Examining the secondary effects of mother-tongue literacy instruction in Kenya: Impacts on student learning in English, Kiswahili, and mathematics

Piper, Benjamin; Zuilkowski, Stephanie Simmons; Kwayumba, Dunston; Oyanga, Arbogast

doi:10.1016/j.ijedudev.2017.10.002

Cited by 46 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…A recent study in Kenya found no additional benefit from mother tongue instruction in primary school on children's language development, but only assessed children's linguistic development in English and Swahili (Piper, Zuilkowski, Kwayumba, & Oyanga, ). However, a separate study found that the PRIMR programme (which provides teacher training and instructional supports to improve language and math skills in early primary grades) improved oral reading fluency and reading comprehension in mother tongue (Piper, Zuilkowski, et al, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multilingual assessment of early child development: Analyses from repeated observations of children in Kenya

Knauer

Kariger

Jakiela

et al. 2019

Developmental Science

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In many low‐ and middle‐income countries, young children learn a mother tongue or indigenous language at home before entering the formal education system where they will need to understand and speak a country's official language(s). Thus, assessments of children before school age, conducted in a nation's official language, may not fully reflect a child's development, underscoring the importance of test translation and adaptation. To examine differences in vocabulary development by language of assessment, we adapted and validated instruments to measure developmental outcomes, including expressive and receptive vocabulary. We assessed 505 2‐to‐6‐year‐old children in rural communities in Western Kenya with comparable vocabulary tests in three languages: Luo (the local language or mother tongue), Swahili, and English (official languages) at two time points, 5–6 weeks apart, between September 2015 and October 2016. Younger children responded to the expressive vocabulary measure exclusively in Luo (44%–59% of 2‐to‐4‐year‐olds) much more frequently than did older children (20%–21% of 5‐to‐6‐year‐olds). Baseline receptive vocabulary scores in Luo (β = 0.26, SE = 0.05, p < 0.001) and Swahili (β = 0.10, SE = 0.05, p = 0.032) were strongly associated with receptive vocabulary in English at follow‐up, even after controlling for English vocabulary at baseline. Parental Luo literacy at baseline (β = 0.11, SE = 0.05, p = 0.045) was associated with child English vocabulary at follow‐up, while parental English literacy at baseline was not. Our findings suggest that multilingual testing is essential to understanding the developmental environment and cognitive growth of multilingual children.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multilingual assessment of early child development: Analyses from repeated observations of children in Kenya

Knauer

Kariger

Jakiela

et al. 2019

Developmental Science

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show abstract

“…This means that from the conception phase, the projects should be oriented to the local people. Working in the local language is therefore necessary [9]. Furthermore, specific tools or knowledge transmission methods should be evaluated to ensure consideration of the local culture and beliefs.…”

Section: Literacy In the Continentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The batteries were of good quality, but the mismatch and cycling led to the permanent deep discharge of the batteries and the premature end of the system life. 9 http://www.homerenergy.com/ (accessed July 24, 2016) Figure 10 is another example of replication of errors from a previous failure in the capital city of Guinea. After failure of a first project, another one was implemented under the same condition without assessing the previous one.…”

Section: Learn From Some System Failuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Overcoming local constraints when developing renewable energy systems for the electrification of remote areas in Africa

Kenfack

Voufo

Ekam

et al. 2020

Renew. Energy Environ. Sustain.

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Sub Saharan Africa has a great renewable energy potential. Rural areas are suffering from poor energy access. Some systems designed to address this issue are still faced with some difficulties. Appropriate approaches and energy plant development will help remote areas to address the issue of electricity access. The current development of some micro hydro and micro solar energy plants is of poor quality and maintenance, sometimes resulting in failures. There are also some common mistakes made when promoting (designing) an energy system in an African environment. Identifying issues from local constraints and lessons learned will contribute to determining the appropriate sizing, technology and tools to correctly develop micro hydro and micro solar energy plants.

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“…Across the samples, approximately half the children were girls and half boys. With respect to the language characteristics of the sampled population, 90% of the students in Machakos county spoke Kikamba at home, and 73% of the students in Bungoma spoke Lubukusu at home (Piper, Zuilkowski, Kwayumba, & Oyanga, 2018).…”

Section: Participants and Sitesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Component skills of reading and their structural relations: evidence from three sub‐Saharan African languages with transparent orthographies

Kim

Piper

2019

Journal Research in Reading

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Background We examined the component skills of reading comprehension (i.e., letter sound knowledge, syllable reading fluency, decoding fluency, text or oral reading fluency and listening comprehension) and their structural relations using data from three sub‐Saharan African languages with transparent orthographies in a multilingual context. Methods Data from Kiswahili (N = 946), Kikamba (N = 444) and Lubukusu (N = 499) reading assessments at the end of Grade 2 in Kenya were analysed using path analyses. Results The magnitudes of the relations were similar across the three languages with some differences amongst the languages. Total effects (regression weights), accounting for direct and indirect effects, varied across the component skills: text reading fluency (0.73 to 0.77), decoding fluency (0.49 to 0.82), letter sound knowledge (0.44 to 0.45), syllable reading fluency (−0.12 to 0.16) and listening comprehension (0.08 to 0.23). Conclusions The results indicate similar reading mechanisms across the three sub‐Saharan languages.

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Examining the secondary effects of mother-tongue literacy instruction in Kenya: Impacts on student learning in English, Kiswahili, and mathematics

Cited by 46 publications

References 34 publications

Multilingual assessment of early child development: Analyses from repeated observations of children in Kenya

Multilingual assessment of early child development: Analyses from repeated observations of children in Kenya

Overcoming local constraints when developing renewable energy systems for the electrification of remote areas in Africa

Component skills of reading and their structural relations: evidence from three sub‐Saharan African languages with transparent orthographies

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