Forms of multimodal approaches in the teaching of listening and speaking skills

Abstract

This study sought to explore the factors that determine the teachers of English’s choice of multimodal approaches when teaching listening and speaking skills to Kenya’s Grade 1 learners. The study adopted a cross-sectional descriptive research design with quantitative and qualitative paradigms. Primary data was sourced from 75 public and private primary schools in Western Kenya. Stratified sampling was employed to identify teachers of English and 7 Curriculum Support Officers (CSO’S in the area). This was to ensure that the population was grouped into homogenous subsets that bore similar characteristics. Questionnaires, observation schedule and Key Informant Interview (KII) were used to elicit data. Validity of research instruments was determined through two expert judgements whereas their reliability was determined through Cronbach’s alpha formula. Descriptive statistics was applied to analyse quantitative data. Content analysis was used to analyse qualitative data. The findings of this study revealed that factors considered while selecting multimodal approaches are significant in the success of teaching of listening and speaking skills. The study recommends that teachers of English should be trained on the most desirable factors that they should consider when selecting multimodal approaches to use in the teaching of listening and speaking skills. Further, the study has attempted to design a teaching and learning model that will guide the teachers of English in the selection of appropriate approaches to blend when teaching listening and speaking skills. This model will guide teachers of English in the inclusion multimodal approaches from all categories.