Nyika, Nicholas.Gumbi, Phephani.Lukama, Kamalata.2025-10-172025-10-1720242024https://hdl.handle.net/10413/23986Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.This study explored literacy pedagogy in Kikaonde in selected grade one classrooms in Solwezi District, Zambia. Four objectives guided the study namely: to explore the teachers’ pedagogical knowledge of literacy teaching approaches in Kikaonde language in grade one classrooms, to establish reasons for teachers’ choice of methods and strategies used to teach literacy, to ascertain whether the teaching of literacy in grade one classrooms is in line with the literacy curriculum and establish the challenges teachers were facing in teaching literacy in Kikaonde in grade one classrooms. The study was guided by the constructivism theory of learning. It adopted the interpretivism paradigm and employed the case study research design. A sample comprising 15 teachers from six schools purposively selected were drawn from Solwezi District. To achieve the study objectives, interviews with the 15 teachers and 18 lesson observations were conducted in the six schools to explore teachers’ pedagogical knowledge in literacy teaching approaches, establish reasons for their choice of methods and strategies, ascertain whether their teaching was in line with the syllabus and establish challenges they were facing in teaching literacy. The study revealed that all the 15 (n-15) teachers had pedagogical knowledge of several literacy methods and approaches but only two (n-2) used those that involved the active participation of all learners. It was also revealed that the teachers’ choice of methods and strategies of teaching was based on their belief of the effectiveness of the methods and training received during continuous professional development. The study also revealed that teachers were teaching as prescribed by the literacy syllabus. Challenges encountered by teachers during the teaching of literacy included inadequate time to teach literacy resulting into low literacy syllabus coverage, challenges by some learners in urban areas understanding the medium of instruction and high levels of absenteeism. The study recommends that teachers should become eclectic and use as many methods as possible to address weaknesses associated with the use of any one method. The study further recommends that teachers should base their selection and choice of instructional methods on various aspects related to the teaching and learning process such as formative and summative assessment. One of the implications of the study for the Ministry of Education is to urgently revise the policy on pedagogy in teacher training, particularly the theories that underpin literacy teaching methods. Teacher training institutions should revise the literacy curriculum to address implementation challenges. Schools should hold CPDs periodically to develop effective literacy teachers, especially that pre-service teacher training programmes do not prepare them fully.enCC0 1.0 Universalhttp://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/Kikaonde language.Strategies used to teach literacy.The interpretivism paradigm.Thesis