Identifying potential grammatical features for explicit instruction to isiXhosa-speaking learners of English

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Given the promise of upward socio-economic mobility that English is currently deemed tohold in South Africa, it is a matter of egalitarian principle that the schooling system providesall learners in this country with a fair chance at acquiring English to a high level ofproficiency. There exists a common misconception, however, that such a chance isnecessarily provided in the form of English medium education for all learners, regardless ofwhat their mother tongue may be. As a result, the majority of learners are caught in a systemthat cites English as medium of instruction, despite their and often also their teachers' lowoverall proficiency in this language; the little opportunity many have for the naturalisticacquisition of English; and the national Language-in-Education Policy of 1997's advice to thecontrary, in promoting additive bilingualism with the home language serving as foundationthrough the use thereof as medium of instruction.As an interim solution, it is suggested that English-as-an-additional-language be developed toserve as a strong support subject in explicitly teaching learners the grammar of English. Inorder to identify grammatical features for explicit instruction, an initial step was taken inanalysing the free speech of eight first language speakers of isiXhosa, the African languagemost commonly spoken in the Western Cape. The grammatical intuitions of these speakers,who had all reached a near-native level of proficiency in English, were tested in an Englishgrammaticality judgement task. Collectively, results revealed syntactic, semantic andmorphological features of English, in that order, to prove most problematic to these speakers.More specifically, in terms of syntax, the omission of especially prepositions and articles was identified as a candidate topic for explicit instruction, along with the syntactic positioning of adverbs and particles. In terms of semantics, incorrect lexical selection, especially ofprepositions / prepositional phrases and pronouns, proved the most common non-nativefeature to be suggested for explicit teaching. Lastly, in terms of morphology, inflectionproved most problematic, with the accurate formulation (especially in terms of tense and / oraspect forms) of past tense, progressive and irrealis structures being the features suggested for explicit instruction, along with the third person singular feature.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University