The Effect of Level of Exposure of First Language on KIIDAKHO Speakers' Acquisition and Use of Kiswahili Second Language in Western Kenya

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of environment on the Kiidakho first language speakers’ acquisition and use of Kiswahili second language. The study, which was descriptive by design, was conducted in Ikolomani Division of Kakamega District in Western Province of Kenya. Its target population comprised Form Two and Form Three students. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select the sample of the study. Seventy Form Two students and seventy Form Three students from all the six selected schools were involved thus bringing the number of students who participated in the study to one hundred and forty. Data was collected by means of questionnaire and written tasks and was described in terms of percentages. From the learners’ responses, it was deduced that the home environment exposes the learner to more Kiidakho than Kiswahili. Therefore, it was recommended that teachers of Kiswahili should be well versed with the theories of language learning and the theories on the effect of native languages on the target languages in the process of the second language learning. The study sensitizes teachers of Kiswahili on the causes of syntactic errors that students make to enable them come up with remedial framework on teaching of Kiswahili.

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