TANZANIA SECONDARY SCHOOL SCIENCE TEACHERS ’ INITIATIVES IN COPING WITH THE ENGLISH-KISWAHILI DILEMMA IN THE TEACHING- LEARNING PROCESS. A Research in the Making

The importance of proficiency in the medium of instruction on the part of teachers, as a crucial tool in facilitating effective teaching/learning, can not be overemphasized. This study focuses on the MOI-English/Kiswahili dilemma that secondary school science teacher in Tanzania face and how they cope with in order to make teaching and learning meaningful and effective. Key concern is to find out the kind of coping initiatives these teachers employ, why they do so and the effect such strategies have on student participation and performance. The research is interpretative and will utilize both qualitative and quantitative approaches with a research design based on phenomenology and quasi-experimentation. Four methods of data collection will be used: 1. The questionnaire with closed and open-ended items for teachers and students 2. Observation: (i) Classroom observation to be conducted during lessons taught in Kiswahili and in English media. (ii) out-of-class observation to be conducted when teachers and students are verbally interacting during activities pertaining to the teaching/learning process. 3. Interview: (i) In-depth face to face interview involving education officials, (ii) focus group interview involving science teacher