Use of mind mapping in developing students’ comprehension skills in Kiswahili in secondary schools in Kakamega North Sub-County, Kenya

Abstract

Kiswahili is among the most widely used languages for communication in the most parts of the world. Nevertheless, a considerable number of secondary school students continue to experience difficulties in comprehension, including understanding important ideas in written texts. Conventional teaching methods seem inadequate to assist as they limit students’ engagement. This study therefore determined the effect of mind mapping as an instructional strategy on developing Kiswahili comprehension skills among secondary school students. The study was anchored in Jerome Bruner’s (1966) Constructivist Learning Theory and employed a Solomon Four-Group quasi-experimental design. A target population was form three students from Kakamega North Sub-County, in Kenya with a sample size of 205 was used as experimental and control groups. Purposive Random sampling technique was employed to four secondary schools. Data was collected using Kiswahili performance tests as pretest and posttest. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics that involved the use of means and standard deviations and inferential statistics which involved t-test and two-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) to compare pretest and posttest. Results of the study indicate significant differences between control groups and experimental groups in Kiswahili Achievement Test. The finding showed that experimental groups outperformed the control groups in Kiswahili achievement posttest. The study concluded that mind mapping improved students achievement in Kiswahili. It was recommended that the use of mind mapping be encouraged in teaching and learning of Kiswahili due to its positive effect on developing students’ comprehension skills. It is hoped that the findings of this study would help secondary school teachers to successfully apply mind mapping strategy in teaching to develop students’ comprehension skills.