Browsing by Author "Rutere, A.M"

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The Double Edged Role of Indigenous Languages in National Development: A Case of the Lower Primary Classroom in Kenyan Schools.
(Chuka University, 2017) Njeri, B; Rutere, A.M; Yieke, F
Language plays a crucial role in the education outcomes of a country. The study has addressed the issue of language choice and development in a multilingual state to enable learners be advantaged both locally and internationally. Despite choice of mother tongue and English as medium of instruction in lower primary and from upper primary classes respectively, low literacy level is evident as 1 out 6 children could not read an English word (Uwezo, 2014). Further, learners’ poor command of the English language is evident in poor performance in national exams. Some stakeholders attribute this to use of indigenous languages in school despite their importance in language development. Consequently, there is need to interrogate the place of local languages during instruction at the lower primary level. Purposive sampling techniques were used to select schools where learners used Kiswahili – their indigenous language - as a medium of instruction. Data collection was through observation during English lesson and interviews. The study found that circumstances necessitated the use of Kiswahili language by teachers though they are often discouraged; secondly, the use of Kiswahili enhanced English vocabulary learning as learners performed well on words explained in Kiswahili; and finally, teachers lacked guidance on when and how to use Kiswahili resulting to ungrammatical sentences. Thus if indigenous languag,es are well developed, code-switching maybe used to enhance mastery of English language for better results. All stakeholders ought to be sensitized on the importance of both indigenous and international languages in learning.
The Kenyan Political Autobiography as A Quest for Salvaging the Self. I
(Chuka University, 2017) Mutie, S; Rutere, A.M; Goro, N.K
The seemingly failure of the first independent African leaders to put an end to poverty, illiteracy and disease, and thus to open the gates to all-round development in their countries has elicited a flurry of scholarly debate. This paper is a continuation of this debate. It aims to account – in yet another way, for the stubborn reality of largely unfulfilled aspirations of the anti-colonial struggle in Africa, and Kenya in particular; to explain from a possible new perspective Kenya’s deficient post-independence. Particularly it examines Oginga Odinga’s Not Yet Uhuru (1966), Bildad Kaggia’s Bildad Kaggia: Roots of Freedom 1921-1963 (1975), Raila Odinga’s, The Flame of Freedom (2013) and joseph Murumbi’s Path Not Taken (2015) to show how, in this literature, they employ specific literary strategies to absolve themselves of all the postcolonial blame, in the process portraying themselves as defenders of nationhood, democracy, and as forces against negative ethnicity. The paper argues that, in this self-refashioning, these leaders advance the very same escapism employed by the founding fathers. Focusing their attention on concealing their ambition-deformed personalities behind the masks of the positive self-identities they construct, the opportunity for genuine leadership and genuine service to nation-building is largely lost.