Teacher Motivation Influences Performance in Language Activities among Public Pre-Primary School Learners in Mwingi Central Sub- County, Kitui County, Kenya

Teachers play an important role in language development among learners in pre-primary schools.They help learners acquire reading, writing and oral skills.However, in public pre-primary schools in Mwingi Central Sub-county, the situation is quite different since many learners still manifest poor reading, writing and oral skills.Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine teacher motivation influences performance in language activities among public preprimary school learners in Mwingi Central Sub-County, Kitui County, Kenya.The study may benefit school management, both the national and county governments may gain valuable information that may assist in legislation and policies that might improve language learning in Kenya.The study was guided by the interactionist theory of language acquisition.The study applied descriptive survey research design.Target population for the study was all pre-primary school teachers and learners in Mwingi Central Sub-county.The sample size of 320 respondents was determined using Yamane's Formula.Stratified sampling was used to create five different strata based on the number of zones.Schools and head teachers were selected using purpose samplings while teachers and learners were selected using simple random sampling to avoid bias and favouritism.Pilot study was conducted among 32 respondents from Kwamwingio and Kawelu public pre-primary schools in Makueni Sub-county.Questionnaires were used to collect quantitative data from pre-primary school teachers, whereas interview guides were used to collect qualitative data from head teachers and observation checklist from learners.Qualitative data was analysed thematically along the objectives and presented thematically in narrative forms.Quantitative data was analysed descriptively using frequencies and percentages.Quantitative findings was presented using tables and charts.The study found out that pre-primary school teachers were not normally recognized by the school management as compared to other staffs.Class size played a big role in both motivation of teachers and on pre-primary school learners' performance in language activities.