The Impact of English as Media of Instruction on Students’ Academic Performance in Community Secondary Schools in Bunda District

This study was concerned with the Impact of English as Media of Instruction on Students’ Academic Performance in Community Secondary Schools in Bunda District. The objectives were to find out the relationship between the language of instruction and the secondary school students’ academic performance; to identify teachers and students language of instruction preference in secondary school level; to identify the impact of English as media of instruction on secondary schools students’ academic performance in Bunda district; and to explore possible changes that can be made to reduce the problem of student poor performance resulting from English as a medium of instruction in Bunda district. The study adopted a cross-sectional research design and it used questionnaires and documentary sources to collect data. This study involved 98 respondents. Data was then analyzed using statistical software SPSS. It was found that85.7% of respondents said agreed that there is LOI determine the secondary schools students’ academic performance and 90.8% indicated that EMI affects the secondary schools students’ academic performance. Surprisingly, 70%of students, 100% form four failures, 71.4% teachers, 80% SMT, and 100% of DSEO preferred Kiswahili language as LOI and evaluation. Findings indicated that EMI has psychological impact, impact in the learning process, and impact in test or examinations performance, which were presented into three phases: initial progressive context, learning process and period, and learning process and period. Majority of respondents proposed change on language of instruction. The study concludes that using EMI contributes to poor academic performance among students, resulting in poor quality education