TEACHERS’ ATTITUDE AND ITS EFFECT ON PERFORMANCE IN ENGLISH AMONG LEARNERS WITH MILD INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY IN SELECTED PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN KIAMBU COUNTY, KENYA

Specifically, the study aimed at determining the attitude of teachers toward learners with MID in selected primary schools in Kiambu County and how it influenced their performance in English. The study employed social constructivist theory to explore the teachers’ instructional strategies that had an effect on the English performance of learners with MID in acquiring self-regulation. In this study 31 class six English teachers, 2111 class six learners and 31 school administrators within 3 zones were targeted in the descriptive survey study. A 20% sample was used to sample the learners, while purposeful sampling was used for the teachers and school administrators. The study used a sample of 31 school administrators, 31 teachers and 422 learners, all from the three identified zones. Observation schedules, interview schedules and questionnaires were used to collect data. Piloting was done in Gicharani primary school to enhance the validity of the research instruments while the test and re-test method was used to test the instruments’ reliability. Quantitative data questions were analyzed by descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages and measures of central tendencies. Findings revealed that the teachers’ attitude was positive with some having a negative attitude. The chi-square analysis revealed that the p-value was statistically significant at 0.018 implying that the teachers’ attitude towards the learners affected the learners with MID’s English performance. The study concludes that the teachers’ attitude towards learners with MID had a significant influence on the MID learners’ performance in English. The study recommends that primary school teachers should be trained on the need for a positive attitude in the classroom towards all the learners, more so those with MID to ensure their participation in class and improved self-esteem.  Article visualizations: