughout my research.

My gratitude also goes to secondary education officer of Rombo District, Heads of

Schools whom I interviewed and allowed me to conduct research in their schools,

teachers and students who responded to my questionnaires. I thank you all for your

generous contribution and cooperation during the data collection exercise.

Finally I express special thanks to Sr. Olivery Shija the Headmistress of Kiraeni

Girls’ Secondary School where I work, for her moral support and allowing me to go

out to the field to conduct my research.

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ABSTRACT

The purpose of this research work is to examine the extent to which the selected

community secondary schools in Rombo District utilize quality and adequate

instructional materials in classrooms and how this has promoted academic

performance of students. This research was based on three objectives including: to

explore the views of teachers and students on the extent to which instructional

facilities affect student performance, to examine the challenges that teachers in

community secondary schools face in accessing instructional materials and to assess

the strategies that teachers use to minimize the challenges of attaining and using

quality instructional materials. The study adopted a cross sectional survey design.

The study population involved all community secondary schools in Rombo district.

Out of 38 community secondary schools in Rombo district 5 schools were randomly

selected for data collection. In each school, 5 teachers and 20 students filled semi-

structured questionnaire. Also heads of each school and 1 secondary district

education officer were interviewed. The following were findings of the study: first,

instructional materials are the key to teachers’ and students’ performance. Secondly,

most community secondary schools in Rombo District suffer shortage of essential

teaching and learning materials. Thirdly, the study revealed that teachers used

different strategies to minimize the challenges of attaining and using quality

instructional materials like borrowing books and improvation. The study

recommends that the government should budget sufficient funds for improving the

availability of instructional materials in all secondary schools. For further research,

this study proposes that aspects of how teachers and students use instructional

materials for effective teaching and learning processes need to be examined.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CERTIFICATION ..................................................................................................... ii

COPYRIGHT ............................................................................................................ iii

DECLARATION ....................................................................................................... iv

DEDICATION ............................................................................................................ v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ........................................................................................ vi

ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................. vii

LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................... xii

LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................ xiii

APPENDICES ......................................................................................................... xiv

LIST OF ABRREVIATIONS ................................................................................. xv

CHAPTER ONE ........................................................................................................ 1

INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 1

1.1 Background Information ................................................................................... 1

1.2 Statement of the problem ................................................................................ 10

1.3 Objectives ....................................................................................................... 11

1.3.1 General Objective ........................................................................................... 11

1.3.2 Specific Objectives ......................................................................................... 11

1.3.3 Scope of the Study .......................................................................................... 12

1.3.4 Significance of the Study ................................................................................ 12

1.3.6 Chapter Summary ........................................................................................... 14

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CHAPTER TWO ..................................................................................................... 15

LITERATURE REVIEW........................................................................................ 15

2.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 15

2.2 Theoretical Framework ................................................................................... 15

2.2.1 Instructional Material Theories ....................................................................... 15

2.2.2 Sociocultural Theory of Teaching, Learning, and Development .................... 16

2.3 Empirical Literature ........................................................................................ 18

2.3.1 The Extent to which Instructional Materials Affect Student Performance ..... 18

2.3.2 Challenges that Teachers Face in Accessing Instructional Materials ............. 20

2.3.3 Strategies to Minimize the Challenges of Attaining and using Quality

Instructional Materials .................................................................................... 23

2.3.4 Knowledge Gap .............................................................................................. 25

2.3.5 Conceptual Framework ................................................................................... 25

2.3.6 Summary ......................................................................................................... 26

CHAPTER THREE ................................................................................................. 28

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ........................................................................... 28

3.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 28

3.2 Research Design ............................................................................................. 28

3.3 Sampling Procedure ........................................................................................ 28

3.3.1 Sample Size..................................................................................................... 29

3.4 Description of the Study Location .................................................................. 30

3.5 Data collection Procedures ............................................................................. 31

3.5.1 Key Informant Interviews ............................................................................... 31

3.5.2 Secondary Data ............................................................................................... 31

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3.5.3 Primary Data ................................................................................................... 32

3.6 Instrumentation ............................................................................................... 32

3.6.1 Questionnaire .................................................................................................. 32

3.6.2 Interview Checklist/Guide .............................................................................. 32

3.7 Data Analysis and Presentation ...................................................................... 33

3.8 Ethical Issues .................................................................................................. 33

3.9 Reliability of Research Instruments ................................................................ 33

3.10 Validity of Research Instruments ................................................................... 34

3.11 Summary ......................................................................................................... 34

CHAPTER FOUR .................................................................................................... 35

RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ...................................................... 35

4.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 35

4.2 Demographic Characteristics .......................................................................... 35

4.2.1 Students Demographic Information ................................................................ 36

4.2.2 Teachers Demographic Information ............................................................... 37

4.2.4 District Education Officer Demographic Information .................................... 39

4.3 The Views of Teachers and Students on the Extent to which Instructional

Materials Affect Student Performance ........................................................... 39

4.3.1 Common Instructional Materials Used in the Study Area .............................. 40

4.3.2 Opinions on the Effectiveness of Instructional Materials for Students

Performance ................................................................................................... 42

4.4 The Challenges Facing Teachers and Students in Community Secondary

Schools in Accessing and using Instructional Materials ................................ 43

4.41 Challenges Facing Teachers in Accessing Instructional Materials ................ 43