The acquisition of (in)definiteness in English as a foreign language by Tanzanian L1 Swahili secondary school learners
| dc.contributor.advisor | Conradie, Simone | en_ZA |
| dc.contributor.advisor | Oosthuizen, Johan | en_ZA |
| dc.contributor.author | Kimambo, Gerald Eliniongoze | en_ZA |
| dc.contributor.other | Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of General Linguistics. | en_ZA |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2016-12-22T13:22:40Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2016-12-22T13:22:40Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2016-12 | |
| dc.description | Thesis (DPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2016. | en_ZA |
| dc.description.abstract | AFRIKAANS OPSOMMING: Die studie waaroor in hierdie proefskrif gerapporteer word, het ondersoek ingestel na die verwerwing van (on)bepaaldheid in Engels as Vreemde Taal (EVT) deur hoërskoolleerders met Swahili as eerstetaal (T1) in Tanzanië. Dit het gefokus op (i) die anaforiese, assosiatiewe en ensiklopediese kontekste (vir bepaaldheid), (ii) die eerste-verwysing, ondeursigtige en deursigtige kontekste (vir onbepaaldheid), en (iii) die gebruik van lidwoorde in spesifieke en nie-spesifieke kontekste, in geskrewe sowel as gesproke taal. Alhoewel Engels in Tanzanië die onderrigmedium is vanaf hoërskoolvlak, is dit steeds ‘n vreemde taal. Gevolglik ontvang meeste leerders slegs blootstelling aan Engels in die EVTklaskamer, en sukkel meeste EVT-onderwysers self met Engels (Qorro, 2006). Dit is dus nie verbasend dat hierdie leerders (onder andere) Engelse lidwoorde op nie-teikenagtige wyses gebruik nie. Die studie het ten doel gehad om vas te stel watter kontekste van die Engelse lidwoordstelsel op nie-teikenagtige wyses gebruik word deur Swahili-sprekende EVTleerders en om, gebasseer op die bevindings, voorstelle te maak aan EVT-onderwysers in Tanzanië aangaande watter kontekste spesiale pedagogiese aandag benodig. Terwyl Engels grammatikale bepaaldheid aandui deur sy lidwoordstelsel, dui Swahili semanties-pragmatiese bepaaldheid aan deur die konteks van interaksie. Om hierdie rede kon data van Swahili-sprekende EVT-leerders gebruik word om in die huidige studie die Lidwoordkeuse Parameter (Ionin, Ko & Wexler, 2004), die Fluktuasie Hipotese (ibid.), die Sintaktiese Misanalise Verklaring (Trenkic, 2007) en die Ontbrekende Oppervlaksinfleksie Hipotese (Prévost & White, 2000) aan te spreek. Gebaseer op ‘n kruislinguistiese analise van Engels en Swahili, was die spesifieke voorspellings dat Swahili-sprekende EVT-leerders lidwoorde sou weglaat op die elementêre vaardigheidsvlak, en dat hulle sou fluktueer tussen bepaaldheid en spesifiekheid op die intermediêre vaardigheidsvlak. Die gemengde-metodes studie waaroor gerapporteer word in hierdie proefskrif het die insameling behels van (i) kwantitatiewe data van 163 Swahilisprekende EVT-leerders deur middel van ‘n aanvaarbaarheidsoordeletaak, ‘n geforseerdekeuse-ontlokkingstaak en ‘n prentjie-beskrywingstaak, en (ii) kwalitatiewe data van 10 EVTonderwysers deur middel van semi-gestruktureerde onderhoude. ‘n Analise van die kwantitatiewe data het aangedui dat die leerders die blotenaamwoordfrase-struktuur van hul T1 Swahili oorgedra het en ‘naamwoord+voornaamwoord’-afparings gebruik het om bepaaldheid aan te dui in Engels, Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za v meestal op die elementêre vaardigheidsvlak. Hulle het ook gefluktueer tussen bepaaldheid en spesifiekheid. Wat die bogenoemde kontekste betref, het nie-teikenagtige taalgebruik meer voorgekom by die gebruik van die onbepaalde lidwoord, die anaforiese gebruik van die bepaalde lidwoord en die nie-deursigtige gebruik van die onbepaalde lidwoord, as by ander kontekste. Die onderhoud-data het gewys dat meeste van die onderwysers nie ‘n voldoende vlak van vaardigheid gehad het in Engels nie, en ook nie voldoende opleiding in die implementering van die huidige kurrikulum of kundigheid in die onderrig van die lidwoordstelsel op ‘n kommunikatiewe wyse nie. Die bevindings van die huidige studie dui op die noodsaaklikheid daarvan om die taal-in-onderrig beleid te hersien en om te verseker dat onderwysers opleiding ontvang in die implementering van die kurrikulum en in die gebruik van die Fokusop-Vorm benadering. Die studie sluit af met ‘n paar spesifieke voorstelle vir EVT-onderwysers in Tanzanië aangaande die onderrig van die Engelse lidwoordstelsel aan hulle Swahili-sprekende leerders. | af_ZA |
