This study investigated issues surrounding the implementation of competence based curriculum in Tanzanian secondary schools. The specific objectives of the study were to examine the teachers' understanding of the objectives of competence based curriculum; to investigate the teachers' abilities in preparing competence based lesson plans; to examine whether or not teachers involved students in classroom activities; and to find out whether or not teachers practiced formative students' assessments as per the requirements of competence based curriculum. The respondents included 186 teachers who were randomly selected from 13 secondary schools found in Mbeya region of Tanzania. The data were collected through interview schedules, observation schedules, and review of documents. The collected data were analysed using thematic content analysis. The findings indicated that the majority (86%) of the interviewed teachers did not have the proper understanding of the objectives of competence based curriculum. In addition, the majority (78%) of the reviewed lesson plans did not reflect the qualities of a competence based lesson plan. Moreover, the involvement of students in classroom activities by the teachers who were observed was, in overall, very low. Lastly, teachers practiced formative students' assessments in less than 50% of the observed classroom sessions. In view of these findings, it seemed that the implementation of competence based curriculum in the selected schools was ineffective. In view of these findings, it is recommended that regular training for in-service teachers should be conducted in order to enable them acquire up-to-date teaching skills as required by the changes introduced in the school curricula.

This study sought to investigate challenges of writing theses and dissertations among postgraduate students. A total of 103 research reports, including 39 theses and 64 dissertations from three universities in Tanzania, were reviewed. The findings indicated that the majority (more than 50%) of the candidates, whose theses and dissertations were reviewed, faced numerous challenges in writing their theses and dissertations. The candidates seemed to have challenges in writing all chapters which were included in their research reports. The challenges included inappropriateness in presenting different chapters of the reports and lack of academic writing skills. Based on the findings of this study, it is recommended, among others, that research methods courses offered in the universities should be reviewed in terms of contents and teaching approaches in order to overcome the challenges as portrayed by the candidates in the reviewed theses and dissertations.

English, the Language of Instruction (LOI), has fallen victim of blame of some scholars as the cause of poor performance in secondary schools in Tanzania. The blame is directed at English strongly up until recent years (2010 and 2011) when the results of national examinations have been extremely worse. It seems, the public presumes that there is relationship between students' academic success and their abilities in the LOI. This paper sought to investigate whether there is relationship between English Language Proficiency (ELP) and academic performance in Tanzanian secondary schools. The data used were obtained by administering an ELP test and a review of students' reports, and were quantitatively analyzed using a computer software, Statistical Package for Software System (SPSS) version 18. The study revealed that there is a significant weak positive relationship between ELP and students' academic achievement. The relationship was significant in English and insignificant in other subjects which were investigated. On the basis of the findings of this study, it is argued that academic success is a function of several variables and not only proficiency in the LOI. It is therefore recommended that the responsible authorities should invest in improving English language proficiency among students since ELP is positively connected with academic success.

This study investigated the extent to which teachers' questioning techniques and the way teachers handled students' responses facilitated students' learning and promoted their thinking skills. The study focused on three secondary schools in Dar es Salaam. The data collection process involved classroom observations during chemistry lessons and interviews of 10 chemistry teachers. The findings showed that 80% of the observed teachers had a moderate ability in using questioning techniques to measure students' understanding. The interesting observation in all schools was that teachers interacted frequently with active students and bothered less to involve the least active ones. Moreover, above 80% of all teachers had problems of promoting students' thinking by maintaining a balance between the openended and close-ended questions or between convergent and divergent questions. Also, the teachers indicated severe weaknesses in guiding classroom discussions through effective questioning as their abilities in probing were low. Thus, in-service program for these teachers may improve their classroom questioning behaviour.

This article is based on a study which was conducted to examine the perceived importance of communication skills course among Tanzanian university students. A total of 134 undergraduate students, randomly selected from two Tanzanian universities, were involved in this study. The study adopted a case study design in order have an in-depth understanding of the phenomenon under investigation. Both a questionnaire and interview schedule were used to collect data from the respondents. The collected data were analysed using thematic content analysis. It was revealed that the communication skills course was perceived by the majority of the respondents as an important course for the acquisition of communication skills needed in academic settings. It is recommended that universities should improve the delivery of the course by ensuring that both human and material resources are adequately available for the realization of the anticipated course outcomes. Keywords: Tanzania Tertiary Education, Communications, Communications Higher Education IntroductionThe development of any country depends on how efforts are made to invest more and wisely in education. Education serves as a means by which people acquire knowledge and skills that can be implied in relevant curricula, particularly on how to exploit and utilize resources available for micro and macro-development (Galabawa, 2005). The knowledge and skills include those which are concerned with problem-solving, information and communication technology, administration and management, science and technology, research, and languages (Komba, 2012). Such knowledge and skills can be acquired in schools, institutes, colleges, and universities through a given medium of instruction which facilitates communication among the involved parties.