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Use and Teaching of English in Kenya

The Use and Teaching of English in Kenya

One cannot consider Kenya as an essentially monolingual society in which English is learned as a second language. ESL (English-as-a-Second-Language) is more likely to be ETL (English-as-a-Third-Language) or even EFL (English-as-a-Fourth-Language).

There are more than 70 tribal groups in Kenya. The 11 largest ones comprise 92% of the total African population. Sixty-six percent speak one or the other of the Bantu languages (Kikuyu, Kemba, Meru, Gusii, Lubya, Mijikenda) in the Central and Western regions; 15% speak a Niholitic language (Luo, Masai, Kalengin, Turkane) in the Western and North-Western regions; and 3% speak a Cushistic language (essentially, Somali) in the North-Eastern region. Of these 11 groups, the Kikuyu and Luo are the most numerous. Altogether, about 75 languages are spoken in Kenya.

In order to communicate among themselves, Kenyans and other East African peoples (such as the Tanzanians) have adopted a lingua franca (called by some "nobody's language"), viz. Kiswahili (a.k.a. Swahili). Kiswahili is essentially a Bantu language which contains an enormous Arabic vocabulary as well as some Portuguese, Hindi, and English loanwords. It is the language of trade, newspapers, and courts--to the extent that English is not used. It is taught as a second language in the schools. In 1971, Kiswahili became the only official language of Kenya (as it already was in neighboring Tanzania). At independence (1963), English had been adopted as the national language. Nationalist sentiment, however, eventually prevailed and forced adoption of the East African vehicular language. Nevertheless, today English is in effect the language of Government and "educated" people. The population of Kenya is young: 74% are under 30; they read the national press either in English or in Kiswahili; they watch feature films which originate in the United Kingdom, the United States of America, or I...

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Use and Teaching of English in Kenya. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 22:07, March 18, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1684758.html