Allegory- this is a narrative work of fiction or drama in which the elements, characters, plot and setting-work together to teach a moral lesson. Frequently, this involves using things, persons and setting. Chin et al (2002).
It is also a narrative work either prose or verse in which characters, actions and sometimes setting, represent abstract concepts apart from the literal meaning of the story. The underlying meaning may have moral, social, religious, or political significance and characters are often personification of abstract ideas. Purves et al (1997).
Writers usually apply allegory when they want to create an emotional appeal to the readers or to place themselves in a safe side, if their works involve criticizing those in power. A good example of allegory, which criticizes the ruling class but using animals, birds, fishes, and insects as characters, is the poem ‘The Beast’ by Songoyi.
When reading the whole poem the reader finds characters like ‘the big fishes’, ‘small fishes’, ‘lion’, ‘king of the jungle’, ‘jackals’, ‘wolves’ ‘ a bee’, and ‘an eagle’. The poem explains how the “mightier beasts” oppress the weaker ones by the so-called “the law of the jungle-survival for the fittest”. But if truth be told, the ‘beasts’ are actually a representation of human beings-the oppressive, corrupt and exploitative regimes of our governments.
The so-called ‘big fishes and king of the jungle’ represent the top leaders like President, Prime minister and Vice President. ‘Lion’ represents he revolutionists who struggle to get access to the national cake and when they fail, they ally with the regime. ‘Jackals and wolves’ stand for the activists who always speak out to criticize the government while ‘a bee and an eagle stand for those who ally with the leaders and are protected since they help in perpetuation of leaders’ interests.
Pun-this is a play on the multiple meanings of the word or on two words that sound alike but have different meanings. Daniel (1997).
It is also a humorous play on two or more meanings of the same word or on two different words with the same sound. Chin (2003). Most writes use puns for humorous effect. They want to make readers think critically of the words and interpret them according to the contexts they have been used.
For example
“It is better to have loved a short man and lost than never to have loved A TALL”
The capitalized word “A TALL” in written form is clearly well-defined as the opposite of short. However, in spoken form it sounds more like AT ALL, which means completely. One hearing the sentence, may interpret it as ‘—than never to have loved completely.
Another good pun is found in the last but one line of Shakespeare’s “When My Love Swears That She Is Made of Truth.” He says;
‘Therefore, I LIE with her and she with me’ Shakespeare Sonnet 138
The word LIE, in this context could probably mean cheat each other or sleep on bed together since their love was a sexual relationship but also built on lies.
Satire- is a technique that employs wit to ridicule a subject usually some social institution or human foible with the intention of inspiring reform. Purves (1997) it is also a prose or verse that employs wit in the form of irony, innuendo, or outright derision to expose human wickedness and folly. Microsoft Encarta ® (2009.). It is a good way in which writers criticize a person, an idea, or an institution in which the writer wants to show their faults and weaknesses. A good example off
satire is found in Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People
He ridicules the way people are ignorant and fail to identify their true enemy; instead they declare Dr Stockmann who is actually a friend of the people, as An Enemy of the people. Also the pressmen (Billing, Hovstad and Aslaksen) who claim to be liberal-minded, lack a stand and do things to please the leaders (Peter Stockmann, The mayor). Lastly they come back to Dr Stockmann to ask for financial support, where he chases them away.
Another satire is found in Aristophanes’ Lysistrata where he ridicules the men who stop the war just because of the sex strike waged by women led by Lysistrata..
Satire ridicules people, practices, or institutions in order to reveal their failings. They often aim to make people think critically about subjects at hand but they can also be written for pure entertainment. Chin (2003)
Sarcasm - is a satire or irony that often uses bitter and acoustic language to point out shortcomings or flaws. Chin (2002). It is characterized by words which mean the opposite of what they seem to say and are intended to mock or deride/ridicule.
For example;
I don’t mind if you don’t like my manner.
I don’t like them myself, they are pretty bad
I grieve over them on long winter evening
Humphrey Bogart (1899-1954) US Actor
I met a great little man, the man who can be silent in several languages.
James Guthrie Harbord (1866-1947) US General and Business Executive
Irony - this is a contrast between appearance and reality. (ibid). It is a figure o speech which shows disagreement or incongruity between what is said and what is understood or what is expected and what actually occurs. Irony can be used just by the intention of the writer or just happen unknowingly. Irony occurs in three forms namely; Verbal Irony, Situational Irony, and dramatic irony.
Verbal irony is when the intended meaning of the statement or work is different (often the opposite of) what the statement or work literary says. For Example. Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People is ironically used since Dr Stockman who is declared an enemy, is in really sense, is a friend of the people.
Situational Irony occurs when what happens is contrary to what is expected; or the actual outcome of a situation is the opposite of what is expected. Chin et al (2003). For example
The son of the English teacher fails the English Exam.
The daughter of a rich merchant is expelled from school for lack of school fees of 20,000/=.
Dramatic Irony occurs when events or facts not known to the character on stage in a fictional work, are known to another character and the audience or reader Purves et al (1997) & Chin et al (2003). A good example is found in Imbuga’s The Successor where Oriomra sets a plot—that Jandi has impregnated Zira (his Cousin) in order to deny him the possibility of being named the successor.
All the people plus Emperor Chonda believe it, but we, the readers know that it is Sasia who is responsible for the pregnancy. When Jandi is banished, he disappears that people think he is dead, but the audience know that he is in the shrine hidden by See Thro.
The five discussed terms are just a sample of many literary devices we have in literature. They act as an appetizer in literary work. They help in making a literary work very live and in fact interesting to read.
They help in logical connection of ideas in work of art. Any literary work composed free of literary devices is as good as nothing and is not worth the name, since it makes no effect to the audience and makes no difference from a non-literary work.
Sunday, 17 July 2011
AMBIGUITY
THE UNIVERSITY OF DODOMA
Qn 9 Disambiguate the following sentences and state the types of ambiguity in each construction
(A) He did not see his chair
(B) Is that the mouth?
(C) I slapped him while reading a novel.
(D) Marry is angry because she is sick.
OUTLINE
In attempting to answer the question, the wok has been divided into three major parts
• INTRODUCTION
Definitions of the key terms have been provided. These include
1. Ambiguity.
2. To Disambiguate
• MAIN BODY
The details of the question have been given. This include
1. Types of Ambiguity
Major Types
Lexical Ambiguity
Structural Ambiguity
Non-Lexical Ambiguity
Minor Types
Intonation Ambiguity
Metaphorical Ambiguity
2. Disambiguating the Sentences stated in the Question
• CONCLUSION.
Ambiguity is a property of words or sentences of having two or more meanings. Stewart & Vaillet (2001)
Ambiguity is where a word or phrase is capable of two or more meanings and which in the context raises doubt or uncertainty as to which is intended. http//www.duhaime.org/../ambiguity.aspx
Generally speaking, ambiguity is the state in which a word, phrase or the whole sentence has more than one possible interpretations/meaning.
To disambiguate is to show clearly the difference between two or more words, phrases etc which are similar in meaning. (Advanced Learners Dictionary 6th ed)
Types of Ambiguity
There are three major types of Ambiguity namely
(A) Lexical Ambiguity
(B) Structural/Syntactic Ambiguity
(C) Non-Lexical Ambiguity.
There may also be minor types such as.
(D) Intonation Ambiguity.
(E) Metaphorical Ambiguity.
Lexical Ambiguity
Lexical ambiguity arises when at least one word in a phrase has more than one meaning. Fromkin et al (2007:178). This is a type of Ambiguity based on lexical words. In many cases a single word corresponds to more than one thought. According to Vaillet & Stewart (2001) words with more than one meaning are said to be lexically ambiguous. Example; bank, crane, spring, run, light, iron.
Lexical Ambiguity is also when a lexical item has more than one meaning chiefly treated by homonymy and polysemy.
Those caused by homonyms include: bank, iron, park, pupil just to mention a few.
For example if someone asks; “ Would you bring me an iron please?” the hearer will not clearly know which iron to bring; “a metal iron” or “a tool with a flat base used for making cloths smooth when heated”. Example.
He drove back to the park
Meaning 1. He drove back to the animal Park
Meaning 2. He drove back to the car parking
Those caused by polysems, include; head, flight, heat just to mention a few.
Example 1. He has a good head
Part of the body- Part of the body above the neck
Mind- He has a good mind
Top part- He has a good title
Example 2. The student showed me the head.
Meaning 1. The student showed me the leader of school/department/institution
Meaning. 2. The student showed me the part of the body above the neck.
Example 2. The Prime minister was put under heat.
The Prime Minister was put under high temperature
The Prime Minister was put under pressure
Structural ambiguity
Is where a phrase or sentence has got more than one interpretations. Stewart & Vaillet(2001) point out that phrases with more than one meaning, because of the structure of the phrase are referred to as structurally ambiguous. Also Cruse (2004) comments that, many syntactic ambiguities arise from the possibility of alternative constituent structures.
More examples from Syal and Jindal (2007:102) illustrate this structural ambiguity
They called her a taxi
Meaning 1: They nicknamed her a ‘taxi’
Meaning 2: They called a taxi for her.
The magician made her an iron box
Meaning 1: the magician made an iron box for her.
Meaning 2: the magician changed her into an iron box
I stepped on a snake crossing the road
Meaning 1: I stepped on the snake that was crossing the road
Meaning 2: I stepped on a snake when I was crossing the road
Structural ambiguity may be caused by;
-ing structure.
Example 1.. hunting lion is dangerous. This can probably mean
1. The act of hunting lions is dangerous or
2.The lion that is hunting is dangerous
Example 2.Flying planes can be risky. This could probably mean;
1. The act of flying planes can be risky, or
2. The planes that are flying can be risky
Misplaced modifiers. This is when the meaning of the component words can be combined in more than one way. O’grady et al(1997:284).
Example . Old men and women are wise.
Meaning 1: Only old men and all women are wise.
Meaning 2: Old men and old women are wise.
Improper use of punctuation marks.
Eg. Isack, Mwakatundu is calling you.
Isack Mwaktundu is calling you.
Ellipsis
This is caused by the omission of some important words from a construction.
Example 1. Mwanyerere said she would come or telephone me but she didn’t.
She didn’t do what? She didn’t come, or she didn’t telephone.
Example 2.Mtundu says he will either marry or remain a bachelor but I don’t think so.
“So” stands for what?
I don’t think he will marry or I don’t think he will remain a bachelor
I like ice-cream more than you
1. I like ice-cream more than you like it
2. I like ice-cream more than I like you.
He loves his children more than his wife
He loves his children more than he loves his wife
He loves his children more than how his wife loves them.
Non-lexical ambiguity.
This is triggered by pronouns. Pronouns are the sources of non-lexical ambiguity (pronoun Ambiguity)
Example1. Mwita asked Mzambili to meet him at Jamatini but he did not appear;
Meaning 1: Mwita asked Mzambili to meet him at Jamatini but Mwita did not appear
Meaning 2: Mwita asked Mzambili to meet him at Jamatini but Mzambili did not appear.
Example 2.He did not see his book.
Meaning 1: He did not see his own book
Meaning 2: He did not see someone’s book
The minor types of ambiguity include the following
Intonation ambiguity
This is caused by improper use of intonation/stress in particular words of sentences. This is specifically in spoken form.
Example. Mr. Bata is here
Miss Tabata is here
Metaphorical ambiguity.
This is caused by the use of metaphors/metaphorical expressions in some constructions. When someone is not aware of that metaphorical expression it may cause ambiguity to him/her.
For example. Ndaikya has become a lion.
Ndaikya has turned into a lion.
Ndaikya behaves like a lion.
Disambiguating the sentences below and stating the types of ambiguity.
(A) He did not see his chair.
This sentence has got two possible types of ambiguity thus calling for four different interpretations.
If we consider first the word chair, we observe that it may mean.
1. A piece of furniture for sitting on.
2. A person who holds position of being in charge of a meeting. Advanced Learners Dictionary. (6th ed)
This could possibly mean;
Meaning 1. He did not see his seat
Meaning 2. He did not see his chairperson
This is lexical ambiguity as the lexical item chair is a polysem with more than one possible interpretation.
On the other hand if we consider the use of the pronoun his we observe that it does not specify clearly whose chair he did not see. Whether his own chair, or someone else’s chair?
To disambiguate it the following approaches can be used.
The sentence can be re-phrased as in (1) below or the name (instead of a pronoun) should be included if it refers to someone else other than himself as in (2) below.
1. He did not see his own chair.
2. He did not see (Mwakibinga’s) chair.
This is a non-lexical Ambiguity since it is triggered by a pronoun-his.
(B) Is that the mouth?
The lexical item mouth is a polysem with more than one possible interpretation. So to disambiguate it, the items containing the “mouth” should be mentioned to contextualize it, or the alternative words should be used.
The term mouth means;
1. A part of the face.
2. An entrance/opening
3. Of a river – a place where the river joins the sea.
To disambiguate it the following possible interpretations can be used.
1. Is that the mouth of a lion?
2. Is that the mouth of the cave/entrance of the cave?
3. Is that the mouth/end of river Mara?
This is lexical ambiguity since the lexical item “mouth” has got more than one interpretation/meaning.
(C) I slapped him while reading a novel.
The sentence above does not specify who was reading a novel. The suggestion is that, in order to disambiguate it, the subject of the second clause should be included to show clearly who was reading a novel.
