INFLUENCE OF LEARNING ENVIRONMENT ON LEARNERS’ LITERACY OUTCOMES IN EARLY YEARS OF EDUCATION IN BUNGOMA CENTRAL SUB- COUNTY, KENYA.

Abstract

Teachers efforts coupled with stimulative learning environment has a high influence on academic achievement in education for learners in primary schools. This academic achievement is imperative for learners in early years of education because it lays the foundation for later education success. Learners in schools in early years of Education in Bungoma central experience low literacy achievement which in turn affects their academic progression. Factors such as social economic status,language of instruction and Learning resources have been documented in the previous literature.These were some of the determinants of levels of environmental factors that influenced literacy outcomes in learners of early years programmes.The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of learning environment on learners’ literacy outcomes in early year’s of Education in Bungoma Central Sub County Kenya. The objectives of the study were: to establish the influence of teacher characteristics on learners’ literacy outcomes in Early year’s of Education in Bungoma Central Sub County, Kenya , determine the influence of physical design of the classroom on learners. literacy outcomes ,examine the influence of supportive learning variables on learners’ literacy outcomes and find out the influence of teacher’s perception of parents involvement and engagement on learner’s literacy outcomes. Optimizing descriptive cross-sectional survey design is used to measure influence of learning environment while criterian test measured Grade three learners’ literacy acquisition.The study employed mixed approaches. The target population was 4615 respondents ,drawn from 72 public primary schools that where selected using simple random sampling technique. The sample size consisted of 97 respondents consisting of 48 learners of grade three, 24 Grade three teachers, 12 head teachers, 12 Grade three parent representative and one Sub County Education Officer of TSC. This sample size was obtained using simple random sampling technique. Questionnaire,semi- structured interviews and observation were used for data collection. Validitiy of the questionnaires and interview schedule were ascertained through expert judgement of lecturers in the Department. To ensure reliability of the questionnaire and criterian test the instruments were pilot tested in schools not included in the study. Their responses were subjected to Cronbach’s Apha Coefficient reliability test which is established by test retest set at > 0.7 which yielded a value of 0.801. The quantitative data is analyzed using descriptive statistics consisting of frequencies, mean, percentages and standard deviations while inferential statistics used Pearson product coefficent correlation. Qualitative data is analyzed thematically by building themes which were reported. The results of the study indicated that influence of learning environment has a significant influence to learners literacy (r) of =(0.9852) p=0.015). The findings revealed that there existed a significant positive relationship between teacher characteristics on learners’ literacy outcomes (r=.469, p<.05) in primary schools in Bungoma Central Sub-County. Based on the findings, the following recommendations were proffered: teachers should partake in cluster workshops both at zonal and school level, because this will improve their teacher characteristics if possible,classroom teachers should individualise teaching based on assessment results, embrace whole-class curriculum materials, and recognise individual differences in order to improve on learners’ literacy achievement. This is very important because teacher characteristics and parents engagement can only be effective in a classroom that have a safe,sure and conducive learning environment.