Teachers’ Competence in English Language Teaching in Tanzanian Primary Schools

Lucy Ringo
St John’s University of Tanzania
Email: lucyringo32@gmail.com

Abstract: This study assessed the competence of teachers in teaching English in private English medium and public Kiswahili medium primary schools in Dodoma. The aim was to examine whether teaching practices aligned with the Tanzanian curriculum adopted in 2015, which emphasises quality education. Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) served as the theoretical framework. A mixed-methods approach with a convergent parallel design was employed. Data were collected through classroom observations, interviews, and questionnaires administered to English teachers of Standards 3 and 6. Purposive sampling was used to select teachers from four schools, and the data were analysed thematically and descriptively. The findings revealed that many teachers lacked competence in teaching English due to limited in-service training, short teaching experience, low language proficiency, inadequate resources, large classes, and limited awareness of CLT principles. The study concludes that these challenges hinder effective English teaching and reduce pupils’ opportunities to develop communicative competence. It recommends strengthening in-service training, enhancing teachers’ proficiency, providing adequate resources, reducing class sizes, and raising awareness of CLT to improve the quality of English teaching in Tanzanian primary schools.