Effectiveness of Strategies Used in Developing Accuracy and Coherence in Writing among Public Primary School Pupils in Namtumbo District, Tanzania

Abstract

This study qualitatively explored the effectiveness of the strategies used by teachers in developing writing accuracy and coherence among public primary school pupils in Nantumbo District, Tanzania. It used the case study design involving the population of 736 purposefully sampled individuals including 16 teachers and 720 pupils from eight (8) schools in Namtumbo District Council. The study used classroom observation, focus group discussion, classroom continuous assessment and documentary review in data collection. Content analysis was adopted to analyses data and the findings revealed that teachers used various strategies in teaching how to write alphabetical letters including scaffolding, brief explicit lessons, alphabetic order, songs and teaching aids. It was further found out that some of these strategies such as using a talk-chalkboard strategy to teach punctuation marks were not effective to scaffold pupils and make them master writing. The study recommends teachers to use interactive strategies to enhance students’ acquisition of the writing skills.