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Vocabulary Size and Learners’ Performance across Levels of Text Comprehension: A Case of First-Year Students at the University of Dodoma
Get PDFThis study examined the relationship between vocabulary size and learners’ performance across the three levels of text comprehension among 230 first-year students from three programmes in the University of Dodoma (UDOM). The Vocabulary Size Test (VST) by Nation and Beglar (2007) and a Reading Test were used to answer three questions: (1) What is the vocabulary size of the sampled first-year university students at UDOM? (2) What is the performance of the sampled first-year university students across the three levels of text comprehension? (3) What is the relationship between the students’ vocabulary size and their performance across the levels of text comprehension? The results showed that, on average, the students did not have adequate vocabulary size required to understand authentic texts; they had a moderate reading comprehension at the literal level while their comprehension of texts at inferential and critical levels was relatively low. The results depicted a strong positive relationship between vocabulary size and each level of text comprehension. Regression analysis indicated that vocabulary size was powerful enough to predict performance at each level of text comprehension. Therefore, it is suggested that university students should be assisted to promote their vocabulary size as the latter has an impact on text comprehension and university academic success
Guidance and Counselling Need in Tanzania: Needs Assessment for Primary School Pupils of Iringa Municipality
Get PDFThe purpose of the study was to identify the guidance and Counselling needs for primary school pupils. This study applied a Cross-sectional study design. Data were collected through questionnaires, structured interviews, and focus group discussion. The study involved 205 respondents; 155 primary school pupils, 26 primary school teachers, four guidance and counselling teachers, 10 educational administrators and 10 parents. The findings showed that pupils experienced some problems/needs and communicated them to their significant people and received help. The findings also revealed that pupils had some problems/needs which did not receive any help from the significant people although they were communicated to them. Likewise, the findings revealed that pupils had problems/needs which they found difficult to communicate to their significant people. Also, it was clear that the significant people around the primary school children were aware of the guidance and counselling needs of the pupils. The study concludes that social problems were the most outstanding problems/needs which primary school pupils experienced and shared easily with their significant others; psychological and developmental problems/needs are the most outstanding problems/needs which did not receive appropriate help from the significant people although they were communicated to them. The study recommends that guidance and counselling programmes in the schools be strengthened by employing trained professional counsellors to meet pupils’ problems and needs
Assessing the Availability and Utilisation of Educational Resources in Public Secondary Schools in Singida Municipality, Tanzania
Get PDFThis study investigated the availability and utilisation of educational resources in public secondary schools in Singida municipality. The descriptive survey research design was used for the study. The study involved 336 students who were randomly selected and 42 teachers who were purposively chosen from public secondary schools. The instruments used for the study were questionnaires, interview checklists, observations, and document reviews. The study found that some educational resources like computers, projectors, and bulletin boards were unavailable in most of the secondary schools visited. Also, the study findings indicated that educational resources were inadequate. Furthermore, the study findings revealed that the utilisation of educational resources is at a low level. The study concludes that some educational resources were not available in public secondary schools, and the available resources were not adequate and were not being utilised perfectly. Among others, the study recommends that the government should ensure access to educational resources in schools, capitation grants provided per student should be raised, and ensure effective utilisation of the available resources
Leadership Styles and Turnover Intentions of Public Secondary School Teachers in Dodoma, Tanzania: The Mediating Role of Team-Member Exchange
Get PDFUsing a survey study design with 133 public secondary school teachers in Dodoma, this paper explores the relationship between leadership style (both Transformational and Transactional) and teachers’ turnover intentions with mediating effect of Team Member Exchange. The study found that teachers’ turnover intentions have a negative relation with transformational leadership style, while transactional leadership style has a positive relationship. Also, TMX was observed to have a positive relationship with transformational leadership style, while transactional leadership style has a negative relationship. Despite teachers’ turnover intentions and TMX being observed to have a negative relationship, there was no mediating effect of TMX on transformational leadership style and teachers’ turnover intentions. At the same time, there was a negatively mediating effect of TMX between transactional leadership style and teacher turnover intentions. The findings of this study provided insight into a leadership style that may be used to motivate and encourage teachers to work even more complex and reduces turnover intention. The findings can help develop strategies and programmes for heads of schools to improve their leadership styles that would enable the retention of public secondary school teachers
Assessing Parental Self-Efficacy in Helping Children Succeed in Primary Schools in Tanzania
Get PDFThe present study assessed factors associated with a parental self-efficacy in helping primary school children succeed in Tanzania. The study assessed how social contextual variables, parents' perceptions of general invitation for involvement from others, parents' valence towards school, parents' skills and knowledge and parents' energy and resources are associated with parents' sense of self-efficacy. The study involved parents of grade two children in four regions in Northern Tanzania. A multilevel model showed that parents' self-efficacy was predicted by parents' perceptions of the invitations from school, parents' knowledge and skills and parents' valence towards school. These findings shed light on the need for interventions to promote teachers' skills in working with parents in primary schools in Tanzania
Utilization of ICT for Quality Assurance in Secondary