This may have the following possible interpretations.
1. I slapped him while I was reading a novel.
2. I slapped him while he was reading a novel.
This is structural ambiguity since the whole sentence structure itself creates ambiguity.
(D) Marry is angry because she is sick.
In this sentence the pronoun “she” creates ambiguity since it does not state clearly who is really sick; whether, Marry herself, or someone else and so Marry is angry.
The suggestion is that, to disambiguate it, the sentence can be re-phrased as in (1) below if it refers to Marry herself or the name of the second person (instead of the pronoun) should be included if it refers to someone else other than Marry as in (2) below.
To disambiguate it we may say;
1. Marry is angry because she herself is sick.
2. Marry is angry because (her mother) is sick.
This is a non-lexical ambiguity as it is triggered by the pronoun she.
Any natural language is subject to ambiguity. Ambiguity arises from how the speakers of the language use it in different contexts for communication. That being the case, speakers are advised to select words appropriately if their communication is to be effective. Sometimes ambiguity is obligatory since some words, by nature, have more than one meaning, but the context in which they are used, may help in providing a clue as to which meaning is intended by the speaker.
REFERENCES
Advanced learners Dictionary 6th ed. New York: Oxford University Press
Cruse, A (2004) Meaning in Language; An Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics.New
York: Oxford University Press.
http//www.duhaime.org/../ambiguity.aspx visited on 04 may 2011
O’Grady et al (1997) Contemporary Linguistics: An Introduction: Lonndon: St.Martins Press
Stewart and Vaillet. (2001) Language Files: Materials for An Introduction to Language and
Linguistics: Columbus: Ohio State University Press
Syal and Jindal (2007) An Introduction to Linguistics: Language Grammar and Semantics.
2nd ed. New Delhi: Asoke K, Ghosh, Printice-Hall of India Priate Limited
Qn 9 Disambiguate the following sentences and state the types of ambiguity in each construction
(A) He did not see his chair
(B) Is that the mouth?
(C) I slapped him while reading a novel.
(D) Marry is angry because she is sick.
OUTLINE
In attempting to answer the question, the wok has been divided into three major parts
• INTRODUCTION
Definitions of the key terms have been provided. These include
1. Ambiguity.
2. To Disambiguate
• MAIN BODY
The details of the question have been given. This include
1. Types of Ambiguity
Major Types
Lexical Ambiguity
Structural Ambiguity
Non-Lexical Ambiguity
Minor Types
Intonation Ambiguity
Metaphorical Ambiguity
2. Disambiguating the Sentences stated in the Question
• CONCLUSION.
Ambiguity is a property of words or sentences of having two or more meanings. Stewart & Vaillet (2001)
Ambiguity is where a word or phrase is capable of two or more meanings and which in the context raises doubt or uncertainty as to which is intended. http//www.duhaime.org/../ambiguity.aspx
Generally speaking, ambiguity is the state in which a word, phrase or the whole sentence has more than one possible interpretations/meaning.
To disambiguate is to show clearly the difference between two or more words, phrases etc which are similar in meaning. (Advanced Learners Dictionary 6th ed)
Types of Ambiguity
There are three major types of Ambiguity namely
(A) Lexical Ambiguity
(B) Structural/Syntactic Ambiguity
(C) Non-Lexical Ambiguity.
There may also be minor types such as.
(D) Intonation Ambiguity.
(E) Metaphorical Ambiguity.
Lexical Ambiguity
Lexical ambiguity arises when at least one word in a phrase has more than one meaning. Fromkin et al (2007:178). This is a type of Ambiguity based on lexical words. In many cases a single word corresponds to more than one thought. According to Vaillet & Stewart (2001) words with more than one meaning are said to be lexically ambiguous. Example; bank, crane, spring, run, light, iron.
Lexical Ambiguity is also when a lexical item has more than one meaning chiefly treated by homonymy and polysemy.
Those caused by homonyms include: bank, iron, park, pupil just to mention a few.
For example if someone asks; “ Would you bring me an iron please?” the hearer will not clearly know which iron to bring; “a metal iron” or “a tool with a flat base used for making cloths smooth when heated”. Example.
He drove back to the park
Meaning 1. He drove back to the animal Park
Meaning 2. He drove back to the car parking
Those caused by polysems, include; head, flight, heat just to mention a few.
Example 1. He has a good head
Part of the body- Part of the body above the neck
Mind- He has a good mind
Top part- He has a good title
Example 2. The student showed me the head.
Meaning 1. The student showed me the leader of school/department/institution
Meaning. 2. The student showed me the part of the body above the neck.
Example 2. The Prime minister was put under heat.
The Prime Minister was put under high temperature
The Prime Minister was put under pressure
Structural ambiguity
Is where a phrase or sentence has got more than one interpretations. Stewart & Vaillet(2001) point out that phrases with more than one meaning, because of the structure of the phrase are referred to as structurally ambiguous. Also Cruse (2004) comments that, many syntactic ambiguities arise from the possibility of alternative constituent structures.
More examples from Syal and Jindal (2007:102) illustrate this structural ambiguity
They called her a taxi
Meaning 1: They nicknamed her a ‘taxi’
Meaning 2: They called a taxi for her.
The magician made her an iron box
Meaning 1: the magician made an iron box for her.
Meaning 2: the magician changed her into an iron box
I stepped on a snake crossing the road
Meaning 1: I stepped on the snake that was crossing the road
Meaning 2: I stepped on a snake when I was crossing the road
Structural ambiguity may be caused by;
-ing structure.
Example 1.. hunting lion is dangerous. This can probably mean
1. The act of hunting lions is dangerous or
2.The lion that is hunting is dangerous
Example 2.Flying planes can be risky. This could probably mean;
1. The act of flying planes can be risky, or
2. The planes that are flying can be risky
Misplaced modifiers. This is when the meaning of the component words can be combined in more than one way. O’grady et al(1997:284).
Example . Old men and women are wise.
Meaning 1: Only old men and all women are wise.
Meaning 2: Old men and old women are wise.
Improper use of punctuation marks.
Eg. Isack, Mwakatundu is calling you.
Isack Mwaktundu is calling you.
Ellipsis
This is caused by the omission of some important words from a construction.
Example 1. Mwanyerere said she would come or telephone me but she didn’t.
She didn’t do what? She didn’t come, or she didn’t telephone.
Example 2.Mtundu says he will either marry or remain a bachelor but I don’t think so.
“So” stands for what?
I don’t think he will marry or I don’t think he will remain a bachelor
I like ice-cream more than you
1. I like ice-cream more than you like it
2. I like ice-cream more than I like you.
He loves his children more than his wife
He loves his children more than he loves his wife
He loves his children more than how his wife loves them.
Non-lexical ambiguity.
This is triggered by pronouns. Pronouns are the sources of non-lexical ambiguity (pronoun Ambiguity)
Example1. Mwita asked Mzambili to meet him at Jamatini but he did not appear;
Meaning 1: Mwita asked Mzambili to meet him at Jamatini but Mwita did not appear
Meaning 2: Mwita asked Mzambili to meet him at Jamatini but Mzambili did not appear.
Example 2.He did not see his book.
Meaning 1: He did not see his own book
Meaning 2: He did not see someone’s book
The minor types of ambiguity include the following
Intonation ambiguity
This is caused by improper use of intonation/stress in particular words of sentences. This is specifically in spoken form.
Example. Mr. Bata is here
Miss Tabata is here
Metaphorical ambiguity.
This is caused by the use of metaphors/metaphorical expressions in some constructions. When someone is not aware of that metaphorical expression it may cause ambiguity to him/her.
For example. Ndaikya has become a lion.
Ndaikya has turned into a lion.
Ndaikya behaves like a lion.
Disambiguating the sentences below and stating the types of ambiguity.
(A) He did not see his chair.
This sentence has got two possible types of ambiguity thus calling for four different interpretations.
If we consider first the word chair, we observe that it may mean.
1. A piece of furniture for sitting on.
2. A person who holds position of being in charge of a meeting. Advanced Learners Dictionary. (6th ed)
This could possibly mean;
Meaning 1. He did not see his seat
Meaning 2. He did not see his chairperson
This is lexical ambiguity as the lexical item chair is a polysem with more than one possible interpretation.
On the other hand if we consider the use of the pronoun his we observe that it does not specify clearly whose chair he did not see. Whether his own chair, or someone else’s chair?
To disambiguate it the following approaches can be used.
The sentence can be re-phrased as in (1) below or the name (instead of a pronoun) should be included if it refers to someone else other than himself as in (2) below.
1. He did not see his own chair.
2. He did not see (Mwakibinga’s) chair.
This is a non-lexical Ambiguity since it is triggered by a pronoun-his.
(B) Is that the mouth?
The lexical item mouth is a polysem with more than one possible interpretation. So to disambiguate it, the items containing the “mouth” should be mentioned to contextualize it, or the alternative words should be used.
The term mouth means;
1. A part of the face.
2. An entrance/opening
3. Of a river – a place where the river joins the sea.
To disambiguate it the following possible interpretations can be used.
1. Is that the mouth of a lion?
2. Is that the mouth of the cave/entrance of the cave?
3. Is that the mouth/end of river Mara?
This is lexical ambiguity since the lexical item “mouth” has got more than one interpretation/meaning.
(C) I slapped him while reading a novel.
The sentence above does not specify who was reading a novel. The suggestion is that, in order to disambiguate it, the subject of the second clause should be included to show clearly who was reading a novel.
This may have the following possible interpretations.
1. I slapped him while I was reading a novel.
2. I slapped him while he was reading a novel.
This is structural ambiguity since the whole sentence structure itself creates ambiguity.
(D) Marry is angry because she is sick.
In this sentence the pronoun “she” creates ambiguity since it does not state clearly who is really sick; whether, Marry herself, or someone else and so Marry is angry.
The suggestion is that, to disambiguate it, the sentence can be re-phrased as in (1) below if it refers to Marry herself or the name of the second person (instead of the pronoun) should be included if it refers to someone else other than Marry as in (2) below.
To disambiguate it we may say;
1. Marry is angry because she herself is sick.
2. Marry is angry because (her mother) is sick.
This is a non-lexical ambiguity as it is triggered by the pronoun she.
Any natural language is subject to ambiguity. Ambiguity arises from how the speakers of the language use it in different contexts for communication. That being the case, speakers are advised to select words appropriately if their communication is to be effective. Sometimes ambiguity is obligatory since some words, by nature, have more than one meaning, but the context in which they are used, may help in providing a clue as to which meaning is intended by the speaker.
REFERENCES
Advanced learners Dictionary 6th ed. New York: Oxford University Press
Cruse, A (2004) Meaning in Language; An Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics.New
York: Oxford University Press.
http//www.duhaime.org/../ambiguity.aspx visited on 04 may 2011
O’Grady et al (1997) Contemporary Linguistics: An Introduction: Lonndon: St.Martins Press
Stewart and Vaillet. (2001) Language Files: Materials for An Introduction to Language and
Linguistics: Columbus: Ohio State University Press
Syal and Jindal (2007) An Introduction to Linguistics: Language Grammar and Semantics.
2nd ed. New Delhi: Asoke K, Ghosh, Printice-Hall of India Priate Limited
LEARNING ENGLISH OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM
Classroom leaning of language has to be supported by learning outside the class. What activities can you design and use to enhance learning of English outside the classroom.
samwiterson@yahoo.com http://www.samwiterson.blogspot.com
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication. The scientific study of language in any of its senses is called linguistics. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Language is a formal system of symbols governed by grammatical rules combining particular signs with particular meanings. This definition stresses the fact that human languages can be described as closed structural systems consisting of rules that relate particular signs to particular meanings. Ferdinand de Saussure (1983)
Generally Language can be understood as a system of combining arbitrary symbols to produce an infinite number of meaningful statements.
Learning is acquiring new or modifying existing knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, or preferences and may involve synthesizing different types of information. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Learning is a relatively permanent change in behaviour as a result of past experience. Don & Sandra (1997)
Learning can generally be viewed as the process of acquiring new skills, knowledge and behaviours, which help in shaping the existing ones.
In becoming competent in a language, speakers of a language have to acquire four basic components of a language being described here as phonology, semantics, grammar and pragmatics. Any language involves mastering of four language skills namely speaking, writing, listening, and reading. Therefore, the activities to be designed are in line with developing these skills, for the leaner to have a good mastery of the language (competence) and to be able to use it in actual situations (performance). As supported by Sadker & Sadker (2003) in the following paragraph.
Language arts programs emphasize literacy development, which includes reading, writing, speaking, listening, viewing, and media study. In elementary school, the language arts Curriculum addresses the essentials of how to use language- reading, grammar, spellings, speaking, handwriting, composition, capitalization, punctuation, word processing, peer editing, and research skills. At secondary school level, the language art instruction shift focus to literature.
The activities that can be designed to support the learning of English language outside the classroom include the following;
Home Reading. As far as reading language skill is concerned, students should be encouraged to take home the books for reading. They may be asking for assistance from adult members of their families, if they are conversant with English Language. This idea is supported by Hewins & Wells (1992:39) who comment that;
It is our expectation that our students will take books home from the classroom or school library. One of our primary objectives is to convince them that, reading books is a good way for them to spend their time at least as entertaining as watching television or playing a video game... we want them to see that reading is not just a classroom activity but also one that can be carried out anywhere anytime.
