International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume VI, Issue VIII, August 2022 | ISSN 2454–6186
A Morphosyntactic Analysis of the Interlanguage of Kiswahili Speaking Learners of English
Oyiengo Selinah Nebokhi*, Dr. Lucy Wathika, Dr. Phylis Bartoo
Department of Literature, Languages and Linguistics
Egerton University, Kenya
*Corresponding Author
Abstract: This morphosyntactic study focused on analyzing the interlanguage of Kiswahili speaking learners of English at secondary school level. Guided by Corder’s Error Analysis theory and Selinker’s Theory of Interlanguage, the study analyzed the non-target-like syntactic sequences and morphological forms in the interlanguage of the learners in order to determine the strategies they use to navigate in English. The data was collected using a Grammatical Task covering a variety of grammatical concepts appropriate for the learners. Students’ essays, written independent of this study, were also analyzed to corroborate the findings from the grammatical task. The population sample consisted of 173 form 1, 2 and 3 students from six secondary schools in Malindi Town of Kilifi County, Kenya. The data collected was qualitatively analyzed according to Error Analysis and the Theory of Interlanguage frameworks by Corder and Selinker respectively. The non-target-like syntactic sequences and morphological forms in the sentences of the learners revealed deviations in word order, negation, interrogatives, tense and aspect, auxiliaries, clause linkages, word derivations, singularization, pluralization, and prepositional phrases. The non-target-like syntactic sequences and morphological forms came about as a result of strategies such as communication, overgeneralization, transfer of training and language transfer which learners employed to navigate in the English language. The findings of this study contribute to the field of knowledge with regards to Second Language Acquisition.
Key words: Interlanguage, Second Language Acquisition, Learner Strategies
I. INTRODUCTION
Curriculum developers insist, and rightly so, that in the teaching of English, the main emphasis should be on the acquisition of grammatical and communicative competence as becoming proficient in the language is a desirable life-long goal (KIE 7). English was introduced in Kenya by the British who colonized the country from the 1890s to 1963 when the country gained independence. The language has, however, remained very important to the Kenyans even after independence. It is used in parliament, in the judiciary, to conduct government business, and most importantly as a medium of instruction in institutions of learning. Like Jegede observes, the medium of instruction or the language in which education is conducted has far reaching consequences in all educational systems. It is the language in which basic skills and knowledge are imparted into the population and the production and reproduction of knowledge is done.