The Use of Presupposition in the Creation of Socio- Political Dominance in Kenyan Parliamentary Debates between 1992 and 2010

Presupposition, a linguistic element can be employed in utterances. When this is done it enhances the comprehension of what is being communicated. This aspect of language that is implicit assumption of an utterance is a strategy that may be used to express a speaker’s socio- political dominance. The truth of what is said is taken for granted and can be manipulated by the speaker to have devastating effects on an individual or the society at large. This study examined presupposition as a strategy of language used by Kenyan members of parliament during debates to create socio- political dominance. The objective was: To analyse the usage of presupposition in language used by parliamentarians to create socio- political dominance in Kenyan parliamentary debates. Various sources of literature have been reviewed in the following areas: ideology, discourse strategies, the power in language, parliamentary proceedings and political dominance. The study used descriptive research design. By using purposive sampling, the data was collected from the Hansard dating from 1992 to 2010.  Data was analysed using Foucauldian Discourse Analysis (FDA). This theory looks at how the society is moulded by language that shows various power relationships. The study identified language that created dominance, discussed the presupposition as a strategy used in the utterances. The research found out that presupposition was used by speakers to create dominance in the debates. Keywords: Presupposition, Discourse Strategies, Ideology, Power. Parliamentary Languag

Textuality of English Composition Writing by Form Two E.S.L. Students

The performance of English at KCSE level has been improving over the years. There was need to find out if this improved trend was reflected in the composition writing of students in Kiini Secondary School in Maara District in Kenya. This paper looks at the adherence to the standards of textuality in composition writing by form two students in Kiini Secondary School. It also investigates students’ written texts to establish the extent to which they conformed to the standards of textuality. It further examined the structure of students’ written texts to find out whether they applied the standards of textuality as they wrote their compositions. This paper establishes the effects which the standards of textuality had on the performance of the students in composition writing. The findings of this paper contribute to scholarly material in text linguistics which is within the field of Discourse Analysis. Keywords: Textuality, E.S.L.,Cohesion(Cs.),Coherence(Cc.), Informativity (Info.), Acceptability (Acc.), Situationality (Sit.), Intentionality (Int.), Inertextuality (Inter.

Implementation Status of Kenya’s Language in Education Policy: A Case Study of Selected Primary Schools in Chuka Division, Meru South District, Kenya

Language-in-education policies in many developing countries are constantly an issue of discussion in scholarly circles. This paper looks at the language-in- education policy in lower primary in Chuka Division, Meru-South District, Kenya. The paper evaluates the teachers’ awareness of the language policy and actual implementation in the classroom. It also analyses the problems that teachers experience in implementing the policy and gives the teacher’s recommendations in case the language policy were to be restructured. The paper establishes that teachers are aware of the policy but they do not always implement it in the classroom. The findings in this paper are of great benefit to all stakeholders in the ministry of education in Kenya and contribute to scholarly literature in the area of language planning and policy. Keywords: Language-in-Education Policy (LiEP), Policy Implementation, Language of Instruction (LOI), mother tongue (MT