Writing workshops. A workshop is a period of discussion and practical work on a particular subject in which a group of people, share their knowledge and experience. This can develop students’ writing skill, speaking skill, and listening skill, because after writing their papers, students will have to present their drafts in front of their fellow, who will be listening and later criticize each other’s work. This idea is again supported by Hewins & Wells (1992:44);
We also acknowledge that it is necessary to provide time to students to write on topics of their own choice as well as in response to books. Such writing includes stories, poems, songs, journal entries, letters, information writing and personal reflections. After writing/drafting their works, students with their writing partners will have to read their pieces and discuss their writings. The teachers have to guide them how to listen and know how to respond to each other’s writing.
Essay writing. In academic discourse, there are many types of essays that can be written on different subjects. Be it argumentative or descriptive essay, it helps to develop learners writing skills plus the logical flow of ideas. When writing an essay a student not only concentrates on the contents of his/her work but also the rules of that language as Langan & Swinstanley (1999) say in the following paragraph.
Students are asked to write formal essays with an introduction, three supporting paragraphs and a conclusion. Anyone who has tried to write a solidly reasoned essay knows how much work is involved. a logical essay requires great deal of mental discipline and close attention to a set of logical rules.
After writing an essay, the student will have to revise, proofread, and edit to ensure that his/her sentences are effective and error-free. This may also be done by another expert by showing the mistakes and errors to be corrected.
Oral presentation. This refers to the delivery of a message in spoken form, usually, to a special group of people for a special purpose. For this reason, such presentation usually takes place in formal situation. Hashim (2002:135). there are many speech events that constitute oral presentation, the difference among them base on the nature of the message involved, the methods of delivery, the type of the audience involved and the purpose for the speech event. Hashim proposes the following as being part of oral presentation; “a lecture, an interview, a meeting, a workshop, a conference, and a panel discussion.” Many big talks and lectures are accessible to all, and these are wonderful chances to hear the people who shape how you live and what you learn speaking first-hand on their subject of expertise.
Debate-this is an argument or discussion expressing different opinions. It should be noted that possessing a large number of vocabularies is one thing, but knowing how to use then effectively is quite another thing. Hashim (2002) students may possess quite a reasonable number of words in their vocabulary stocks, but may fail to use them appropriately. Therefore, we need to give them chances to practice the vocabularies they have in concrete situations. One way of achieving this is through debate. In debate, there are always points of interruption, point of correction, point of information, and the like. Collectively they help students to master their use of the language appropriately.
Dramatizing- this involves presenting a book, story, or an event as a play or film or movie. Teachers may select an event, or a book, say “I Will Marry When I Want” and direct students to dramatize it in English in front of their follow students and teachers. The actors/actresses will develop their use of language in conversation. Likewise, the audience will be learning from the actors/actresses use of the language. This creates not only language competence but also its performance in concrete contexts. The folowing paragraph from http://www.pathwaystolaw.org.uk puts it clear that
Universities with strong arts and/or cultural programmes will often have a great number of international musicians and theatrical groups visiting to perform in their concert halls and theatres. Students usually get discounted entry and this is a great introduction to the culture behind the languages you are learning. Watching a Moliere farce or Lorca tragedy, or hearing an Austrian String Symphony or German stomp is a stepping stone to greater awareness and understanding of the people and languages you study
Public speaking-(morning and evening speeches). “This involves one person speaking at a time to an audience of people who do not talk back but just listen”. Leech & Svartvic (2003). We can therefore plan to have regular morning and evening speeches in which the selected students will have to express their mind in English on any area of their interest, while others are listening. This creates confidence, in addition to developing speaking and listening skills.
Private speaking –(Organising a conversation.). Conversation is a type of speech involving two or more participants taking their turns when talking to each other either face to face or via some technical devices such as telephone or computer. This method or activity, essentially help the learners of English in mastering their speaking as well as listening skills of a language, bearing it in mind that without listening effectively, one can not correctly respond to the conversation. This is emphasized by Leech & Svartvic (2003) in the following paragraph; “For the foreign students of English this is a particularly important type to learn because it is a most common everyday use of speech. Conversation is impromptu and spontaneous.”
Group discussion-this allows a number of people to discuss a single topic. A school being a kind of community the ideas held by the community members can be shared through group discussion. The key point here is not to focus on how the discussion is conducted but its chief contribution to language learning. Sanford (1979) suggests the discussion to take the form of, panel discussion, a round-table discussion, or some form of town meeting. All these types of discussions allow students to express themselves in English thus giving them chances to apply the rules of the language they learn in the classroom.
samwiterson@yahoo.com http://www.samwiterson.blogspot.com
Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL). The computers today, may be used as complete teachers by themselves, if both teachers and students use them effectively. Computers may have many Programmed Logic/Learning for Automated Teaching Operations. (PLATO). The computers have what Ahmed et al, (1985) describe as “intelligent features such as tests that are followed by directions to complete appropriate remedial work depending on the errors a learner has made. The system also includes rudimentary spelling and grammar checkers.” That being the case, the students will learn the language anywhere, say, at home, assisted by their home computers. This is particularly supported by Betty (2003:19) who says, “in ‘PLATO’ the learners have to adapt to the materials by creating personal learning strategies beyond those offered by the teacher or suggested by the learning materials”.
Language clubs. Students who share a common interest get together and form clubs and societies that are often subsidised and very well managed. Most schools have language societies (e.g.English clubs, kiswahili clubs, ) that organise events based on the language they represent. Schools may also have national societies if they have a big enough student population.for exapmle Universities have CHAWAKAMA. (Chama cha Wanafunzi wa Kiswahili Afrika Mashariki) . Societies are a great way to make friends, and get involved with university life, and in your first year you will be encouraged to join as many of them as possible. This helps them exchange their knowlege of the Language.
Designing Language cafés/ language laboratories. These will usually be language-specific, and one should not be fooled by the name, coffee is not usually included. Think ‘café’ in the ‘internet café’ sense. They are basically, get-togethers for native speakers and learners to speak the language in an informal setting. This will also include all the necessary materials required in learning a language as dictionaries, grammar books, novels, plays, DVDs Recoded CDs and the like. This is emphasized in the following paragraph, from, http://www.pathwaystolaw.org.uk
“It’s a great way to meet people and make friends, learn conversational expressions and just practice your speaking and listening skills. They usually happen in places with some relevance to the language being learned . Universities organise these weekly or bimonthly, so if you miss one you can always go to the next one.”
Therefore then, when our students are studying languages, only about half of their learning takes place in the classroom. Most language activities offer a whole host of events that are designed to give them the opportunity to supplement their classroom learning. Stress is to be put on these activities if we want to see our students excel in the use of the language, the way we would wish them to.
samwiterson@yahoo.com http://www.samwiterson.blogspot.com
samwiterson@yahoo.com http://www.samwiterson.blogspot.com
REFERENCES
Ahmed, K., Corbett G., Rogers, M., & Sussex R. (1985) Computer, Language, Learning and
Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Betty K. (2003) Teaching and Researching; Computer Assisted Language Learning: Harlow:
Pearson Education Limited
Don & Sandra (1997) Psychology. New York: Worth Publishers
Hashim, M (2002) Learn to Communicate Effectively. Mzumbe: Mzumbe Book Project
Hewins, L&J Wells (1992) Read it in the Classroom: Organising An Interactive Language Art
Program Grades 4-9. Pembroke Publishers Limited
Langan, J & S Winstanley (1999) College Writing Skills with Readings. New York:
McGrawHill.
Leech G& J Svartvic (2002) (3rd ed) A Communicative Grammar of English. London:
Longman- Pearson Education Limited
Sadker, M,P & D,M Sadker (2003) Teachers, School and Society.(6th ed) New York:
McGrawHill Companies
Sanford A. (1979) Using English. Grammar and Writing Skills. New York: Harcourt Brace
Jovanovich
Saussure, Ferdinand de; Harris, Roy, Translator (1983) [1913]. Bally, Charles; Sechehaye, Albert.
eds. Course in General Linguistics. La Salle, Illinois: Open Court. In
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/. Visted on 10th April 2011
................Language learning outside the classroom in http://www.pathwaystolaw.org.uk visted on 10th April 2011
samwiterson@yahoo.com http://www.samwiterson.blogspot.com
samwiterson@yahoo.com http://www.samwiterson.blogspot.com
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication. The scientific study of language in any of its senses is called linguistics. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Language is a formal system of symbols governed by grammatical rules combining particular signs with particular meanings. This definition stresses the fact that human languages can be described as closed structural systems consisting of rules that relate particular signs to particular meanings. Ferdinand de Saussure (1983)
Generally Language can be understood as a system of combining arbitrary symbols to produce an infinite number of meaningful statements.
Learning is acquiring new or modifying existing knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, or preferences and may involve synthesizing different types of information. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Learning is a relatively permanent change in behaviour as a result of past experience. Don & Sandra (1997)
Learning can generally be viewed as the process of acquiring new skills, knowledge and behaviours, which help in shaping the existing ones.
In becoming competent in a language, speakers of a language have to acquire four basic components of a language being described here as phonology, semantics, grammar and pragmatics. Any language involves mastering of four language skills namely speaking, writing, listening, and reading. Therefore, the activities to be designed are in line with developing these skills, for the leaner to have a good mastery of the language (competence) and to be able to use it in actual situations (performance). As supported by Sadker & Sadker (2003) in the following paragraph.
Language arts programs emphasize literacy development, which includes reading, writing, speaking, listening, viewing, and media study. In elementary school, the language arts Curriculum addresses the essentials of how to use language- reading, grammar, spellings, speaking, handwriting, composition, capitalization, punctuation, word processing, peer editing, and research skills. At secondary school level, the language art instruction shift focus to literature.
The activities that can be designed to support the learning of English language outside the classroom include the following;
Home Reading. As far as reading language skill is concerned, students should be encouraged to take home the books for reading. They may be asking for assistance from adult members of their families, if they are conversant with English Language. This idea is supported by Hewins & Wells (1992:39) who comment that;
It is our expectation that our students will take books home from the classroom or school library. One of our primary objectives is to convince them that, reading books is a good way for them to spend their time at least as entertaining as watching television or playing a video game... we want them to see that reading is not just a classroom activity but also one that can be carried out anywhere anytime.
Writing workshops. A workshop is a period of discussion and practical work on a particular subject in which a group of people, share their knowledge and experience. This can develop students’ writing skill, speaking skill, and listening skill, because after writing their papers, students will have to present their drafts in front of their fellow, who will be listening and later criticize each other’s work. This idea is again supported by Hewins & Wells (1992:44);
We also acknowledge that it is necessary to provide time to students to write on topics of their own choice as well as in response to books. Such writing includes stories, poems, songs, journal entries, letters, information writing and personal reflections. After writing/drafting their works, students with their writing partners will have to read their pieces and discuss their writings. The teachers have to guide them how to listen and know how to respond to each other’s writing.
Essay writing. In academic discourse, there are many types of essays that can be written on different subjects. Be it argumentative or descriptive essay, it helps to develop learners writing skills plus the logical flow of ideas. When writing an essay a student not only concentrates on the contents of his/her work but also the rules of that language as Langan & Swinstanley (1999) say in the following paragraph.
Students are asked to write formal essays with an introduction, three supporting paragraphs and a conclusion. Anyone who has tried to write a solidly reasoned essay knows how much work is involved. a logical essay requires great deal of mental discipline and close attention to a set of logical rules.
After writing an essay, the student will have to revise, proofread, and edit to ensure that his/her sentences are effective and error-free. This may also be done by another expert by showing the mistakes and errors to be corrected.
Oral presentation. This refers to the delivery of a message in spoken form, usually, to a special group of people for a special purpose. For this reason, such presentation usually takes place in formal situation. Hashim (2002:135). there are many speech events that constitute oral presentation, the difference among them base on the nature of the message involved, the methods of delivery, the type of the audience involved and the purpose for the speech event. Hashim proposes the following as being part of oral presentation; “a lecture, an interview, a meeting, a workshop, a conference, and a panel discussion.” Many big talks and lectures are accessible to all, and these are wonderful chances to hear the people who shape how you live and what you learn speaking first-hand on their subject of expertise.
Debate-this is an argument or discussion expressing different opinions. It should be noted that possessing a large number of vocabularies is one thing, but knowing how to use then effectively is quite another thing. Hashim (2002) students may possess quite a reasonable number of words in their vocabulary stocks, but may fail to use them appropriately. Therefore, we need to give them chances to practice the vocabularies they have in concrete situations. One way of achieving this is through debate. In debate, there are always points of interruption, point of correction, point of information, and the like. Collectively they help students to master their use of the language appropriately.
Dramatizing- this involves presenting a book, story, or an event as a play or film or movie. Teachers may select an event, or a book, say “I Will Marry When I Want” and direct students to dramatize it in English in front of their follow students and teachers. The actors/actresses will develop their use of language in conversation. Likewise, the audience will be learning from the actors/actresses use of the language. This creates not only language competence but also its performance in concrete contexts. The folowing paragraph from http://www.pathwaystolaw.org.uk puts it clear that
Universities with strong arts and/or cultural programmes will often have a great number of international musicians and theatrical groups visiting to perform in their concert halls and theatres. Students usually get discounted entry and this is a great introduction to the culture behind the languages you are learning. Watching a Moliere farce or Lorca tragedy, or hearing an Austrian String Symphony or German stomp is a stepping stone to greater awareness and understanding of the people and languages you study
Public speaking-(morning and evening speeches). “This involves one person speaking at a time to an audience of people who do not talk back but just listen”. Leech & Svartvic (2003). We can therefore plan to have regular morning and evening speeches in which the selected students will have to express their mind in English on any area of their interest, while others are listening. This creates confidence, in addition to developing speaking and listening skills.
Private speaking –(Organising a conversation.). Conversation is a type of speech involving two or more participants taking their turns when talking to each other either face to face or via some technical devices such as telephone or computer. This method or activity, essentially help the learners of English in mastering their speaking as well as listening skills of a language, bearing it in mind that without listening effectively, one can not correctly respond to the conversation. This is emphasized by Leech & Svartvic (2003) in the following paragraph; “For the foreign students of English this is a particularly important type to learn because it is a most common everyday use of speech. Conversation is impromptu and spontaneous.”
Group discussion-this allows a number of people to discuss a single topic. A school being a kind of community the ideas held by the community members can be shared through group discussion. The key point here is not to focus on how the discussion is conducted but its chief contribution to language learning. Sanford (1979) suggests the discussion to take the form of, panel discussion, a round-table discussion, or some form of town meeting. All these types of discussions allow students to express themselves in English thus giving them chances to apply the rules of the language they learn in the classroom.
samwiterson@yahoo.com http://www.samwiterson.blogspot.com
Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL). The computers today, may be used as complete teachers by themselves, if both teachers and students use them effectively. Computers may have many Programmed Logic/Learning for Automated Teaching Operations. (PLATO). The computers have what Ahmed et al, (1985) describe as “intelligent features such as tests that are followed by directions to complete appropriate remedial work depending on the errors a learner has made. The system also includes rudimentary spelling and grammar checkers.” That being the case, the students will learn the language anywhere, say, at home, assisted by their home computers. This is particularly supported by Betty (2003:19) who says, “in ‘PLATO’ the learners have to adapt to the materials by creating personal learning strategies beyond those offered by the teacher or suggested by the learning materials”.
Language clubs. Students who share a common interest get together and form clubs and societies that are often subsidised and very well managed. Most schools have language societies (e.g.English clubs, kiswahili clubs, ) that organise events based on the language they represent. Schools may also have national societies if they have a big enough student population.for exapmle Universities have CHAWAKAMA. (Chama cha Wanafunzi wa Kiswahili Afrika Mashariki) . Societies are a great way to make friends, and get involved with university life, and in your first year you will be encouraged to join as many of them as possible. This helps them exchange their knowlege of the Language.
Designing Language cafés/ language laboratories. These will usually be language-specific, and one should not be fooled by the name, coffee is not usually included. Think ‘café’ in the ‘internet café’ sense. They are basically, get-togethers for native speakers and learners to speak the language in an informal setting. This will also include all the necessary materials required in learning a language as dictionaries, grammar books, novels, plays, DVDs Recoded CDs and the like. This is emphasized in the following paragraph, from, http://www.pathwaystolaw.org.uk
“It’s a great way to meet people and make friends, learn conversational expressions and just practice your speaking and listening skills. They usually happen in places with some relevance to the language being learned . Universities organise these weekly or bimonthly, so if you miss one you can always go to the next one.”
Therefore then, when our students are studying languages, only about half of their learning takes place in the classroom. Most language activities offer a whole host of events that are designed to give them the opportunity to supplement their classroom learning. Stress is to be put on these activities if we want to see our students excel in the use of the language, the way we would wish them to.
samwiterson@yahoo.com http://www.samwiterson.blogspot.com
samwiterson@yahoo.com http://www.samwiterson.blogspot.com
REFERENCES
Ahmed, K., Corbett G., Rogers, M., & Sussex R. (1985) Computer, Language, Learning and
Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Betty K. (2003) Teaching and Researching; Computer Assisted Language Learning: Harlow:
Pearson Education Limited
Don & Sandra (1997) Psychology. New York: Worth Publishers
Hashim, M (2002) Learn to Communicate Effectively. Mzumbe: Mzumbe Book Project
Hewins, L&J Wells (1992) Read it in the Classroom: Organising An Interactive Language Art
Program Grades 4-9. Pembroke Publishers Limited
Langan, J & S Winstanley (1999) College Writing Skills with Readings. New York:
McGrawHill.
Leech G& J Svartvic (2002) (3rd ed) A Communicative Grammar of English. London:
Longman- Pearson Education Limited
Sadker, M,P & D,M Sadker (2003) Teachers, School and Society.(6th ed) New York:
McGrawHill Companies
Sanford A. (1979) Using English. Grammar and Writing Skills. New York: Harcourt Brace
Jovanovich
Saussure, Ferdinand de; Harris, Roy, Translator (1983) [1913]. Bally, Charles; Sechehaye, Albert.
eds. Course in General Linguistics. La Salle, Illinois: Open Court. In
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/. Visted on 10th April 2011
................Language learning outside the classroom in http://www.pathwaystolaw.org.uk visted on 10th April 2011
samwiterson@yahoo.com http://www.samwiterson.blogspot.com
MORPHO-LEXICAL OPERATION IN BANTU LANGUAGES
Using any Bantu language of your choice, show how the morpho-lexical operations do modify the structure of verbs. How may morpho-lexical morphemes may co-occur and in which order? Is the order fixed or variable? What would be the co-occurrence constraints of such morpho-lexical morphemes?
B: Study the Subi data below and answer the Questions that follow
Akagula ekilibhwa ‘he bought cassava’
Akagula ebhilibwa ‘he bought cassavas’
Bhakagula ebhilibwa ‘they bought cassavas’
tulagula ekilibwa ‘we will buy cassava’
(i) Giving reason(s) identify the root morpheme for cassava.
(ii) What is the plural prefix for cassava?
(iii) How is tense expressed in the above data?
(iv) What is the root morpheme for the verb buy?
C: What is pronominalization? Using any Bantu language of your choice, Kiswahili exclusive show the order
with which objects are marked onto the verb. Is the order fixed and hierarchical? What is the order of animate and inanimate objects in relation to the verb? What is the maximum number of objects that can be cliticized onto the verb (Verb Saturation Level)?
Morpho-lexical operations refer to a structure-changing operation that transparently changes a verb’s thematic structure and subcategorization. Ackerman (1992)
Morpho-lexical operations refer to the processes which increase or decrease the number of arguments/ valences of the verbs.
It operates under two processes (extremes)
(i) Transtivization (ii) De-transtivization
1. Transtivization
It refers to the process/morpho-lexical operation that increases the number of arguments. This process uses morpho-lexical morphemes called transtivizers, or valence increasers or argument increasers. There are two morpho-lexical morphemes under this process which are;
(i). applicative (ii.) causative
(i) Applicatives
These are morpho-lexical morphemes that show that the state/action described is for the benefit of somebody else,
Applicatives are {-i and its variant –e}
They occur under the following conditioning environment
{i-When the root vowel is ‘a, i, u’}
{e- When the root vowel is ‘e, o’}
This process in which the root vowel conditions the suffix vowel is called vowel harmony.
In Kikurya these morpheme are realized as –ir- and its variant –er-
akamötemera a -ka -mö- tem - er- a
sm pst om beat app Bvs
‘He/she beat for somebody else’
aramöbhinira a- ra- mö- bhin -ir -a
sm imperf om play app Bvs
‘He/she is playing on behalf of somebody’
In Kichagga
nalemremia na - le - m - rem - i - a
Sm pst om dig app Bvs
‘He/she is digging for somebody’
(ii) Causative
This is a morpho-lexical morpheme that causes something to be something else or causes someone to do something. (These morphemes are called causative morphemes)
It is realized by -ish- and its variant-esh- in Kiswahili and some of Bantu languages.
In Kurya it is realied by -iy-
Aramöraghiriya = a - ra - mö - raghir – iy – a
sm imprf om feed app Bvs
‘He/she is feeding someone’
Aramurimiya = a – ra – mu – rim – iy - a
sm imperf om dig app Bvs
‘He/she is making someone dig’
2. De-transtivization
This is another extreme/process/morpho-lexical operation which decreases/reduces the number of arguments. It involves three transtivizers.
(i) Reciprocal ( ii)Passive ( iii) Stative
(i) Reciprocal
This is a de-transtivization process represented by “each other” construction. This process is called Reciprocalization. It is presented by detranstivizers -an- and -angan-
E.g. In Kikurya
Example 1
Mwita akatema Bhoke= (Mwita beat Bhoke)
Bhoke akatema Mwita =(Bhoke beat Mwita)
Bhoke na Mwita bha- ka- tem- an- a
S sm pst beat recip Bvs
‘Mwita and Bhoke beat each other’
Example.2
Marwa akateta Ghati = (Marwa married Ghati)
Ghati akatetwa na Marwa =(Ghati married Marwa)
Marwa na Ghati Bha- ka- tet- an - a
S sm pst marry recip Bvs
‘Marwa and Ghati married each other’
(ii) Passive.
This morpho-lexical morpheme generates a ‘–w-’ which reduces/decreases the number of arguments. It shows that the action is done upon the subject. This process is called Passivization. A manipulative process which makes active sentences into passive sentences. Taylor (1995:206) in Maki Sudo.
In Kikurya
Example.1
Ibhyakörya bhiraihekwa = bhi – ra – ihek -w - a
sm imperf cook pass. Bvs
‘The food is being cooked’
Example 2
Omoghondo ghöraremwa= ghö – ra – rem – w - a
sm imperf cultivate pass. Bvs
‘The farm is being cultivated’
(iii). Stative
This is a morpho-lexical morpheme that shows that the subject is capable of undergoing /or likely to undergo he action. This process is called Stativization. It is realized by the morpheme –ik- and its variant–ek-
In Kikurya
Example 1
Chacha ararema omoghondo (Chacha is cultivating the farm)
Omoghondo gho – ra – rem – ek - a
S sm imperf cultivate stat. Bvs
‘The farm is cultivatable’
Example 2
Mumura araandeka inyarubha ( Mumura is writing a letter)
Inyarubha e - ra – andek – ek - a
S sm imperf write stat. Bvs
‘The letter is writable’
Example 3
Joni araheta (ko)enchera (John is passing on the road)
Enchera e – ra – het – ek - a
S sm impf pass stat. Bvs
‘The road is passable’
3. How many morpho-lexical morphemes may co-occur and in which order? Is the order fixed or variable?
(i) In kurya language up to three (3) morpho-lexical morphemes may co-occur as shown below
Kiswahili =Wa-na-chez-esh-e-an-a
Kikurya
Example When applicative, reciprocal, and causative co-occur, the order must be
Root-Appl-Recop-Caus
1 2 3
bha - ra - hoy - er - an - iy - a
sm imperf play app recip caus. Bvs
‘They are making some people play for each other’
(ii) This order is fixed, as the exchange of positions results to an ill-formed word
(iii) The co-occurrence constraints would be;
(a) When stative is involved only one morpho-lexical morpheme may occur
eg omote gho-ra-ghech-ek-a (a tree is able to be cut)
(b) When passive is involved, only two morpho-lexical morphemes may co-occur
eg a – ra – ghech – er – w – a
sm imperf cut app pass. Bvs
‘Something is being cut for him/her’
(B) (i) The word representing cassava is ekilibwa in singular and ebhilibwa in plural;
eki-libwa and ebhi-libwa.
Therefore libwa is the root morpheme for cassava.
The chief reason being that; after the addition of singular or plural prefixes eki- and ebhi- respectively the part of the word libwa does not change.
(ii) What is the plural prefix for cassava?
In the 2nd and 3rd sentences the word corresponding to an English plural for cassavas is ebhilibwa. Because the root is libwa then the plural prefix is ebhi-
(iii) How is tense expressed in the above data?
In the 1st three sentences the verbs corresponding to an English past tense ‘bought’ are akagula for singular and bhakagula for plural.
The morpheme (prefix) expressing tense is –ka- for past tense.
In the last sentence the English future marker ‘will buy’ corresponds to bhalagula in Subi, So the morpheme (prefix) –la- is used to mark future tense.
iv) What is the root morpheme for the verb buy?
The word ‘buy’ corresponds to the Subi verb ‘akagula’ for singular or ‘bhakagula’ for plural. By using hyphenations it can be analyzed as;
A - ka - gul - a
Bha - ka - gul - a
Sm past buy Bvs
Thus the root morpheme for the verb ‘buy’ is gul-
The final –a being a virtually meaningless vowel, because of the requirement that all Bantu roots and verbal suffixes must end in a vowel. Katamba,F & J. Stonham (2006:111)
(C) (i) What is Pronominalization?
Is the process of representing nouns/NPs with some affixes or morphemes which are realized differently across Bantu languages.
(ii) In Kurya the order with which objects are marked onto the verb is;
One object: a - ka - mö - h - a. {He/she gave him/her}
Sm pst om give Bvs
Two objects: a – ka - chi – mö – h – a {he/she gave him/her some money)
Sm pst Om1 om2 give Bsv
Three objects: a – ka – chi – mö – n – h - er - a {he/she gave him/her some money for me}
Sm pst om1 om2 om3 give appl Bvs
(iii) The order is fixed and hierarchical. The objects cannot exchange the positions as it will result to an
ill- formed word. Eg *a-ka- mo –chi-n- h –er- a
(iv) The order of both animate and inanimate objects in relation to the verb;
When both animate and inanimate objects co-occur in the verb, in Kurya language; the animate object
is closer to the root than its inanimate counterpart which is at the periphery of the root.
In the example below bhi- stands for food {inanimate} and mu- stands for him/her {animate}
a- ka -bhi – mu - ihek -er- a {he/she cooked him/her some food}
sm pst om1 om2 cook
(v) The verb saturation level.
In kurya up to three (3) objects can be appended/cliticized onto the verb as in the example below;
also see (ii) above
a - ka - ke - mo - n - sabh - ir - a
sm pst om1 om2 om3 ask for appl Bvs {'He/she asked him/her for something for me’}
request
REFERENCES
Ackerman,F (1992) Complex Predicates and Morpholexical Relatedness: Locative alteration in
Hungarian. In Sag, Ivan And Szabolesi (eds) Lexical Matters. Stanford, CA:
CSLI Publishers
Katamba,F & J. Stonham (2006) Morphology.2nd Ed. New York:Palgrave MacMillan
Maki S (N/D) Transitivity and Passivization: Object Affectedness as Cognitive Basis of English Passive.
in http//www.flet.keio.ac.jp/~colloq/articles/..
HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN EAST AFRICA
African indigenous education was a lifelong process of learning where by a person progressed through predetermined stages of life of graduation from cradle to grave. Cameroon & Dodd (1970). This implies that African indigenous education was continuous throughout lifetime from childhood to old-age
Mushi (2009) defines African indigenous education as a process of passing among the tribal members and from one generation to another the inherited knowledge, skills, cultural traditions norms and values of the tribe.
In www.eric.ed.gov/../recordDetail. African indigenous education is defined as the native, locally developed form of bringing up the youngsters by the older and more experienced members of the society. Being native is by no means to deny the fact that indigenous learning goals, content, structures and methods have not been enriched, or for that matter, polluted or both by outside influences.
African indigenous education can generally be defined as the form of learning in Africa traditional societies in which knowledge, skills, and attitudes of the tribe, were passed from elders to children, by means of oral instructions and practical activities.
The main characteristics of African indigenous education included the following.
Traditional African indigenous education was community oriented, geared to solving the problems of the community. The instructional activities were therefore, directed towards the social life of the community, so as to prepare the learners to fit into their community.
Kenyatta (1961 in Mushi 2009) holds it that;
It was taught in relation to a ‘concrete’ situation. The boys and girls learnt about birds that were harmful, how they could be controlled, and what birds could be eaten. In the same way they learnt about trees that were good for firewood, building or for propping crops like banana and yams as well as those which resisted ants.
It was illiterate. The learning experiences were made orally and the knowledge was stored in the heads of elders. The instructors were carefully selected from the family or clan. Their task was to impart knowledge, skills and attitudes to the young, informally at the didactic and practical levels. Nyerere (1975) says, “at the didactic level the teaching process took the form of the stories, legends, riddles, and songs; while at the practical level individuals enacted what they had learnt didactically, by imitating and watching what their elders performed”.
It put emphasis on practical learning and the young adult learned by watching, participating and executing what they learnt. The skills like carving, masonry, clay working, cloth making, building canoe making, cooking, and home management were insisted among the children in the community. These were the skills opened to all, as they consisted of the basic skills, knowledge and attitudes that enabled individuals to live and function effectively in their tribe.
The question of learning by doing is very important. The best way to learn sewing is to sew; the best way to learn farming is to farm; the best way to learn cooking is to cook the best way to learn how to teach is to teach and so on. Nyerere (1975 in Mushi 2009)
It was not separated from other spheres of community activity. This implies that it was the whole life of the community and it had no special time of a day or life when it took place. Instead it took place in the entire span of life it can therefore be viewed as a life-long process in which an individual acquired skills, knowledge and values from womb to tomb. Mush (2009) comments that in this case education was essentially part of life and not separated from the societal culture.
It was functional. The knowledge skills and values that were imparted were relevant to the socio-economic activities of an individual. The learners learned the skills that were for immediate and long term activities. Mushi spotlights the Bena society and has the following to say;
In Bena society, the individual who were earmarked for various community roles like guards, leaders or teachers, received training around the chiefs (ntemi) residence. The compulsory subjects comprised fighting, religion, law, history, agriculture and animal husbandry. Upon completion of their training they were appointed as guards, teachers and warriors.(ibid)
It had no paper word-testing and certificates but learners graduated ceremoniously. There were basically no formal exams at the end of a specific level of training, but a learner was considered a graduate when he/she was able to practice what s/he had learnt throughout the period of training. The ceremony was held to mark the completion o training and thus assuming more community responsibilities. This was common especially during what Mushi referred to as ‘coming of age’ ceremonies and ‘the rites of passage’
African indigenous education did no develop in a vacuum, it had its own philosophical bases on which it was built. Having looked at the main characteristics of African indigenous education lets examine its philosophical bases. The following should be considered as philosophical bases for African indigenous education
Preparedness/preparationism. This implies that the role of teaching and learning was to equip boys and girls with the skills appropriate to their gender in preparation for their distinctive roles the society. In most African traditional societies such as Sukuma, Zanaki, Kurya, masai, Nyamwezi most girls were taught how to become good mothers and how to handle their husbands soon after marriage, and boys were prepared to become warriors, manual farmers, good fathers (the heads of the family) and other male dominated occupations.(ibid)
Functionalism. This was another philosophical base in which the knowledge, skills and attitudes imparted were relevant to the social economic activities of an individual. And so education was for utility value. It was provided for immediate induction into real life in the society. Learners learnt by observing, imitating and initiation ceremonies. Mushi has the following to say on it
Indigenous African education was functional, the knowledge, skills and values that were imparted were relevant to the socio-economic activities of the individual … this was evident in the fields of agriculture, building, fishing, iron smelting, canoe making dancing or child rearing.(ibid)
Communalism. In African traditional society learners learned/acquired a common spirit to work and life and that the means of production were owned communally. The education was also an integral part of culture and history. For example children upbringing was a whole community’s role. If for instance a child misbehaved in the absence of his/her parents any adult member of the community was responsible to correct him/her on spot. That implies that even children belonged to the society.
Holisticism/multiple learning. In this philosophical base a learner was required to acquire multiple skills. They were either not allowed to specialize in specific occupation, or a very little room for specialization did exist. When a learner learnt about a certain skill, say farming s/he was obliged to learn all other skills related to farming such as, how to prepare farms, hoeing, food preservation, how to fight with diseases attacking crops and so on. Also he had to learn other skills like, hunting, house building, cookery, and principles required for the wellbeing of an individual, clan and ethnic groups. The learner learnt multiple skills and mastered them all.
Perennialism. This philosophical base ensured that the traditional communities in Africa use education as a necessary tool for preserving the status quo of the tribe. Based on this fact it did not allow the progressive influence of on the mind of young people and so it was viewed as conservative in nature. Learners were viewed as passive recipients and could not contribute anything to the learning process. Mushi says on this that, “criticism about what they were taught was discouraged and knowledge was not to be questioned. Questions seeking clarification on aspects not clearly understood were encouraged” (2009:39)
African indigenous education displayed the following strengths to its recipients and the society at large.
Every member of the community was employed. Children learnt the skills that prepared them to immediately utilize their physical environment for self-employment. The skills acquired by watching, and imitating the elders were immediately put into practical use. And thus the children became productive and useful members in the society.
It was successful in maintaining the socio-economic and cultural structures of the society. The learners were taught among other things, to preserve their own culture and to get rid of external influences. Also the skills like masonry, clay working, carving, cloth making, building canoe making and tinsmithery, were taught in the view of maintaining the socio-economic and cultural heritage of the society.
The learners/recipients acquired communal attitudes rather than individual. From communalism philosophical base point of view, learners were taught to respect the properties of the whole society, and they used their acquired knowledge for service of the society. The Masai moran for example protected the whole society and the properties therein.
Despite its strengths, African indigenous education did not go without limitations. Below are some of the limitations that befell African indigenous education.
It was confined to a particular clan or society and covered that aspect considered being of immediate relevance to them and it did not go beyond the borders of the society. Worse enough the elders who were teachers hardly entertained any challenge. That is what Mushi expresses in this paragraph; “traditional education had a specific body of knowledge to be learnt which never changed, and which concentrated only on the transmission of cultural heritage, i.e. of traditions, values, and norms among the members of the tribe from childhood to adulthood…”
The accumulated knowledge and skills could not be preserved in written form. It lacked proper methods of storing knowledge and relied on the memories of the elders. Because it was not documented it was difficult to spread from one place to another. Mush says “it was not easy to describe, compare, and estimate distance, volume, weight, and size of different objects because figures or letters were unknown to traditional African societies” (ibid).
Intellectual training occupied a very small place in traditional African education. This means that greater emphasis was placed on the ‘concrete’ rather than the ‘abstract’. It ignored other cognitive abilities like reasoning, which although it was imperative, was insufficiently developed. So sometimes, everything happening, be it good or bad was attributed to God’s will.
It is correct to argue that traditional African societies had their own ways of reasoning, but to some people this kind of reasoning could not enable them to imagine alternatives to decision arrived at, a factor that was partly attributed to the emphasis placed on traditions i.e. beliefs and their threats”(ibid)
Learning was lineal; the young people were taught by elders who had experiences in societal life. The young people were not given chance as they were considered to have no experiences that would help them contribute in the learning process; they were required to listen and internalize what they were taught by elders. That limited their creative and innovative mental development, thus leading to slow development of a traditional society.
In traditional society some members were prevented from eating certain types of food, such as eggs, fruits, chicken, fish, and milk. In those societies if the forefathers did not eat such types of foods it was generalized that even the subsequent generations should not eat. Some beliefs were attached to such foods for example if eggs were to be eaten by expectant mothers it was believed that she would give birth to a bald-headed child. This was a big misconception since it was not realistically true.
In traditional societies, women were seen as the source of labour, they did not own means of production neither did they take part in decision making, but men heavily exploited their labour. Even in learning segregation took place as womwn were isolated from men and were supposed to learn skills realated to home management, mid wifery, healthcare weaving and farming. On the other hand men attended to those skills considered irrelevant to women, these included; masonry, building, or fishery.{ibid)
African indigenous education is relevant to the modern education today in the following cases.
African indigenouos education is the basis for the foundation of Education for Self-relience in modern education. During the establishment of ESR in 1967, Nyerere recalled how the traditonal education was relevant to the community life-especially learning by doing, and included it in modern education. Learners pareticiation in learning is highly encouraged by morden educators.
Furthermore, it prepared its recepients for life duties in their societies, likewise modern education is no exceptonal. It prepares the learners to enter the world of work, and more specifically it changes with time. For example the introduction of information and communication technology course in colleges and universities responds to the current demands of information and communication technology, traditional education also changed in response to societal problems, like how to combart the emerging diseases, wild animals, enemies etc.
African indigenouos education has also greately influenced the need for development of more appropriate problem solving educational curriculumand the promotion of life-long education. Some aspects of African indigenouos education have continued to feature in policy and practice of education.
Basically African indigenouos education managed to provide education to all members of the community, althogh it differed from tribe to tribe. With the coming of western education however African indigenouos education was seen inadequate to contribete to modern world’s demads and the need for new skills. The isolationism of African indigenouos education was broken up as societis were now introduced into a larger world of modern knowledge and technology.
REFERENCES
Cameroon, J. and Dodd. W. (1970) Society, Schools and Progress in Tanzania 1919-1970.
London: James Currey
Kenyatta, (1961), Facing Mountain Kenya. The Tribal Life of the Kikuyu. London: Secker
and Warburg Ltd
Mushi PA K. (2009) History of Education in Tanzania. Dar-es-Salaam: Dar-es-Salaam
University Press
Nyerere, J.K(1975)Education Never Ends, the 1969 and 1970 New Years Eve address to
the Nation in NAEAT Adult Education and Development in Tanzania.
Dar-es-Salaam.
Nyerere J.K (1979a) Education for Self Reliance in Hinzen, H and Hundsdorfer, V H
(Eds) Education for Liberation and Development. The Tanzania Experience Hamburg
and Evans
www.eric.ed.gov/../recordDetail visited on 10th Jan 2011
Mushi (2009) defines African indigenous education as a process of passing among the tribal members and from one generation to another the inherited knowledge, skills, cultural traditions norms and values of the tribe.
In www.eric.ed.gov/../recordDetail. African indigenous education is defined as the native, locally developed form of bringing up the youngsters by the older and more experienced members of the society. Being native is by no means to deny the fact that indigenous learning goals, content, structures and methods have not been enriched, or for that matter, polluted or both by outside influences.
African indigenous education can generally be defined as the form of learning in Africa traditional societies in which knowledge, skills, and attitudes of the tribe, were passed from elders to children, by means of oral instructions and practical activities.
The main characteristics of African indigenous education included the following.
Traditional African indigenous education was community oriented, geared to solving the problems of the community. The instructional activities were therefore, directed towards the social life of the community, so as to prepare the learners to fit into their community.
Kenyatta (1961 in Mushi 2009) holds it that;
It was taught in relation to a ‘concrete’ situation. The boys and girls learnt about birds that were harmful, how they could be controlled, and what birds could be eaten. In the same way they learnt about trees that were good for firewood, building or for propping crops like banana and yams as well as those which resisted ants.
It was illiterate. The learning experiences were made orally and the knowledge was stored in the heads of elders. The instructors were carefully selected from the family or clan. Their task was to impart knowledge, skills and attitudes to the young, informally at the didactic and practical levels. Nyerere (1975) says, “at the didactic level the teaching process took the form of the stories, legends, riddles, and songs; while at the practical level individuals enacted what they had learnt didactically, by imitating and watching what their elders performed”.
It put emphasis on practical learning and the young adult learned by watching, participating and executing what they learnt. The skills like carving, masonry, clay working, cloth making, building canoe making, cooking, and home management were insisted among the children in the community. These were the skills opened to all, as they consisted of the basic skills, knowledge and attitudes that enabled individuals to live and function effectively in their tribe.
The question of learning by doing is very important. The best way to learn sewing is to sew; the best way to learn farming is to farm; the best way to learn cooking is to cook the best way to learn how to teach is to teach and so on. Nyerere (1975 in Mushi 2009)
It was not separated from other spheres of community activity. This implies that it was the whole life of the community and it had no special time of a day or life when it took place. Instead it took place in the entire span of life it can therefore be viewed as a life-long process in which an individual acquired skills, knowledge and values from womb to tomb. Mush (2009) comments that in this case education was essentially part of life and not separated from the societal culture.
It was functional. The knowledge skills and values that were imparted were relevant to the socio-economic activities of an individual. The learners learned the skills that were for immediate and long term activities. Mushi spotlights the Bena society and has the following to say;
In Bena society, the individual who were earmarked for various community roles like guards, leaders or teachers, received training around the chiefs (ntemi) residence. The compulsory subjects comprised fighting, religion, law, history, agriculture and animal husbandry. Upon completion of their training they were appointed as guards, teachers and warriors.(ibid)
It had no paper word-testing and certificates but learners graduated ceremoniously. There were basically no formal exams at the end of a specific level of training, but a learner was considered a graduate when he/she was able to practice what s/he had learnt throughout the period of training. The ceremony was held to mark the completion o training and thus assuming more community responsibilities. This was common especially during what Mushi referred to as ‘coming of age’ ceremonies and ‘the rites of passage’
African indigenous education did no develop in a vacuum, it had its own philosophical bases on which it was built. Having looked at the main characteristics of African indigenous education lets examine its philosophical bases. The following should be considered as philosophical bases for African indigenous education
Preparedness/preparationism. This implies that the role of teaching and learning was to equip boys and girls with the skills appropriate to their gender in preparation for their distinctive roles the society. In most African traditional societies such as Sukuma, Zanaki, Kurya, masai, Nyamwezi most girls were taught how to become good mothers and how to handle their husbands soon after marriage, and boys were prepared to become warriors, manual farmers, good fathers (the heads of the family) and other male dominated occupations.(ibid)
Functionalism. This was another philosophical base in which the knowledge, skills and attitudes imparted were relevant to the social economic activities of an individual. And so education was for utility value. It was provided for immediate induction into real life in the society. Learners learnt by observing, imitating and initiation ceremonies. Mushi has the following to say on it
Indigenous African education was functional, the knowledge, skills and values that were imparted were relevant to the socio-economic activities of the individual … this was evident in the fields of agriculture, building, fishing, iron smelting, canoe making dancing or child rearing.(ibid)
Communalism. In African traditional society learners learned/acquired a common spirit to work and life and that the means of production were owned communally. The education was also an integral part of culture and history. For example children upbringing was a whole community’s role. If for instance a child misbehaved in the absence of his/her parents any adult member of the community was responsible to correct him/her on spot. That implies that even children belonged to the society.
Holisticism/multiple learning. In this philosophical base a learner was required to acquire multiple skills. They were either not allowed to specialize in specific occupation, or a very little room for specialization did exist. When a learner learnt about a certain skill, say farming s/he was obliged to learn all other skills related to farming such as, how to prepare farms, hoeing, food preservation, how to fight with diseases attacking crops and so on. Also he had to learn other skills like, hunting, house building, cookery, and principles required for the wellbeing of an individual, clan and ethnic groups. The learner learnt multiple skills and mastered them all.
Perennialism. This philosophical base ensured that the traditional communities in Africa use education as a necessary tool for preserving the status quo of the tribe. Based on this fact it did not allow the progressive influence of on the mind of young people and so it was viewed as conservative in nature. Learners were viewed as passive recipients and could not contribute anything to the learning process. Mushi says on this that, “criticism about what they were taught was discouraged and knowledge was not to be questioned. Questions seeking clarification on aspects not clearly understood were encouraged” (2009:39)
African indigenous education displayed the following strengths to its recipients and the society at large.
Every member of the community was employed. Children learnt the skills that prepared them to immediately utilize their physical environment for self-employment. The skills acquired by watching, and imitating the elders were immediately put into practical use. And thus the children became productive and useful members in the society.
It was successful in maintaining the socio-economic and cultural structures of the society. The learners were taught among other things, to preserve their own culture and to get rid of external influences. Also the skills like masonry, clay working, carving, cloth making, building canoe making and tinsmithery, were taught in the view of maintaining the socio-economic and cultural heritage of the society.
The learners/recipients acquired communal attitudes rather than individual. From communalism philosophical base point of view, learners were taught to respect the properties of the whole society, and they used their acquired knowledge for service of the society. The Masai moran for example protected the whole society and the properties therein.
Despite its strengths, African indigenous education did not go without limitations. Below are some of the limitations that befell African indigenous education.
It was confined to a particular clan or society and covered that aspect considered being of immediate relevance to them and it did not go beyond the borders of the society. Worse enough the elders who were teachers hardly entertained any challenge. That is what Mushi expresses in this paragraph; “traditional education had a specific body of knowledge to be learnt which never changed, and which concentrated only on the transmission of cultural heritage, i.e. of traditions, values, and norms among the members of the tribe from childhood to adulthood…”
The accumulated knowledge and skills could not be preserved in written form. It lacked proper methods of storing knowledge and relied on the memories of the elders. Because it was not documented it was difficult to spread from one place to another. Mush says “it was not easy to describe, compare, and estimate distance, volume, weight, and size of different objects because figures or letters were unknown to traditional African societies” (ibid).
Intellectual training occupied a very small place in traditional African education. This means that greater emphasis was placed on the ‘concrete’ rather than the ‘abstract’. It ignored other cognitive abilities like reasoning, which although it was imperative, was insufficiently developed. So sometimes, everything happening, be it good or bad was attributed to God’s will.
It is correct to argue that traditional African societies had their own ways of reasoning, but to some people this kind of reasoning could not enable them to imagine alternatives to decision arrived at, a factor that was partly attributed to the emphasis placed on traditions i.e. beliefs and their threats”(ibid)
Learning was lineal; the young people were taught by elders who had experiences in societal life. The young people were not given chance as they were considered to have no experiences that would help them contribute in the learning process; they were required to listen and internalize what they were taught by elders. That limited their creative and innovative mental development, thus leading to slow development of a traditional society.
In traditional society some members were prevented from eating certain types of food, such as eggs, fruits, chicken, fish, and milk. In those societies if the forefathers did not eat such types of foods it was generalized that even the subsequent generations should not eat. Some beliefs were attached to such foods for example if eggs were to be eaten by expectant mothers it was believed that she would give birth to a bald-headed child. This was a big misconception since it was not realistically true.
In traditional societies, women were seen as the source of labour, they did not own means of production neither did they take part in decision making, but men heavily exploited their labour. Even in learning segregation took place as womwn were isolated from men and were supposed to learn skills realated to home management, mid wifery, healthcare weaving and farming. On the other hand men attended to those skills considered irrelevant to women, these included; masonry, building, or fishery.{ibid)
African indigenous education is relevant to the modern education today in the following cases.
African indigenouos education is the basis for the foundation of Education for Self-relience in modern education. During the establishment of ESR in 1967, Nyerere recalled how the traditonal education was relevant to the community life-especially learning by doing, and included it in modern education. Learners pareticiation in learning is highly encouraged by morden educators.
Furthermore, it prepared its recepients for life duties in their societies, likewise modern education is no exceptonal. It prepares the learners to enter the world of work, and more specifically it changes with time. For example the introduction of information and communication technology course in colleges and universities responds to the current demands of information and communication technology, traditional education also changed in response to societal problems, like how to combart the emerging diseases, wild animals, enemies etc.
African indigenouos education has also greately influenced the need for development of more appropriate problem solving educational curriculumand the promotion of life-long education. Some aspects of African indigenouos education have continued to feature in policy and practice of education.
Basically African indigenouos education managed to provide education to all members of the community, althogh it differed from tribe to tribe. With the coming of western education however African indigenouos education was seen inadequate to contribete to modern world’s demads and the need for new skills. The isolationism of African indigenouos education was broken up as societis were now introduced into a larger world of modern knowledge and technology.
REFERENCES
Cameroon, J. and Dodd. W. (1970) Society, Schools and Progress in Tanzania 1919-1970.
London: James Currey
Kenyatta, (1961), Facing Mountain Kenya. The Tribal Life of the Kikuyu. London: Secker
and Warburg Ltd
Mushi PA K. (2009) History of Education in Tanzania. Dar-es-Salaam: Dar-es-Salaam
University Press
Nyerere, J.K(1975)Education Never Ends, the 1969 and 1970 New Years Eve address to
the Nation in NAEAT Adult Education and Development in Tanzania.
Dar-es-Salaam.
Nyerere J.K (1979a) Education for Self Reliance in Hinzen, H and Hundsdorfer, V H
(Eds) Education for Liberation and Development. The Tanzania Experience Hamburg
and Evans
www.eric.ed.gov/../recordDetail visited on 10th Jan 2011
A GOOD LANGUAGE LEARNER
OUTLINE
The work surveys the so called characteristics of a good second language learner. Generally it is divided into four parts each having its own importance on its own right.
INTRODUCTION.
Here the general trend of linguistic situation in Tanzania has been clearly traced and spelt out. The conflicting status of both English and Kiswahili as second languages in Tanzania has also been given special attention.
THE MAIN BODY
This being the central part of the discussion, some of what we may term as characteristics of a good second language learner have been discussed in depth. Local Tanzanian examples have been adapted/cited to meet the requirement of the question. The characteristics discussed include:
A good language learner seeks out all opportunities to use the target language.
Is prepared to experiment by taking risks, even if this makes the learner appear foolish.
Possesses a strong reason for learning L2 which may reflect an integrative or an instrumental motivation and also develop a strong task motivation.
Possesses sufficient analytic skills to perceive, categorize and store the linguistic features of language two and also monitor errors.
A good second language learner is patient.
A good language learner will be an adolescent or an adult rather than a young child at least as far as the early stage of grammatical development are concerned.
A good language learner considers extroversion and introversion.
A good second language learner also uses the first language as a learner resource.
A good language learner makes use of learning strategies.
A good L2 learner should be able to respond to the group dynamics of the learning situations so as not to develop negative anxiety and inhibitions.
CONCLUSION.
This part centers on how language learning affects the style of learning, and the understanding that learners of different competence levels learn differently and thus possess at least slight differences.
REFERENCES
Includes the readings used in the completion of this work.
Introduction
A second language or L2 is any language learned after the first language or mother tongue. Weltalmanach (1986)
Second language is also termed as a language that somebody learns to speak well and that they use for work or at school, but that is not the language they learned first. Advanced Learners dictionary. (2006-7th ed)
Generally speaking, a second Language is any language that a person learns, mostly from adolescence and uses it for special purpose like to communicate with people mostly who are not of his/her mother tongue.
Most people do acquire their mother tongue/first language but they need to learn the second language. The learning of second language can never be taken for granted. It is process that involves a learner’s commitment and willingness to learn. It involves learner’s manipulation of the opportunities given to him/her by nature in addition to those created by a learner himself/herself through his/her own efforts.
Unlike L1, second learning can be a lifelong process for many. Although some learners try hard to exercise all the efforts to learn a second language, the truth is, they can never become fully native-like in it, although, with practice considerable fluency can be achieved. In Tanzania, the specific second language is not yet clearly defined because in some cases the learners having their vernaculars as their first languages may learn Kiswahili as a second language while in other cases Kiswahili occupies the position of the mother tongue for some(especially the town dwellers) and therefore English becomes a second language.
However, considering the linguistic variations of English and Kiswahili, those learning Kiswahili as a second language in Tanzania will face little difficulty in learning it, since in a great deal, Bantu languages share the syntactic, morphological, semantic and phonological features with Kiswahili. On the other hand, as they move from Kiswahili to English or more specifically speaking, those learning English as a second language will considerably face more difficulties, if we are to consider the linguistic variations of the two languages (Bantu languages and English)
This paper will chiefly examine the characteristics of a good second language learner paying much attention on the Tanzanian context where both Kiswahili and English are treated as second languages depending on the individual learner or speaker.
Characteristics of a good second language learner
A good language learner seeks out all opportunities to use the target language. A good language learner must seek to use all the opportunities surrounding him/her to learn his or her target language. These include the mass media, language competent speakers around, the target language books and other peers. For example in Tanzania most of the people learn Kiswahili as a second language, while others learn it as a first language and English as L2. Whatever language is involved the good second language learner seeks to learn the language through the opportunities outlined above. A person learning English as a second language in Tanzania may make use of media broadcasting in English like BBC, CNN, KISS FM, Daily News, Capital TV. and the like. Additionally, he/she may make use of the language with people around him/her like secondary school students and college or university peers.
A good L2 learner is prepared to experiment by taking risks, even if this makes the learner appear foolish. When learning a language a learner may sometimes find him/herself at risk of misusing the language and the competent members (speakers) may consider him/her foolish. In Tanzanian context for example, many people have a negative attitude towards those speaking English especially in public places where most speakers speak Swahili. In such a context people consider learner’s practices as showing off. A good language leaner will not consider this but always works out to strive for excellence in the target language.
A good language learner is willing to practice. Language learning requires a lot of exposure to different contexts where the language is used and a lot of practice of various kinds. The good second language learner varies the practices she/he does in ways that are as meaningful as possible. The second language learners in Tanzania have little chances to practice the English they learn in classrooms since even on the school premises, college or university campuses learners are not willing to practice their English. The situation is worse at home where in most cases the vernaculars or Kiswahili are used for communication. But if at all a good language learner exists she/he does not care about this. They always practice provided that all the college mates and schoolmates are assumed to be speaking English.
A good L2 learner should possess a strong reason for learning L2 which may reflect an integrative or an instrumental motivation and also develop a strong task motivation (that is respond positively to the learning tasks chosen or provided.)
The most extensive research into the role of attitude and motivation in second language acquisition has been considered by Gardner and Lambert. Where motivation is concerned, they draw a basic distinction between an integrative and instrumental orientation to L2 learning. The former occurs when the learner wishes to identify with the culture of the L2 group… Instrumental motivation, occurs when the learner’s goals for learning the L2 are functional. For instance learning directed at passing an examination, furthering career opportunities, or facilitating the study of other subjects through the medium of L2 are all examples of instrumental motivation. Ellis (1985)
Language learning is always associated with a purpose for learning that particular language and motivation for learning the language. A good L2 learner will choose the learning style depending on the purpose of learning the language. In Tanzania learners of English as a second language may learn it for academic purpose, travelling abroad and so forth. These reasons will strongly influence their learning styles. For example those learning for academic reasons are strongly motivated to learn so as to pass their exams and if possible to go for their further studies abroad.
A good L2 learner should possess sufficient analytic skills to perceive, categorize and store the linguistic features of L2 and also to monitor errors. Analytic skills involve the ability to visualize, articulate and solve complex problems and concepts and make decisions that make sense based on available information. A good second language learner in Tanzania will make use of dictionary, use punctuations and observance of common errors so as to make their English effective. No any language user may speak with completely error-free sentences but a good language learner will always try to sort out the errors and correct them. For example Kiswahili speakers face difficulties in pronouncing English words since there is no one-to-one correspondence between the two languages. A good second language learner may use dictionaries to correct his pronunciation.
A good second language learner is patient. Realistically speaking, language learning is a long term process. Whenever we learn something new even our native languages, the new learning always comes with the new language. Language learning is domain specific, which means that every individual has the ability only in those areas about which they are able to function. This means that no one may reach all the competence that is possible in any language; first, second or subsequent. “Ambiguity tolerance is a learning style that has been correlated to students’ achievement”. Brown (2000:120). “it allows learners to temporarily disregard some perceived contradictions or confusions, not get frustrated and thus proceed with the learning.” Larson-Freeman & Long (1991:191). It always takes time for one to become competent. In Tanzania English is taught as a subject from standard one to university and is a medium of instructions to secondary and tertiary levels. But most of the learners of English become competent during their high school, college and university years.
A good second language learner will be an adolescent or an adult rather than a young child at least as far as the early stage of grammatical development are concerned. Ellis (1985). The adult language learners differ from young children, in that adult learners learn the language purposely. For example, in Tanzania, mostly secondary school learners, colleges and university learners learn English as a second language purposely. They always have a clear purpose for learning the language specifically for academic purpose, tourism and for studying abroad. These being the case adult learners always connect their learning styles to their purposes for learning a language. It should be remembered that children tend to have fewer domains of language competence than adults, as no one expects that a three-year child will be able to discuss the political situation in Tanzanian context.
Another characteristic of a good second language learner is to consider extroversion and introversion. Sewell (2003). The assumption here is held that extroverts learn the second language quicker than their introvert counterparts. “It is reasonable to suggest that extroversion may facilitate the learning of spoken English, but introverts have more patience and thus may excel in areas of pronunciation, reading and writing” (Brown 2000: 255-6). This is specifically true if we are to consider Tanzanian context. The extroverts who interact with other people who are Swahili/English speakers especially in urban areas, at schools, or colleges, develop more spoken Kiswahili/ English as their 2nd language. On the other hand, the introverts may excel especially in exams where they score quite excellently in Kiswahili/English exams though they may not be good speakers of the languages.
A good second language learner also uses the first language as a learner resource. The learner may use his/her first language as a resource for learning the second language, especially when the two have similar linguistic aspects. But even when the two languages do not possess similar/the same linguistic features still the learner can make a contrastive analysis to notice the areas of similarities and differences. For a good language learner, more emphasis/efforts will be placed on areas that are different so as to master the dissimilarities of the target second language. For Tanzanians, mostly being Bantu language speakers, may use their first language (Kiswahili inclusive) to learn English. For example by knowing that unlike Kiswahili, English words are not pronounced the way they are written, also in some syntactic constructions like Nouns and adjectives, in English adjectives come before nouns while in Kiswahili adjectives come after nouns. These are the areas to work diligently. For example
Kiswahili;
Mvulana mzuri alioa msichana mrembo.
N Adj N Adj
English;
A handsome boy married a beautiful girl.
Adj N Adj N
A good language learner makes use of learning strategies. Ruben (1975:43) uses the term
Learning strategies to mean “The techniques and devices which a learner may use to acquire knowledge” They are of three areas.
The first are meta-cognitive strategies that deal with the awareness and ability to control the process of learning; which include monitoring production, being self aware, being realistic and being organized. The second are cognitive strategies that relate more directly to learning itself and include the acts of memorization and integration. These include mnemonic vocabulary learning. Lastly are the socio-affective strategies that are related to the actual use of language. These include making errors work for them not against them; learning chunks of learning to go beyond their competence, compensation for their weaknesses and avoidance of areas of weakness. Thompson (1982 in Brown 2000:123)
Even the Tanzanian learning any second language may make use of the strategies above. For example it is common to hear Kiswahili speakers uttering English sentences like “don’t disturbance me”, ‘He go to school every day,” They plays football” These are errors that a good second language learner will work for to ensure that his/her sentences in future are error free.
A good L2 learner should be able to respond to the group dynamics of the learning situations so as not to develop negative anxiety and inhibitions. Group dynamics seem to be important in classroom second language acquisition.
Bailey (1983 in Ellis 1985) records in some detail the anxiety and the competitiveness experienced by a number of diarists. “Some classroom learners make overt comparisons of themselves with other learners. In other kinds of comparisons learners match how they think they are progressing against their expectations. Often these comparisons result in emotive responses to language learning experience. Competitiveness may be manifested in a desire to out-do other language learners by shouting answers in class or by racing through examinations to be the first to finish”
If the situations described above exist in group dynamics, some learners may feel anxiety and discouraged in learning the language. But a good language learner responds to these situations and makes use of them in learning. Tanzania for example some learners fear to express themselves because they think their English is poor as compared to their learning peers. Since most of them use Kiswahili, it comes that those who exercise English speaking and make use of group interactions are likely to develop the language successfully.
Conclusion
While it is easy to suggest that someone who has learned to read, write, speak, and listen effectively in English or any other second language in a relatively short time is a good language learner, it is unclear whether someone who has only learned one or two of these skills is also a good second language learner. So the criteria which count someone as a good language learner seem unclear and make comparisons difficult. When we are actually determining if someone is a good language learner, the students’ goals should also be considered. A student of medicine of Muhimbili University or Engineering at UCLAS may never need to speak English but may need to be able to read English textbooks when translations are not available. For such a learner reading comprehension skills may be all that are needed.
Additionally it should be noted that, it may be misleading to believe that the characteristics associated with a good advanced learner would also apply to good beginner learner. For Tanzanians, most of whom learn English specifically for academic purposes, (Excluding few who learn it for tourist activities, travel purposes etc) need to be able to properly utilize the available resources for learning English. While in some domains English receives a relatively negative connotation, good language learners should consider the differing learning situations, goals and levels of students, interactions of differing personalities, styles and strategies.
So a good second language learner may simply be the leaner who has an open mind, the willingness to try new learning strategies and is always learning how to learn. The teacher of such students whether of English or Kiswahili may simply give students a toolbox of styles and strategies that appear to be beneficial along with the ability which work for them. Teachers can approach their students with helpful well designed tasks to help students become better second language learners.
REFERENCES
Advanced Learners Dictionary 6th ed New York. Oxford University Press
Brown, H. D (2000) Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. (4th ed) New York:
Longman
Ellis R (1985) Understanding Second Language Acquisition. London: Oxford University Press
Larson Freeman, D & Long, M (1991) An Introduction to Second Language Acquisition
Research. London: Longman.
Ruben, J (1975) ‘What the good Language Learner Can Teach Us’ TESOL. Quarterly 9:41-51
Sewell, H,D (2003) ‘The Good Language; Learner; Second Language Acquisition’. Question
PG/03/09. PDF online Available
Weltalmanach (1986) ‘Second Language’ in www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/second language
The work surveys the so called characteristics of a good second language learner. Generally it is divided into four parts each having its own importance on its own right.
INTRODUCTION.
Here the general trend of linguistic situation in Tanzania has been clearly traced and spelt out. The conflicting status of both English and Kiswahili as second languages in Tanzania has also been given special attention.
THE MAIN BODY
This being the central part of the discussion, some of what we may term as characteristics of a good second language learner have been discussed in depth. Local Tanzanian examples have been adapted/cited to meet the requirement of the question. The characteristics discussed include:
A good language learner seeks out all opportunities to use the target language.
Is prepared to experiment by taking risks, even if this makes the learner appear foolish.
Possesses a strong reason for learning L2 which may reflect an integrative or an instrumental motivation and also develop a strong task motivation.
Possesses sufficient analytic skills to perceive, categorize and store the linguistic features of language two and also monitor errors.
A good second language learner is patient.
A good language learner will be an adolescent or an adult rather than a young child at least as far as the early stage of grammatical development are concerned.
A good language learner considers extroversion and introversion.
A good second language learner also uses the first language as a learner resource.
A good language learner makes use of learning strategies.
A good L2 learner should be able to respond to the group dynamics of the learning situations so as not to develop negative anxiety and inhibitions.
CONCLUSION.
This part centers on how language learning affects the style of learning, and the understanding that learners of different competence levels learn differently and thus possess at least slight differences.
REFERENCES
Includes the readings used in the completion of this work.
Introduction
A second language or L2 is any language learned after the first language or mother tongue. Weltalmanach (1986)
Second language is also termed as a language that somebody learns to speak well and that they use for work or at school, but that is not the language they learned first. Advanced Learners dictionary. (2006-7th ed)
Generally speaking, a second Language is any language that a person learns, mostly from adolescence and uses it for special purpose like to communicate with people mostly who are not of his/her mother tongue.
Most people do acquire their mother tongue/first language but they need to learn the second language. The learning of second language can never be taken for granted. It is process that involves a learner’s commitment and willingness to learn. It involves learner’s manipulation of the opportunities given to him/her by nature in addition to those created by a learner himself/herself through his/her own efforts.
Unlike L1, second learning can be a lifelong process for many. Although some learners try hard to exercise all the efforts to learn a second language, the truth is, they can never become fully native-like in it, although, with practice considerable fluency can be achieved. In Tanzania, the specific second language is not yet clearly defined because in some cases the learners having their vernaculars as their first languages may learn Kiswahili as a second language while in other cases Kiswahili occupies the position of the mother tongue for some(especially the town dwellers) and therefore English becomes a second language.
However, considering the linguistic variations of English and Kiswahili, those learning Kiswahili as a second language in Tanzania will face little difficulty in learning it, since in a great deal, Bantu languages share the syntactic, morphological, semantic and phonological features with Kiswahili. On the other hand, as they move from Kiswahili to English or more specifically speaking, those learning English as a second language will considerably face more difficulties, if we are to consider the linguistic variations of the two languages (Bantu languages and English)
This paper will chiefly examine the characteristics of a good second language learner paying much attention on the Tanzanian context where both Kiswahili and English are treated as second languages depending on the individual learner or speaker.
Characteristics of a good second language learner
A good language learner seeks out all opportunities to use the target language. A good language learner must seek to use all the opportunities surrounding him/her to learn his or her target language. These include the mass media, language competent speakers around, the target language books and other peers. For example in Tanzania most of the people learn Kiswahili as a second language, while others learn it as a first language and English as L2. Whatever language is involved the good second language learner seeks to learn the language through the opportunities outlined above. A person learning English as a second language in Tanzania may make use of media broadcasting in English like BBC, CNN, KISS FM, Daily News, Capital TV. and the like. Additionally, he/she may make use of the language with people around him/her like secondary school students and college or university peers.
