The acquisition of English wh-interrogatives by Dholuo L1 speakers

This study was designed to investigate the acquisition of English Wh-interrogatives by secondary school pupils who are Dholuo L1 speakers. The utterances of two groups, identified on the basis of a proficiency tests, were collected and analysed. The hypotheses investigated were drawn from three theoretical domains. These domains were: the influence of First language in the learning of a second language, differences in performance due to differences in proficiency levels, and the influence of language learning tasks on Interlanguage performance. The data for this study was collected from rural parts of Kenya, where it was thought that only English and Dholuo would be in contact and the learners were only exposed to English in school and classrooms. Having predicted that learners would transfer the structures with question words in situ from Dholou, and working with a restricting definition of transfer, this study has observed minimal statistical evidence of transfer in the Interlanguage of Dholuo L1 learners. The evidence of transfer has been observed in the lexico-semantic domain where Dholuo speakers have transferred concepts from Dholuo to the Interlanguage. The statistical and error analyses have observed a large amount of data that have revealed the phenomena of double auxiliary and double tense/agreement marking. Theses errors are believed to emanate from the learner's perception of the I constituent. Double auxiliary marking is explained here as a consequence of the learner's perception of the head I of IP occurring in VP therefore motivating the overgeneralisation of do-support in question formation. Double tense/agreement marking is explained as a consequence of the application of both I and V movements (normally mutually exclusive) within one finite clause. (DX 183296

Readiness: the Key Factor in Remedial Teaching and Learning

A Journal article by Dr. Tom Onditi, an Associate Professor and the Dean, School of Humanities and Social Sciences at USIU-AfricaThe question of the extent of readiness of all participants for remediation is critical for the success of the program. Readiness of students entering university education is increasingly becoming a serious matter of concern. Large numbers of students graduate from secondary education but many are underprepared for postsecondary work. They need to undertake college level education but find that they need remediation to proceed in their pursuit of tertiary education. The remedial program means taking longer in college,uncertainty regarding whether they will complete this level of education, additional financial costs, and negative attitudes. Many of these underprepared students are therefore left questioning whether they deserve to be in remedial classes. They are not the only group that needs to address readiness for remediation as a matter of significance; university lecturers, sponsors or guardians, the universities themselves, and the government, all need to assess their readiness at the onset of a remedial program. This paper explores the concept of readiness as a critical determinant of the success of a remedial program and demonstrates that remediation is beneficial as it enables students to tap into the benefits of university education. Remediation also enables nations to draw from the huge potential from students who would, without remediation, be kept out of careers. It concludes that remediation is important despite the attendant costs and attitudes

Language Attrition and Loss of Indigenous Knowledge: The Twin Sisters of Environmental Degradation in Kenya

A Journal Article by the Dean School of Humanities and Social Sciences at USIU -Africa, Dr .Tom OnditiEnvironmental degradation and the associated food scarcity, water shortage, dwindling harvests of agricultural output, shortage of medicinal plants, and global warming are expected to peak on crisis proportions in the 21st century thereby rendering the survival of human beings and other animal and plant species a catastrophe. Many studies in disciplines with concerns in the environment have identified issues like population pressure on the environment and the use of chemical fertilizers etc. Very few of them have sought explanations from the knowledge that indigenous people have of their environment. This study ventures the explanation from indigenous knowledge, not by any means the sole factor, using the desk research method to arrive at the conclusion that the major causes of these phenomena, among several others, are uncontrolled exploitation of natural resources, the loss of languages and the associated loss of Indigenous Knowledge banked in these languages. Any attempt to reverse this trend of environmental degradation that does not embrace cultural revival, regeneration of indigenous languages and emphasis of Indigenous methods of conservation of the environment are unlikely to bear fruit because these three processes are intractably linked

Political Discourse in Emergent, Fragile, and Failed Democracies (Orwenjo, Oketch and Tunde (eds)

