English has been used as a medium of instruction in secondary schools and universities in Tanzanian. Pedagogical practice in these levels has however, continued to generate huge challenges in the education system. Considerable amount of time is wasted by students grappling with the language of instruction instead of learning their other subjects. In universities, Communication Skills (CS) course was introduced primarily to enable students apply the existing knowledge of English to particular skills in order to respond to specific academic communicative needs in their disciplines. But, students' existing knowledge of English at the moment of joining the university, is often so inadequate to have any meaningful application of such knowledge. This happens against the backdrop of a paradigm shift where communicative language teaching (CLT) has currently permeated pedagogical practice globally. In the current study, the researchers undertook to investigate how universities in Tanzania have been able to implement Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach in the teaching of Communication Skills Courses. Researchers used qualitative study design through interviews of students and staff, focus group interviews with staff, documentary analyses of CS courses, and classrooms Observations. The findings reveal that inadequacy of CS as competency based course, diversity of students in language abilities and disciplines, localization of teaching material, and instructors' authority working against students' autonomy have been compromising students' development of academic communication competence. The study recommends for a scrutiny of CS curricular to make them more competent based, specific and connected to communication rather than linguistic minutia.

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Tanzanian universities, including Sokoine University of Agriculture, have been offering Communication Skills courses in addressing students' language and communication needs. Despite this initiative, there have been some concerns from both students and lecturers that the teaching of Communication Skills courses has little impact on students' development of English language and communication skills. In response to this view, the Department of Social Sciences, at Sokoine University of Agriculture, conducted a study to collect information from an international perspective on the best practices in English language and Communication Skills programs. The study involved five universities found in two African countries: Three universities from South Africa and the other two from Ghana. Data were collected through interviews, checklists and review of documents and were analyzed using thematic analysis. Although there were some similarities in the ways English language and Communication Skills courses are offered in the visited countries and at Sokoine University of Agriculture, the findings revealed that there were better practices in the visited countries in terms of administration, curricula, and utilization of resources, which have an implication on the conduct of Communication Skills courses at Sokoine University of Agriculture and other Tanzanian universities.

English language and communications skills have undergo tremendous changes in the recent years globally. Increasingly, people realise that they need English language and communication skills not only in employment but also in full participation in social and political discourses, and Information and Communication Technology. Studies have shown that while learners have the motivation and innate ability to learn English, there is lack of requisite opportunities to learn and practice the language. This is because many English language learning proficiency programmes especially in Tanzania are unstructured and not tailored to learners' particular interests; this is in addition to using methodologies that emphasize on teaching about language instead of teaching language use. The current study therefore sought to explore the roles in which universities in Tanzania could play to address the rising market demand of English language proficiency programmes with the aim of providing outreach services and generate revenue. Face to face interviews, telephone conversations, focus group discussion, questionnaires, and documentary review were carried out during data collection. The findings show that the demand for English language proficiency programmes in Tanzania is strong. Similarly, the assessment of motivation and expectation indicates that availability of professional teachers and practical sessions, fair fee structure, and learners' passion for learning the language were key drivers behind attending the programme. This implies that English language proficiency is a potential niche market which Tanzanian universities could exploit to meet the rising language demands and at the same time generate the much required income.

It has become apparent that students arrive at the university with insufficient English language proficiency; this is despite that English is the medium of instruction at secondary schools and universities in Tanzania. Thus, considerable amount of time is wasted by students grappling with the language of instruction instead of learning their other subjects. Poor abilities in English as a Second Language (ESL) undermine university efforts of producing competitive graduates in the regional job market. If this trend continues, Tanzania's goal of training requisite manpower for sustainable use of Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI) in development will be difficult. There is little evidence that universities have concrete measures to address students' ESL problems in secondary schools, which are the catchment areas. The study explored ways in which universities in Tanzania could intervene in strengthening students' ESL in secondary schools. The study followed a qualitative research design to collect data using Key informants' interviews from teachers and lecturers; Focus group discussions with teachers, and Open-ended questionnaires to university students, and classroom observation in both secondary schools and universities. The findings show that universities connect with secondary schools only during field practical training (FPT) of university student teachers. The study recommends that universities could intervene by providing in-service training opportunities to secondary teachers on new ideas on classroom ESL pedagogies; collaboration in research and practice (developing T/L materials), having common forums in addressing ELT in Tanzania with the aim of inputting what is happening in secondary schools into university practice and vice versa.