Teachers’ attitudes towards the integrated-functional approach to the of teaching luganda in secondary schools.

Abstract

The study was carried out to examine the attitudes of Luganda teachers towards the Integrated -Functional Approach in Luganda teaching. The Luganda teachers Integrated-Functional Approach has been described by Mulumba (2000) as the approach which involves teaching of the four cardinal language areas as a whole (grammar, literature, culture, and composition) within a specified period of time. This approach enables learners to acquire communicative competence in the language, interpretation of the discourse, and it is teacher centered. The origin of this approach is traced from innovation in approaches of teaching held during the twentieth century and the linguistic theories underlying them. Such approaches include; structural approach/linguistic approach, functional-notional approach, Grammar translation approach and situational approach. A qualitative survey design was used to facilitate an in-depth examination of the variables in an area yet unexplored by research. Forty (40) teachers from forty secondary schools in Wakiso district were subjected to a Questionnaire and an interview. The data collected was presented in frequencies and percentages. The findings of the study in chapter four disclosed that most of the teachers claimed to be knowledgeable about the Integrated­Functional approach to language teaching and only a few of them had never heard about it and Teachers’ attitudes were generally positive to all who had tested the advantages of the Integrated-Functional Approach to language teaching. Many of the teachers who argued for its usability in Luganda pointed out its advantages and benefits like development of constant teacher-students interaction, allowing the application of knowledge, development of communicative abilities and the bigger content coverage. In conclusion therefore, since the study has revealed that few teachers are practically equipped with relevant knowledge for the use of the Integrated-Functional Approach, the basis of reversing this situation should be the training centers which retrain, devise, test and adopt the Integrated-Functional Approach and all relevant teaching and learning materials to be used. The researcher recommended that Teachers in various schools should endeavour to participate in re-training courses and workshops which equip them with practical knowledge of handling the language as an Integral system using the Integrated Functional-Approach. Schools should provide sufficient teaching materials like text books, allocate enough time to cater for the demands of individual subject and see to it that teachers are adequately prepared to teach the language. Finally, Training institution should be a basis of change in new development as regards language teaching. They should re-train, devise, test and adopt the Integrated-Functional Approach.