Oral literature is one of the areas tested in Literature in English of the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education Examinations. The otherareas in this paperinclude The Novel, Drama, Poetry and the Short Story.

The teaching and learning of English as a second language entails that a learner does a lot of practice in the four key areas of: i) Listening ii) Speaking iii) Reading iv) Writing. This therefore means that a diagnostic approach to establish learner‘s problems must be carefully done. All of us will agree that if one must learn swimming then it means that, the swimming candidate should be ready to step in the water and practice the learning of English entails that one is exposed to the language fully

Poetry expresses language more powerfully than prose. Poetry can be compared to a palace if prose is a house. So just as a palace is more than a house, but it must be a house at least so also poetry is more than prose but it must still be language at least.

The aim of the current unit is to stimulate your interest in African Literature. We start from East Africa to West Africa and in deed sample literature from both the Francophone and Anglophone countries. We have exposed you to varied religious settings; African, Muslim and Christian social contexts.

Oral literature is one of the areas tested in Literature in English of the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education Examinations. The other areas in this paper include The Novel, Drama, Poetry and the Short Story.

The introduction of oral literature into the secondary school syllabus was done in the view of the role or usefulness it serves to those who study it. So function refers to the reasons as to why oral literature is studied.

Classification is a necessary undertaking in any intellectual inquiry. The setting up of welldefined classes within a field of study transforms what might have been an unwieldy mass of material into a system.

Define the term oral literature; Spoken, acted and performed art whose transmission/ presentation/media is by word of mouth.

This unit is an introductory course whose main aim is to broaden your understanding and perspective of oral literature through studying the oral literature of your community and that of other East African communities. I am aware that, by now, most of you are exposed to some oral literature both through formal education and also through contact with the material as is practiced and performed within your own communities. However, I am also aware that due to various influences, students are not able to fully appreciate the multidimensionality of the oral literature discipline and more so its significance in literary studies. This course is thus designed so that your understanding of the subject becomes broadened and that you are able to appreciate: (a), the place of oral literature within the wider literary studies and African literature in particular. Oral literature needs to be recognised as a unique form of literary expression, exhibiting imaginative and creative dimensions that enrich the study of African literature; (b) the place of oral literature within the rich heritage of the African Oral traditions; (c) the place of oral literature in the rediscovery of African cultural heritage eclipsed by unfavorable historical circumstances and (d) the place of oral literature within the Contemporary written African literary tradition

Have you ever imagined what life was like in the days of our great –great grandfathers? How did they spend their leisure time? Certainly they did no t spend their free time reading the works of their great writers. This is simply because they could not read. The civilization of reading and writing was still at its rudimentary stages and in some parts o f the world this civilization was