CHALLENGES TEACHERS OF ENGLISH FACE WHEN TEACHING THE ENGLISH ARTICLE SYSTEM TO LEARNERS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN VIHIGA COUNTY, KENYA
Abstract
This paper is a product of a study carried that was out examining the challenges teachers face when teaching the English article system in secondary schools, conducted in Vihiga County, Western Kenya. The need to carry out the study arose from the fact that performance in English as a subject in national examinations has been dismal as reflected in the Vihiga County results. The study was guided by Krashen’s learning- acquisition theory. The study adopted a pragmatic paradigm and a case study design. A mixed method approach was employed to allow for the use of both quantitative and qualitative methodologies leading to a better understanding of the article teaching and use phenomenon. The study sample included 6 schools and 24 teachers of English from the schools. A semi- structured in-depth interview was used to generate data. The data was analyzed using content and thematic analysis procedures. The study revealed the challenges teachers face including: complexity of the English article system, learners' L1 influence and scanty English article content coverage in the English language curriculum. Based on the study findings, it was concluded that the pedagogy utilized in the instruction of the English article is flawed, there is minimum content coverage for the English article and that both learners’ L1 and L2 negatively influence the acquisition and learning of English article making teaching difficult for teachers. Thus, it is recommended that teachers adopt an eclectic approach in teaching the English article system and that the curriculum developers review the English language syllabus with regard to the article system and accord it the prominence it deserves in terms of content coverage, spread and instructional guidance.
Downloads
References
Atay, Zeynap (2010) Second Language Acquisition of the English Article System by Turkish Learners: The Role of Semantic Notions .M.A Thesis, Middle East Technical University.
Berry, Roger. (1991) Re-articulating the articles. English Language Teaching Journal45 (3)252-259 London: British Council
Simon Borg, S. (1998). Teachers' Pedagogical Systems and Grammar Teaching: A Qualitative Study. TESOL Quarterly. Vol. 32 No.1, 9-38.
Brown, Douglas. (2002) Principles of Language Learning and Teaching 4th Ed. New York: Longman.
Braun, Virginia. & Clark Victoria.(2006) Using Thematic Analysis in Psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology 3,PP 77-101. WWW.QualResearchPsych.com
Bukenya Austin, Curtis Arnold, Park James. (1989).The Skills of English: An Integrated Course of Language and Literature. Nairobi: Oxford University Press
Bukenya Austin, Kioko Angelina, & Njeng’ere David (2005) Headstart Secondary English. Nairobi: Oxford University Press.
Celce-Marcia, M. & Larsen Freeman, D. (1999) The Grammar Book .Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle Publishers
Dulay, Heidi .S. and Burt, M.K. (1982): Language Two .Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ellis, Rod. (1994). The Study of Second Language Acquisition .Oxford: Oxford University Press
Ekiert, M .(2007). The Acquisition of Grammatical Marking of Indefiniteness with the Indefinite Article a in English. Teachers’ College Columbia University Working Papers in TESOL & Applied Linguistics, .7, 1-43.
Ekiert Monica. (2004). The Acquisition of the English Article System by Speakers of Polish in ESL and EFL Settings. Teachers’ College Columbia University Working Papers in TESOL& Applied Linguistics Vol.4 No.1
Fujita, Kayo (2004). A practical Approach to Teaching Articles: Master’s Thesis School of International Training, Brattleboro, Vermont.
El Werfalli, I. (2013). The Acquisition of the English Article System by Libyan Learners of English: A Comparison between Deductive Teaching and Textual Enhanced Input Strategies. Doctoral Thesis, University of Northumbria. Retrieved from http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/21602
Huebner, Thom. (1985): System and variability in interlanguage syntax. Language Learning 35, 141 63.
Huebner, Thom. (1979) Order of Acquisition vs. Dynamic Paradigm. A Comparison of Method in Interlanguage Research.
Heubner, Thom T. (1985) A longitudinal Analysis of the Acquisition of English. Ann Arbor: Karoma
Ionin Tania, Ko, Heejeong, Wexler, Kenneth (2004) Article Semantics in L2 Acquisition: The Role of Specificity. Language Acquisition VOL.12 2004
Kambou, Moses (1997). The Acquisition of the English Article System by Francophone Students. The Case of Burkina Faso. Dissertation. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/2142/80175
Kenya Institute of Education (1990). Integrated English: A Course for Kenya Secondary Schools
Kenya Institute of Education, Syllabus (2006)
Krashen Stephen & Terrell Tracy (1983) The Natural Order Hypothesis. Oxford: Pergamum Press
Krashen Stephen. D. (1985) Second Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning. Oxford: Pergamum press Inc.
Master, Peter. (1990) Teaching the English Articles as A Binary System. TESOL Quarterly, 24(3)461-478
Master, Peter (1997) The English Article System: Acquisition, Function and pedagogy. System, 25,215-232
Moraa, Nyakundi R. (2012) Strategies in Teaching Learning of Integrated English
Unpublished Thesis, Kenyatta University Nairobi. Retrieved from https://pdfs.semantic scholar.org/3610/c9cf8bae2a5351dd6fc2f463d7iddf3
Njoroge, Martin C, & Gathigia Moses G. (2014) Use of Songs
Richards Jack. C. & Rodgers Theodore S. (2001) Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. (2nd ed.) Cambridge. Cambridge University Press
Sinclair, John S. (1991). Corpus, Concordance, Collocation. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Trenkic, Danijela (2007)The Representation of English Articles in Second Language Grammars: Determiners or Adjectives? Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 11(1) 1-18
White, L. (2000) “Second Language Acquisition from Initial to Final State” In Archibald. Editor, Second Language Acquisition and Linguistic Theory. Oxford Blackwell Publishers, 130 -154
Whitman, Randal. L (1974) Teaching the Article in English. TESOL Quarterly 8(3)253-262
Author(s) and co-author(s) jointly and severally represent and warrant that the Article is original with the author(s) and does not infringe any copyright or violate any other right of any third parties, and that the Article has not been published elsewhere. Author(s) agree to the terms that the GPH Journal will have the full right to remove the published article on any misconduct found in the published article.
