Code - Mixing and the Learning of English as a Second Language: a Study of Selected Primary Schools in Migori County-kenya
Abstract
Language plays an important role in the society and this leads to the study of code
mixing as a sociolinguistic phenomenon. The research attempts to expose the patterns
of language behaviour of primary school pupils in Migori County. The study sampled
three schools which were deemed fit to represent the county. Motivational factors and
challenges of code mixing in the learning of English were analyzed. The goal of the
study was to establish how code mixing of Dholuo and English relates to
Interlanguage theory in learning English as a second language amongst primary
school pupils. It was discovered that English language has adapted to Dholuo context
especially when pupils engage in conversations in informal situations. English
language remained the matrix language in formal situations where the learners were
alert in their language choice. The objectives helped the study to get to an inner
insight of the real cause of code mixing amongst primary school pupils. The data of
this study was collected through qualitative approach. The methods of data collections
included interviews and observations. The data collected were analyzed in order to
understand the relationship between pupils’ code mixing, the interlocutor and the
challenges that code mixing poses to second language learning. It was concluded that
the most common motivational factor behind pupils’ code mixing was the need to fill
a lexical gap. This was evident in data analysis whereby both interviews and
observations revealed that when learners lack an equivalent English word they resort
to a Dholuo word. Code mixing showed close connection of the linguistic behaviour
with the linguistic environment exposing essential mechanisms of the learners’ ability
to approximate the target language.
Citation
Degree Of Master Of Arts In Linguistics,2014Publisher
University Of Nairobi