The Influence Of Pre- Primary Education Experience On Literacy Skills Development Among Primary School Pupils In Tanzania

ABSTRACT

This was a univariate study which examined the influence of pre-primary

education experience on literacy skills development among 473 primary grades

1-3 pupils. The first research question investigated the difference in literacy

skill development with pre-primary school attendance. A two-way ANOVA

revealed that the main effect for pre-school attendance, on literacy skill

achievement was not significant F (1, 473) = .32, p = .57,. The second research

question investigated the effect of sex and grade difference in literacy skills

performance across grades of study. It was found that female pupils performed

better (M=42.64; SD=21.71) than male pupils (M=36.46; SD=22.92) in the

literacy skills test with a small practical significant difference. The

performances also increased as they moved to higher grades, namely grades two

and three.

The third research question investigated the difference in literacy skills

performance with the type of pre-primary school attended. The effect for the

type of pre-primary school attended, F (2, 473) = 8.51, p = .000, reached

statistical significance indicating that the type of pre-primary school one

attended had an influence on the development of literacy skills. Finally

regarding teachers‟ qualifications and ability to foster literacy skills in early

childhood , it was found 80% of the teachers were Grade IIIA and were not

trained in early childhood education. The impact of these findings on early literacy

development are discussed.