Challenges in Fostering Emergent Literacy Skills in Kiswahili in Rural Multilingual Pre-Primary Classrooms in Tanzania: Teachers' Perspectives

Tanzanian children in rural areas study in a multilingual environment in which learners have different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. However, emergent literacy skills are the cornerstone of a child's literacy journey, and a lack of these skills negatively impacts academic performance. In this Context, the present study answered the following questions: What challenges are encountered in enhancing emergent literacy skills in multilingual public pre-primary classrooms, and what measures did teachers propose to meet the challenges? Sociocultural theory (Vygotsky 1978) guided the study. The study involved student teachers who are studying for a Diploma in Primary Teachers' Education and who are in employment. 10 student teachers were interviewed on challenges and ways to mitigate the challenges under a phenomenological design. The study was done during the December 2024 intensive face-to-face. Data were analysed through thematic analysis. The study found the following challenges: challenges related to phonetics, phonics, and phoneme awareness in children, language transfer and codeswitching, and rare completion of the pre-primary curriculum. Word spelling, recognition and production of alphabet letter names and phonological awareness are emergent literacy skills affected by a multilingual environment. Linguistic diversity in education, particularly in rural areas, needs to be addressed for children's success in academic life. Multilingual Context has implications in the sense that effective literacy instruction in multilingual rural settings requires context-specific teaching strategies sensitive to linguistic diversity. The study recommends regular professional development, which will enable teachers to adapt to the Curriculum for Multilingual Contexts, establish a multilingual education policy, and employ teachers based on the language spoken in the catchment area in rural Tanzania