GENDER DIFFERENCES IN KISWAHILI READING COMPETENCE AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL LEARNERS: EVIDENCE FROM BARINGO CENTRAL SUB-COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

Kiswahili is a compulsory subject in the Kenyan secondary school curricula. However, it consistently records some of the lowest scores in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination. From 2017 to 2021, the mean Kiswahili score in Baringo Central Sub-County was not greater than a C- for five successive years. Does this pattern indicate that students are entering secondary school without the reading skills required by the subject? The issue of gender has often been in the spotlight of reading research. Boys and girls do not always respond in the same way when completing reading tasks. However, it is largely unknown whether this holds for Kiswahili. No published study has specifically examined this in Baringo Central Sub-County. This study aims to address this gap. Ninety Form Two learners were selected from four co-educational public secondary schools in the sub-county. Forty-five were male, and forty-five were female. The selection process employed purposive sampling and systematic sampling at various stages. The reading competence was assessed using the Gray Oral Reading Test, Fifth Edition. The assessment includes four dimensions: oral fluency, accuracy, reading rate, and comprehension. In this sample, the instrument was found to be reliable as reflected by a Cronbach's alpha of .775. An independent-samples t-test was conducted to determine whether there is a significant sex difference between the two groups. On average, female learners scored higher (M = 49.91) than male learners (M = 47.74) in the post-test. Nevertheless, this difference is not significant. The value of t(88) was 0.901 (p = .370). The null hypothesis was kept. However, this does not mean that boys and girls read equally well. It suggests that both groups struggled at approximately the same level. The finding diverts attention from gender-specific factors to a systemic interpretation that is affecting all learners in the region, and may also be the reason why Kiswahili has consistently underperformed in national examinations.