A Book Chapter by Dr. Tom Onditi, dean of students at USIU-A in a book edited by Daniel Ochieng Orwenjo (Technical University of Kenya, Kenya), Omondi Oketch (Technical University of Kenya, Kenya) and Asiru Hameed Tunde (Umaru Musa Yar'adua University, Nigeria)Africa has been plagued by many violent conflicts in history and in contemporary times. Causes of these conflicts range from disagreements over allocation of national resources to ethnic rivalries over grazing fields, to territorial expansionism in the past, to economic development, elections and others, more recently. Hate speech or inflammatory language, or dangerous language both on line and off line, and elections have developed as major catalysts in recent violent conflicts. This chapter explores language (hate speech, inflammatory or dangerous language) as the verbal fuel that has ignited violent political conflicts in Kenya over the last two decades. It concludes that even though language fuels conflict, efforts to end conflict must go beyond language and elections (surface manifestations of deep-seated grievances) to economic marginalization which is at the core of differences that spasmodically erupt in violence

The impact of remedial English on the improvement of English proficiency: The case of the United States international university- Africa

A Journal article by Dr. Tom Onditi Luoch, Assistant Professor of English in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences in USIU- Africa.This study probes the effect of a remedial English course in raising the level of English proficiency of freshmen at the United States International University. Using a quasi experimental design, it tracks 46 underprepared students, admitted to the USIU in the Summer Semester of 2011 who failed to make the threshold for university course in a placement test (pretest) and went through a remedial English course for 14 weeks. On completion of the course, they were given the same placement test (posttest). Comparisons between the scores in the pretest and those on the post-test are used to determine the significance of the change the treatment gives the students. Further comparisons are made between the scores in composition and in the grammar sections of the pretest and posttest and variation between the scores of students. T-tests establish a significant and positive difference at p value of p=0.00 between overall performance between the pretest and posttest and between grammar and composition aspects of the tests. The conclusion is therefore that the remedial class raises the English proficiency of the students

The Roots of Ethnic Conflict in Africa - From Grievance to Violence

A Book Chapter by Dr. Tom Onditi, the Dean of Students in the school of Humanities and social Sciences at USIU-Africa.....In a book Edited by Wanjala S. Nasong’o (Copyright © Wanjala S. Nasong’o 2015)The chapter uses examples of Rwanda and Somalia, probably two of Africa’s most conflict ravaged countries, to deny language a unifying role. It however admits that language has a solidarity function. It argues that while it is indeed true that language is a symbol for identification among a people who speak it and a vehicle for their collective, regional or global feelings, values and aspirations, such feelings, values and aspirations are created by other factors external to language

Speaking African: African Languages for Education and Development

A Book Chapter by Dr. Tom Onditi, Dean of Students School of Humanities and Social Sciences at USIU-AfricaSpeaking African: African Languages for Education and Development provides answers to some language issues in Africa and raises controversies for further research. Some of these should preoccupy social scientists for some time to come. The text will be invaluable to students of linguistics, history, anthropology, political science and the general reader interested in language policy, language planning and language rights. This chapter examines the misconceptions and myths about the use of the mother tongue in Kenya linking them with other misconceptions reported in previous research. It also ventures answers whether mother tongues are intrinsically divisive, backward; whether the use of Kiswahili or English is the only way to unity and nation building and whether the exclusive use of English is the only ticket to greater educational and academic achievemen

Africa: Challenges of Multilingualism

A Book chapter (pp 133-145) by Dr. Tom Onditi, an Assistant professor and Assistant Dean at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences in USIU - AfricaThe book presents a collection of papers in English, French and German, which touch on a wide variety of cultural, political, and educational ramifications of multilingualism in Africa. Apart from the general introduction, all contributions stem from African scholars representing their inside perspective on matters. The contributions refer to sociolinguistic situations primarily in Benin, Kenya, Mali, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan and Togo. They deal with aspects of language contact and language change, language empowerment and protection of linguistic diversity, linguistic landscape and language legitimization, regional integration, HIV/AIDS communication, and language issues in education from primary to tertiary level. A special sub-focus is on the teaching of foreign languages such as German in Africa. The book contains 12 contributions in English, three in French, and two in German