The Language Factor in Educational Performance at University Level

Abstract

This paper examines the problem of language in education at the universitylevel in Tanzania in order to address issues of teaching and educationalplanning in Tanzania and beyond. The written data was gathered throughessay writing in formal setting at the University of Dar es Salaam. A total of72 students participated in the study. To supplement the written data,questionnaires were administered and formal interviews were conducted.Findings show that sentence length of Tanzanian students tends to be high onaccount of the extensive use of co-ordination; though female students producedshorter sentences. It was found that what is claimed that universityachievement might be strongly influenced by proficiency in English isquestionable. It is concluded that the results from the study reported herein donot immediately suggest any simple answer to the problem felt by manypeople that English creates difficulties in educational systems where it is asecond language.