| dc.description.abstract | ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The study reported in this dissertation examined the acquisition of (in)definiteness in English as a foreign language (EFL) by secondary school learners with Swahili as their first language (L1) in Tanzania. It focused on (i) the anaphoric, associative and encyclopaedic contexts (for definiteness), (ii) the first mention, opaque and transparent contexts (for indefiniteness), and (iii) the use of articles in specific and non-specific contexts, in writing and in speaking. Although English is the medium of instruction from secondary school onwards in Tanzania, it is still a foreign language. Consequently, most learners only receive exposure to English in the EFL classroom, and most EFL teachers struggle with English themselves (Qorro, 2006). It is thus unsurprising that these learners manifest non-target-like performance in their EFL use of articles (among other aspects of English). This study aimed at determining which contexts of the English article system manifest as non-target-like in Swahili-speaking learners’ EFL use and, based on the findings, providing EFL teachers in Tanzania with suggestions regarding the contexts that require special pedagogical attention. Whereas English realises grammatical definiteness via its article system, Swahili realises semantic-pragmatic definiteness via the context of interaction. For this reason, data from Swahili-speaking EFL learners could be used in the present study to address the Article Choice Parameter (Ionin, Ko & Wexler, 2004), the Fluctuation Hypothesis (ibid.), the Syntactic Misanalysis Account (Trenkic, 2007) and the Missing Surface Inflection Hypothesis (Prévost & White, 2000). Based on a cross-linguistic analysis of English and Swahili, the specific predictions were that Swahili-speaking EFL learners would omit articles at the elementary level of proficiency, and that they would fluctuate between definiteness and specificity at the intermediate level of proficiency. The mixed methods study reported in this dissertation involved collecting (i) quantitative data from 163 Swahili-speaking EFL learners by means of an acceptability judgement task, a forced choice elicitation task and a picture-description task, and (ii) qualitative data from 10 EFL teachers via semi-structured interviews. An analysis of the quantitative data indicated that the learners transferred the bare noun phrase structure of their L1 Swahili and used ‘noun+pronoun’ pairings to realise definiteness in English, mostly at the elementary level of proficiency. They also fluctuated between definiteness and specificity. Concerning the contexts referred to above, the use of the Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za iii indefinite article, the anaphoric use of the definite article and the opaque use of the indefinite article manifested as non-target-like more often than the other contexts. The interview data revealed that most of the teachers did not have a sufficient level of proficiency in English, training in implementing the current curriculum or expertise in teaching the article system communicatively. The findings of the present study suggest the need to revise the current language in education policy and to ensure that teachers receive training in implementing the curriculum and making use of the Focus on Form approach. The study concludes with some specific suggestions for EFL teachers in Tanzania regarding teaching the English article system to their Swahili-speaking learners. | en_ZA |
| dc.format.extent | 334 pages | en_ZA |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/100167 | |
| dc.language.iso | en_ZA | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | English | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Swahili | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Foreign language -- Acquisition | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Definiteness (Linguistics) | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Indefiniteness (Linguistics) | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | UCTD | |
| dc.title | The acquisition of (in)definiteness in English as a foreign language by Tanzanian L1 Swahili secondary school learners | en_ZA |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_ZA |