Integrating Koitaleel Samoei and Nandi resistance narratives into English language teaching: Alignment with Kenya’s competency-based education and implications for UK universities

Beatrice Wasike

African Educational Research Journal
Published: September 22 2026
Volume 14, Issue 3
Pages 733-739
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22895254

Abstract

This paper argues for integrating Koitaleel Samoei and Nandi resistance narratives into English language teaching (ELT) to operationalise Kenya’s Competency-Based Education (CBE) goals, foster critical language awareness, cultural identity, and communicative competencies, and challenge colonial legacies embedded in traditional language pedagogy. This paper draws on Paulo Freire’s critical pedagogy for ELT practice, arguing that students should engage with socio-political inequalities rather than learning English as neutral communication, to combat systemic biases in language teaching and validate diverse linguistic identities. Indigenous resistance narratives function as powerful instructional texts for developing communication, critical thinking, citizenship, and cultural competence espoused in competency-based education. The paper further explores implications for UK universities engaged in curriculum internationalization and decolonization initiatives. Koitaleel Samoei and Nandi Resistance narratives can be translated into UK university contexts to foster intercultural literacy and decolonial engagement from an English language teaching perspective. It contributes to curriculum scholarship by demonstrating how African resistance histories, especially those of Koitaleel Samoei, can be operationalized through English language teaching. Incorporating Koitaleel Samoei and Nandi resistance narratives into ELT will not only align with CBE's transformative educational vision, but also offer a model for globally responsive, critically engaged language education in higher education contexts.

Keywords: Koitaleel Samoei, Nandi resistance narratives, English language teaching, competency-based education, UK universities.

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