Teaching English in Zimbabwe Secondary Schools: The Importance of Preparation

Abstract

This paper reports on a survey that was carried out in 1988 -1989 on the teaching of English in Zimbabwean secondary schools with special emphasis on the teachers' preparation for their lessons. First the school, teachers' academic and professional data are discussed because they form an important background to the survey.Different aspects of lesson preparation by teachers of English are reported on thereafter. While we begin with a hypothesis that there will be apparent differences in the way teachers prepare for their lessons based on experience, academic and professional qualifications, we conclude by rejecting that hypothesis because the results of the survey do not confirm it. Therefore, more research is needed to collect more data from a bigger sample of teachers and perhaps using different methods of data collection in order to confidently comment on the way teachers prepare for their English lessons. The effectiveness of such teaching preparations on pupil achievement is not covered by this report. That will be a necessary follow-up to such an investigation as this one.