Editon Consortium Journal of Literature and Linguistic Studies

Strategies used in teaching English language learners: A case of adult literacy centres in Imenti-North Sub-County, Kenya

Carolyne M Muriungi — 2022-02-10

This study investigated the acquisition of English as a second language in adult post-literacy level learners in the adult literacy centres in Imenti-North Sub-County. The study utilised the descriptive research design. The target population comprised of all the adult learners at the post-literacy programme level and the adult English instructors in the centres. The post-literacy programme is a part of continuing education that provides opportunities for adults and out-of-school youths to retain, improve and apply basic educational skills for personal, community and national development. The study found out that further 55 per cent indicated that they used scaffolding techniques. Some scaffolding techniques include giving mini-lessons where new concepts are broken down into bite-sized pieces that build on one another. The study concluded that the most frequently used strategies are demonstrations and group work. More scaffolding should be incorporated into the lessons. In teaching strategies teachers have measurable effects on the students’ quality of English Language Skills. The study recommended that teachers need to carefully select strategies to use in teaching the English Language to help adult learners acquire skills.

Communication challenges in the language use of business transactions between traders and their clients in Nakuru town open air market in Kenya

Augustina C Akaeze — 2022-06-13

This study aimed to evaluate the communication challenges between traders and their clients in their business transactions in a multilingual speech community and give insight into communication challenges that people in the business community face when they are in multi-ethnic business transactions situations. The study used a descriptive research design and was guided by the Speech Theory by Austin, which was further advanced by Searle and the Communication Accommodation Theory by Giles. The size of the sample population was twenty (20) encounters of the business transactions drawn from the open-air market in Nakuru Central Business District (CBD). Stratified random sampling was the sampling technique used. The twenty encounters of the business transactions were randomly selected from traders who sell different goods in the open-air market. The data collection method was interviews of the traders and their clients where possible. The study found that the basic communication challenges the traders and their clients faced were noise, the inability of the traders to communicate with both the speech and hearing-impaired clients, and clients who were foreigners who could not speak any of the languages in Kenya. These challenges have a practical implication on the number of goods the traders sell, as the clients would go without buying the goods when there are any communication challenges. The study recommended that strategies be put in place that will enable the public to communicate better with the population in society, those who have both speech and hearing impairment.

Resisting politics of male control and gender-based violence in the Borana girls’ song

Fugich Wako — 2022-11-08

This paper interrogates the songs of girls that contest this marginalised position by questioning the authorities of parents, brothers, husbands and mothers-in-law. It documents, analyses and teases out the meaning of these oral songs within a theoretical framework of feminist orientation. The girls’ song was collected from Sololo Division, Moyale District. The Borana songs by girls were collected in situ. The paper also drew the library research for purposes of theoretical grounding, literature review and profundity in data analysis and interpretation. A focused group discussion was also held with some informants who demonstrated their knowledge of these songs and the culture of the Borana community in general. Finally, the collected data were analysed for their contents. These were texts of the songs, field notes for the critical responses from the audience in the form of condemnation or commendation, and cultural contexts of the performances. Singers who invoke alternative viewpoints contest the very instruments of power such as culture, tradition, religion, age and gender used by patriarchy to legitimise its practice of marginalisation of and control over girls. As a result, a fresh dimension of social transformation emerges. The paper argues that the girls have a collective desire to be part of the Borana community without being subjected to gender-based discrimination. It concludes that the songs are used as sites of contestation that invoice the rejection of these discriminations and reaffirm their belongingness to mainstream society.