Abstract:
ABSTRACT
There is a notable decline in the performance of spoken English in secondary schools in
Mogotio Sub County. The causes of this decline are not known. It is speculated that first
language (L1) among other factors is responsible for this decline. Therefore, this study
investigated the influence of L1 on spoken English language in selected secondary
schools in Mogotio Sub County, Kenya. The objectives of the study were to identify the
nature of errors in spoken English, categorize LI transfer errors and establish whether
performance in spoken English influences students’ communicative competence in
written English among sampled students in secondary schools in Mogotio Sub County.
The study was guided by error analysis, inter-language, contrastive analysis and
Eckman’s markedness differential Hypothesis. The study used both qualitative and
quantitative approach. The study was based on a descriptive survey design. Data were
collected by means of a guided written composition and a reading proficiency test. The
reading sessions were recorded and transcribed for purposes of analysis. The data were
analyzed using descriptive statistics. The study population comprised Form Two
students. Purposive sampling technique was used to select the sample of the study. A
study sample of 279 form two students from four secondary schools was involved in the
study. The study found out that the errors made in this study were classified as phoneme
deletion, phoneme oddity, syllable deletion, phoneme identification, phoneme
segmentation, phoneme substitution, phoneme addition, inter-lingual errors and intralingual
errors. More errors in language use occurred in the context of use of the
homophones pail and pale. It was also observed that the position of the sound in a word
influenced the nature of errors made by the L2 language users. The frequency of errors
in pronouncing the sound /p/ was highest when the sound appeared word initially but
relatively fewer errors were reported in both word medially and word finally. The study
also concludes that performance in spoken English influenced students’ communicative
competence in written English among the students in Mogotio Sub County. The study
recommends that teachers should view students’ errors positively and not as the
learners’ failure to grasp the rules and structures of English. The results of this study
may be useful to ESL teachers in secondary schools in Kenya.
