The Influence of Environmental Print on Teachers Behavioural Intention in Enhancing Emergent Literacy Skills in Pre-primary Schools in Shinyanga, Tanzania

Abstract

This study investigated the Perceived Usefulness (PU), Perceived Ease of Use (PEoU), and availability of environmental print on teachers' Behavioural Intention (BI) to enhance emergent literacy skills in pre-primary schools in Tanzania. The study involved 103 pre-primary teachers in Shinyanga District Council. The study used the Technological Acceptance Model (TAM) to assess the influence of environmental print on teachers' behavioural Intention to enhance emergent literacy skills for pre-primary classes. The quantitative study involved a closed-ended questionnaire to gather information from pre-primary teachers regarding the influence of environmental print on pre-primary teachers' BI in enhancing emergent literacy skills.SPSS version 23 was used for data analysis. Before multiple regression computation, there were multiple regression prerequisite tests, namely, linearity of the relationship between independent and dependent variables, outliers and multicollinearity of predictor variables. Multiple regression showed that PEoU and availability of environmental print directly and PU indirectly influence teachers' perceived BI, which is inconsistent with the origin TAM. PEoU and the availability of environmental print influence teachers' BI to enhance emergent literacy skills. The indirect effect of PU may be owing to pre-primary teachers' inability to employ environmental print and teachers' workload. It is advisable to provide primary schools where pre-primary classes are attached with learning resources to assist in developing emergent literacy skills for pre-primary children