Get PDFThe study reported in this paper investigated the perceived potential for utilization of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for quality assurance practices in secondary schools in Dar es Salaam. The study used survey research design and a total of 56 quality assurers (i.e., 53 school quality assurers and 03 chief school quality assurers) drawn from Dar es Salaam, Ilala, Kinondon and Temeke participated in the study. Structured questionnaires and interview guides were used to collect quantitative and qualitative data which were then analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and Data Reduction Technique respectively. Findings have revealed that there is a potential for utilization of ICT for quality assurance practices in secondary schools. Findings have shown that between 57.1% to 98.2% of quality assurers have access to computer (83.9% and mobile phones (98.2%). Also, over 50% of the school quality assurers are already utilizing ICT for report writing (66.1%), storage of information (58.9%), to access stored information (53.6%) and to surf educational resources (50%). However, about 40% of the quality assurers lack ICT knowledge of basic computer applications. Appropriate recommendations are suggested based on the findings and discussion
Assessing Africa Readiness to Host Travelers with Disabilities: A Review of Accessible Accommodation Studies in African Countries
Get PDFEven though Africa has been involved in the movement towards protecting the rights of disabled people, the emerging market is still under-served. Despite having multiple tourist attractions, the continent has not fully implemented its tourism and disability policies to make sure that barrier-free accommodation services are offered to disabled guests. The purpose of this study was to review and analyze studies done on the accommodation sector in African countries and to establish the extent to which the existing accommodation establishments were user-friendly to disabled people. Google Scholar, EBSCOhost, and science direct were used to generate academic journals. Two main themes mainly demand and supply was developed from the content analysis. On the demand side, quality of services and user-friendly services were the main challenges limiting the accommodation sector from offering barrier-free services to disabled guests while on the supply side, accessible room facilities were seen as a critical issue. Hotel service providers needed to make sure that there were accessible facility in bar and restaurant including ramps, elevators, hearing aids, leveled access routes as well as spacious rooms to host disabled guests. Provision of barrier-free services as recommended in the social disability model would be possible if service providers were willing to change their attitude regarding disability. Once the attitude is changed then it would be easy to resolve the structural and communication barriers
Women Participation in Tourism Entrepreneurial Opportunities in Minjingu Village, Manyara Region
Get PDFWomen's participation in the tourism industry contributes to the initiation of self-development projects. This study aimed at identifying tourism opportunities found in Minjingu Village by examining factors which affect women's participation in tourism business opportunities and strategise ways for improvement. To this effect, the study employed grounded theory, resource- based theory and financial capital theory were reviewed. Primary data was collected using questionnaires, interview, and observation. Secondary data was collected from various published studies like books and journals. The sample of 327 was picked for the study population of which 317 were women entrepreneurs and 10 were women leaders, village executive officer, hotel operators and tour operators. Data was analyzed using Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS version 16.0). The findings revealed that, the presence of tourism activities and services such as accommodation, game drive, cultural attraction sites; they provided various tourism entrepreneurial opportunities to women. They included selling items ranging from beads, woven baskets, curio and other cultural articles to tourists. Further, findings showed that, lack of financial capital and business skills, unstable market due to COVID-19 pandemic; and business competition significantly affected women participation in tourism business. The study concluded that women required to be empowered financially and in capacity building in various aspects to enable them to participate fully in tourism entrepreneurial activities for income generation. It recommended tourism stakeholders should establish centres for business skills training and provide financial support to improve women active participation in tourism business
Effect of Merger and Acquisition of Deposit Money Banks on Nigeria’s Economic Growth: A Pre and Post Analysis
Get PDFThe study examined the effect of Mergers and Acquisitions (M&As) of Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) on Nigeria’s economic growth. Pre-M&As period lasted from 1990–2004, while the Post-M&As spanned from 2005–2019. Data was collected from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Statistical Bulletin and tested with Ordinary Least Square Regression Analysis. The results indicated that in the Pre-M&As era, bank’s capital base, credit granted to the private sector and bank spread positively, enhanced economic growth howbeit and bank's gross credit adversely affected economic growth. Findings also revealed that Post-M&As era contradicted the Pre-M&As effect on DMBs, with all the bank indicators showing negative connection with economic growth, except credit granted to the private sector. These findings led to the conclusion that M&As had little impact on the country's economic growth during the period under consideration. As a result, the study recommendedthat the CBN issue a special directive to the DMBs to extend more credit to the private sector as a means of accelerating economic growth
Effects of Monetary Policy Shocks on Domestic and Foreign Banks Lending in Tanzania
Get PDFThis study investigated the effect of monetary policy shocks on bank loans extended by domestic and foreign banks in Tanzania over the period from 2006 to 2020. It adopted the impulse response functions and the variance decomposition analysis to study the responses of these types of lending to monetary policy shocks. The studyfound out that foreign banks do not react negatively to a monetary policy shock, supporting the view that foreign banks in Tanzania did not abandon the domestic market in times of economic distress. The policy implication was that the foreign banks in Tanzania had been supportive of the domestic economy even in times of economic distress. Empirical evidence provided by this study supported the positive role played by the foreign banks in contributing to the financial and economic stability of the Tanzanian economy. The theoretical contribution of the study is that despite a tight monetary condition, the foreign banks continued to resume lending, implying that the “capital flight” argument did not apply to the foreign banks' operations in Tanzania.