| dc.description.abstract | Literacy skills play a significant role in everyday communication in life from infancy
to early childhood through to primary school level and beyond. Learning during early
years is important in building a firm foundation for children in literacy skills. A critical
analysis of literature indicates a majority of studies especially in Kenya relate to the use
of instructional resources generally. Literature specific to the link between use of
improvised instructional resources and teaching of Early Childhood Development and
Education (ECDE) literacy skills is minimal thus having a gap for studies specifically
focusing on the relationship between improvised instructional resources and teaching
of ECDE literacy skills. The purpose of the study therefore was to establish the link
between improvised instructional resources (IIR) and teaching of ECDE literacy skills
in Kiambaa sub-county, Kiambu county, Kenya. The objectives of the study were; to
establish the extent to which ECDE teachers improvise instructional resources used
during teaching of ECDE literacy skills, to determine the extent of use of improvised
instructional resources during teaching of ECDE literacy skills, to establish the
influence of improvised instructional resources on the teaching of ECDE literacy skills
and to find out the challenges that ECDE teachers face during improvisation of
instructional resources. The study was guided by constructivist theories by Jean Piaget
and Jerome Bruner. The study adopted descriptive survey design. The target population
included 130 ECDE teachers and 26 headteachers. Census survey was employed which
included all the ECDE teachers and their headteachers in the research. Piloting was
undertaken by administering the instruments to 31 ECDE teachers and their
headteachers in 5 ECDE centers in Kiambu county to establish validity and reliability.
Content validity was established through expert judgment by the university supervisors.
Reliability was established by the use of the Cronbach’s Alpha Method all variables
achieving reliability the 0.7 Cronbach’s Alpha threshold. Qualitative data was analyzed
using content analysis and presented in narrative form. Quantitative data was screened,
coded and analyzed descriptively and inferentially with the aid of Statistical Packages
for Social Science (SPSS) version 25.0 and presented using tables. Descriptive statistics
including frequencies and percentages were used to describe the existing relationship
between the variables. The research hypothesis was tested at 95% level of significance
using Chi-Square. Findings indicated that visual resources are the most commonly
improvised and utilized IIR during the teaching ECDE literacy skills. Chi-square results
χ
2
(1) = 33.69, p < 0.001 indicated a significant influence of IIR on teaching of literacy
skills. Teacher support and technical support were found to be the most prominent
challenges to improvisation of instructional resources. The study concluded that most
teachers improvised instructional resources at a high extent though they mainly
improvised visuals such as charts and flashcards. The study therefore recommends that
teachers should improvise and integrate various types of IR such audio, concrete and
audio-visual resources during the teaching of ECDE literacy skills. Headteachers and
the county government should also improve on the provision of instructional resources
for the teaching of ECDE literacy skills. | en_US |
