The greatest part of a writer’s time is spent in reading in order to write. A man will turn over half a library to make a book – Samuel Johnson
Former principal of Alliance Girls High School Dorothy Kamwilu recalls raising concerns with the Kenya National Examinations Council after receiving the KCSE results for her students nearly 10 years ago.
She says while her girls had performed well overall, they had not done well in English. This made her furious.
“I felt my girls’ command of English was excellent. They generally spoke well and without grammatical mistakes associated with many students,” she recalls arguing with Knec.
Kamwilu, now a senior education officer at the Ministry of Education headquarters, says the reasons Knec gave for the less-than-expected performance in English made her think hard.
“I was told that my girls had excellent command of English but didn’t have the content to meet the standards expected of composition or essay writing,” she recalls Knec telling her.
Having gotten cues from the diagnosis, Kamwilu made radical changes to the organisation of the school programmes. She allocated money to buy newspapers and gave instructions that students have time to read newspapers every day.
She also gave directions that the students must have library lessons a week, per the prescribed curriculum. She told me that she filled the school library with books on biographies and current issues, saying this created an opportunity for students to read as widely as possible on various issues and topics.
She also established school barazas where students were expected to address issues affecting them in English, but with the rider that they do extensive research and intersperse the speeches with quotes from famous writers or people.
“There was a great change in the performance in English with the KCSE candidate class that followed,” Kamwilu recalls.
Truth be told. Effective communication largely depends on the substance, relevance and the salience of the message being communicated. In communication, words that do not have substance, or a message, are said to be empty or windy. Or hot air, to use a word the Supreme Court of Kenya popularised last year.
In reading or writing, background knowledge or prior Knowledge is critical to understanding what is spoken, and written. It is equally important, perhaps more important, when it comes to speaking or writing. A speaker or a writer has more duty than a reader or listener.
In education or cognitive psychology, background knowledge or prior knowledge refers to information or experiences that an individual has or has had that influence their learning and memory abilities in communication contexts.
Background knowledge or prior knowledge is very important in every communication context because certain relevant information is being shared between two or more people to achieve a predetermined goal.
The comprehension and composition and writing exercises students in schools are called upon to examine the grasp of the nuances of English or Kiswahili, the understanding of meaning or sets of meaning in a text—read or written.
Ultimately, however, reading and writing fluency depends on possession of relatively large quantities of background knowledge. The knowledge in question forms the ballast, the launching pad for any intelligible sharing of meaning through the written or spoken word.
Where do students get the background or prior knowledge to be able to meet the high standards required in English or Kiswahili?
Basic Education is largely about general knowledge, although occupational knowledge is also taught. It aims at teaching various skills that every person should master in order to lead a productive life, become a knowledgeable citizen, and communicate ideas as a useful member of society, regardless of her chosen course of study.
“This would include the bodies of knowledge that encourage mental development, those which encourage physical development and those which encourage the development of the soul or if you like the mind,” former Minister For Education Dr JG Kiano defined at a Conference on Teacher Education in 1968.
All the subjects the Cabinet secretary of Education approves for study in basic education institutions aim at developing critical and analytical thinking skills, clear communication and problem-solving skills.
They also aim at exposing the students to the intellectual and cultural heritage and all the diversities of mankind. The curriculum is broad enough to expose learners to the bodies of knowledge that are deemed important for the acquisition and training of students in mind, body, soul and hands.
Delivered with minimal lapses, students come to acquire the necessary background knowledge and discipline of mind which enables them to inevitably acquire the writing skills that they need in the KCPE and KCSE exams.
Where do students, with their limited experience on this earth since they were born, get the background or prior knowledge necessary for intelligent speaking, reading and writing?
They get it from books, general books. They also get it from reading quality newspapers. They also get it from listening to the radio and watching TV news and programmes. They get it from educational and informational sites on the internet.
Hence the unassailable importance of a school library. They are a crucial source of information for children in schools. A library stocked with books of lasting value—books of knowledge and not necessarily of information. It creates the essential habit of reading in students.
Kamwilu turned to the school’s rich and varied library to address a serious lapse in the educational experience the school was giving her students. She enriched the school library with books. She bought newspapers. She provided library lessons for students. She demanded that prefects demonstrate that they are reading books by lacing their speeches on the school assembly with quotes from great men and women who ever lived.
She helped the school community know that there is more to a language than mere words. Language is a tool for communicating the thoughts, hopes, aspirations and fears of a people. While grammar is important, excellent grammar should be made to do something. And that something is to communicate something. Something important. Something salient. But in a lucid manner.
Communication officer, Ministry of Education
