Influence of Available Instructional Resources on the Acquisition of Language Skills among Early-Year Learners in Kiambaa Sub-County, Kiambu County, Kenya

Abstract

Language entails the ability to communicate with other people with significant variations between understanding of speech and language. Although language acquisition largely depends on the learner's ability, the access and availability of instructional resources play a pivotal role in language acquisition among children in Early Childhood Education Centres. The main aim of this study was to assess the influence of available instructional resources on the acquisition of language skills among early-year learners, to determine the impact of teachers' competence on the use of instructional resources on the acquisition of language skills among early-year learners and to determine the influence of challenges in use of instructional resources on the acquisition of language skills among early year learners in Kiambaa sub-county, Kiambu County. The study was based on the constructivists and overlapping spheres of influence theory. The study adopted a descriptive research design. The target population was 98 head teachers and 210 ECD teachers who were considered for the study. Purposive sampling was used to obtain 12 head teachers, and simple random sampling was used to obtain 44 teachers. Statistical Package for Social Sciences was used to analyse the quantitative data, while content analysis was used to analyse the qualitative information gathered using open-ended questions, where findings were reported in a narrative form under each theme. Descriptive analysis was done through frequencies and percentages. A multiple Linear Regression model was used to model the relationship between the independent variable and the response variable (Acquisition of language skills). The study concludes that the availability of Instructional resources has a significant positive effect on the acquisition of language skills as denoted by the p-value (P <0.05). The study recommends that stakeholders, including head teachers, teachers, and parents, should understand the importance of having sufficient instructional resources. Efforts should be made to improve access and availability based on recommendations from ECD teachers, thereby fostering language acquisition among early learners.