A good L2 learner is prepared to experiment by taking risks, even if this makes the learner appear foolish. When learning a language a learner may sometimes find him/herself at risk of misusing the language and the competent members (speakers) may consider him/her foolish. In Tanzanian context for example, many people have a negative attitude towards those speaking English especially in public places where most speakers speak Swahili. In such a context people consider learner’s practices as showing off. A good language leaner will not consider this but always works out to strive for excellence in the target language.
A good language learner is willing to practice. Language learning requires a lot of exposure to different contexts where the language is used and a lot of practice of various kinds. The good second language learner varies the practices she/he does in ways that are as meaningful as possible. The second language learners in Tanzania have little chances to practice the English they learn in classrooms since even on the school premises, college or university campuses learners are not willing to practice their English. The situation is worse at home where in most cases the vernaculars or Kiswahili are used for communication. But if at all a good language learner exists she/he does not care about this. They always practice provided that all the college mates and schoolmates are assumed to be speaking English.
A good L2 learner should possess a strong reason for learning L2 which may reflect an integrative or an instrumental motivation and also develop a strong task motivation (that is respond positively to the learning tasks chosen or provided.)
The most extensive research into the role of attitude and motivation in second language acquisition has been considered by Gardner and Lambert. Where motivation is concerned, they draw a basic distinction between an integrative and instrumental orientation to L2 learning. The former occurs when the learner wishes to identify with the culture of the L2 group… Instrumental motivation, occurs when the learner’s goals for learning the L2 are functional. For instance learning directed at passing an examination, furthering career opportunities, or facilitating the study of other subjects through the medium of L2 are all examples of instrumental motivation. Ellis (1985)
Language learning is always associated with a purpose for learning that particular language and motivation for learning the language. A good L2 learner will choose the learning style depending on the purpose of learning the language. In Tanzania learners of English as a second language may learn it for academic purpose, travelling abroad and so forth. These reasons will strongly influence their learning styles. For example those learning for academic reasons are strongly motivated to learn so as to pass their exams and if possible to go for their further studies abroad.
A good L2 learner should possess sufficient analytic skills to perceive, categorize and store the linguistic features of L2 and also to monitor errors. Analytic skills involve the ability to visualize, articulate and solve complex problems and concepts and make decisions that make sense based on available information. A good second language learner in Tanzania will make use of dictionary, use punctuations and observance of common errors so as to make their English effective. No any language user may speak with completely error-free sentences but a good language learner will always try to sort out the errors and correct them. For example Kiswahili speakers face difficulties in pronouncing English words since there is no one-to-one correspondence between the two languages. A good second language learner may use dictionaries to correct his pronunciation.
A good second language learner is patient. Realistically speaking, language learning is a long term process. Whenever we learn something new even our native languages, the new learning always comes with the new language. Language learning is domain specific, which means that every individual has the ability only in those areas about which they are able to function. This means that no one may reach all the competence that is possible in any language; first, second or subsequent. “Ambiguity tolerance is a learning style that has been correlated to students’ achievement”. Brown (2000:120). “it allows learners to temporarily disregard some perceived contradictions or confusions, not get frustrated and thus proceed with the learning.” Larson-Freeman & Long (1991:191). It always takes time for one to become competent. In Tanzania English is taught as a subject from standard one to university and is a medium of instructions to secondary and tertiary levels. But most of the learners of English become competent during their high school, college and university years.
A good second language learner will be an adolescent or an adult rather than a young child at least as far as the early stage of grammatical development are concerned. Ellis (1985). The adult language learners differ from young children, in that adult learners learn the language purposely. For example, in Tanzania, mostly secondary school learners, colleges and university learners learn English as a second language purposely. They always have a clear purpose for learning the language specifically for academic purpose, tourism and for studying abroad. These being the case adult learners always connect their learning styles to their purposes for learning a language. It should be remembered that children tend to have fewer domains of language competence than adults, as no one expects that a three-year child will be able to discuss the political situation in Tanzanian context.
Another characteristic of a good second language learner is to consider extroversion and introversion. Sewell (2003). The assumption here is held that extroverts learn the second language quicker than their introvert counterparts. “It is reasonable to suggest that extroversion may facilitate the learning of spoken English, but introverts have more patience and thus may excel in areas of pronunciation, reading and writing” (Brown 2000: 255-6). This is specifically true if we are to consider Tanzanian context. The extroverts who interact with other people who are Swahili/English speakers especially in urban areas, at schools, or colleges, develop more spoken Kiswahili/ English as their 2nd language. On the other hand, the introverts may excel especially in exams where they score quite excellently in Kiswahili/English exams though they may not be good speakers of the languages.
A good second language learner also uses the first language as a learner resource. The learner may use his/her first language as a resource for learning the second language, especially when the two have similar linguistic aspects. But even when the two languages do not possess similar/the same linguistic features still the learner can make a contrastive analysis to notice the areas of similarities and differences. For a good language learner, more emphasis/efforts will be placed on areas that are different so as to master the dissimilarities of the target second language. For Tanzanians, mostly being Bantu language speakers, may use their first language (Kiswahili inclusive) to learn English. For example by knowing that unlike Kiswahili, English words are not pronounced the way they are written, also in some syntactic constructions like Nouns and adjectives, in English adjectives come before nouns while in Kiswahili adjectives come after nouns. These are the areas to work diligently. For example
Kiswahili;
Mvulana mzuri alioa msichana mrembo.
N Adj N Adj
English;
A handsome boy married a beautiful girl.
Adj N Adj N
A good language learner makes use of learning strategies. Ruben (1975:43) uses the term
Learning strategies to mean “The techniques and devices which a learner may use to acquire knowledge” They are of three areas.
The first are meta-cognitive strategies that deal with the awareness and ability to control the process of learning; which include monitoring production, being self aware, being realistic and being organized. The second are cognitive strategies that relate more directly to learning itself and include the acts of memorization and integration. These include mnemonic vocabulary learning. Lastly are the socio-affective strategies that are related to the actual use of language. These include making errors work for them not against them; learning chunks of learning to go beyond their competence, compensation for their weaknesses and avoidance of areas of weakness. Thompson (1982 in Brown 2000:123)
Even the Tanzanian learning any second language may make use of the strategies above. For example it is common to hear Kiswahili speakers uttering English sentences like “don’t disturbance me”, ‘He go to school every day,” They plays football” These are errors that a good second language learner will work for to ensure that his/her sentences in future are error free.
A good L2 learner should be able to respond to the group dynamics of the learning situations so as not to develop negative anxiety and inhibitions. Group dynamics seem to be important in classroom second language acquisition.
Bailey (1983 in Ellis 1985) records in some detail the anxiety and the competitiveness experienced by a number of diarists. “Some classroom learners make overt comparisons of themselves with other learners. In other kinds of comparisons learners match how they think they are progressing against their expectations. Often these comparisons result in emotive responses to language learning experience. Competitiveness may be manifested in a desire to out-do other language learners by shouting answers in class or by racing through examinations to be the first to finish”
If the situations described above exist in group dynamics, some learners may feel anxiety and discouraged in learning the language. But a good language learner responds to these situations and makes use of them in learning. Tanzania for example some learners fear to express themselves because they think their English is poor as compared to their learning peers. Since most of them use Kiswahili, it comes that those who exercise English speaking and make use of group interactions are likely to develop the language successfully.
Conclusion
While it is easy to suggest that someone who has learned to read, write, speak, and listen effectively in English or any other second language in a relatively short time is a good language learner, it is unclear whether someone who has only learned one or two of these skills is also a good second language learner. So the criteria which count someone as a good language learner seem unclear and make comparisons difficult. When we are actually determining if someone is a good language learner, the students’ goals should also be considered. A student of medicine of Muhimbili University or Engineering at UCLAS may never need to speak English but may need to be able to read English textbooks when translations are not available. For such a learner reading comprehension skills may be all that are needed.
Additionally it should be noted that, it may be misleading to believe that the characteristics associated with a good advanced learner would also apply to good beginner learner. For Tanzanians, most of whom learn English specifically for academic purposes, (Excluding few who learn it for tourist activities, travel purposes etc) need to be able to properly utilize the available resources for learning English. While in some domains English receives a relatively negative connotation, good language learners should consider the differing learning situations, goals and levels of students, interactions of differing personalities, styles and strategies.
So a good second language learner may simply be the leaner who has an open mind, the willingness to try new learning strategies and is always learning how to learn. The teacher of such students whether of English or Kiswahili may simply give students a toolbox of styles and strategies that appear to be beneficial along with the ability which work for them. Teachers can approach their students with helpful well designed tasks to help students become better second language learners.
REFERENCES
Advanced Learners Dictionary 6th ed New York. Oxford University Press
Brown, H. D (2000) Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. (4th ed) New York:
Longman
Ellis R (1985) Understanding Second Language Acquisition. London: Oxford University Press
Larson Freeman, D & Long, M (1991) An Introduction to Second Language Acquisition
Research. London: Longman.
Ruben, J (1975) ‘What the good Language Learner Can Teach Us’ TESOL. Quarterly 9:41-51
Sewell, H,D (2003) ‘The Good Language; Learner; Second Language Acquisition’. Question
PG/03/09. PDF online Available
Weltalmanach (1986) ‘Second Language’ in www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/second language
BEHAVIORISM AND COGNITIVISM by Samson Mwita
To what extent do Behaviorists and cognitivists influence classroom learning and practice today.
Behaviorism is a school of psychological thought that rejects the study of the contents of consciousness and focuses on describing and measuring only what is observable either directly or through assessment instruments Lefton (2000)
Behaviorism is also defined as an approach to psychology that emphasizes the study of objectively observable behavior and the role of the environment as a determinant of human and animal behavior .Wade and Tavris (1993)
Generally speaking, behaviorism is a school of thought that emphasizes that learning takes place when a new observable and measurable behavior (response) has been elicited after presenting stimulus.
Cognitivism is a school of psychological thought that studies the overlapping fields of perception, learning, memory and thought with a special emphasis on how people attend to, acquire, transform, store and retrieve knowledge Lefton (2000).
Cognitivism is also defined as an approach to psychology that emphasizes mental processes in perception, memory, language, problem solving and other areas of behavior (Wade and Tavris 1993).
Generally, cognitivism is a school of thought that examines the mental processes of a human mind and how it encodes, processes and retrieves information.
Learning is a relatively permanent change in an organism that occurs as a result of experience in the environment Lefton (2000)
Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior as a result of past experience Hockebury and Hockebury (1997)
Generally, learning can be understood as the process of acquiring new knowledge behaviors, skills, values or preferences or modifying the existing one.
Behaviorists’ school of psychological thought has had an outstanding influence on education today. The prominent figures behind the theory include Watson, J. Bandura A, Pavlov, I. Thorndike E, and Skinner B.F. These have conducted different experiments and have developed different perspectives as far as learning is concerned. This paper will chiefly examine the contributions made by Bandura’s Observational learning, Pavlov’s Classical Conditioning and Skinner’s Operant conditioning.
Briefly speaking, Classical conditioning is the basic learning process that involves, repeatedly paring a neutral stimulus with a response-producing stimulus until the neutral stimulus elicits the same response. Hockebury & Hockebury (1997). Operant conditioning on the other hand is the basic learning process that involves changing the probability of response being repeated by manipulating the consequences of that response. (ibid). While social learning theory is an approach that emphasizes the role of modeling or observational learning in the development of behavior. Berk (1989)
Their perspectives will collectively be discussed as to how they have greatly influenced the classroom learning and practice today in the following views.
Behaviorism has helped teachers in setting behavioral objectives, selection of teaching methods and setting exams to measure observable behaviors. Behaviorists are interested in what the learners will be able to do. This helps the teachers in setting the objectives describing what learners are expected to be able to do at the end of the lesson. So, teachers direct their learning activities towards helping their learners to do as teachers would like to see them doing. Santrock. (2005:291) comments that;
Observational learning also called imitation or modeling is learning that occurs when a person observes and imitates behavior. The capacity to learn by observation eliminates trial-and-error learning. Often observational learning takes less time than operant conditioning.
Behaviorist theory helps the teachers in choosing effective reinforcers. It should be noted that, not all reinforcers have the same reinforcing value to every child. Teachers can then explore what reinforcer works best with which student. In a more precise way, teachers should individualize the use of reinforcers to learners. Santrock observes that;
For one child it (reinforcer) might be praise, for another it might be getting to spend more time in favorite activity for another it might be getting to be a hall monitor for a week and for another it might be getting to surf the internet. (ibid: 290)
Behaviorist theory helps teachers to recognize learners’ goals and help them to achieve these goals. Psychologists believe that much of our behaviors are goal-directed. Teachers therefore need to study the entire behavioral sequences in order to understand why their students engage in particular actions. If we know their goals we can easily help them to reach these goals. This is supported by Schunk (2004) in Santrock who says;
High school students whose goal is to attend a leading college or university study hard in their classes. If we focus only on their study we would miss the purpose of their behavior. The students don’t always study hard because they have been reinforced for studying in the past rather is a means to intermediate goals. (2005:293)
Behaviorist theory helps in classroom management and control. It is our expectation that our learners will sometimes show unexpected behaviors in the classroom during the lesson. Interestingly enough, depending on how the teacher approaches the behavior, determines whether it will extinct or strengthen. Applying the principle of punishment or reinforcement will help in the classroom management. Teachers should be careful in applying any of the above principles. Effectively administered punishment helps to stop bad behaviors as Berk (1989:210) says:
Positive and negative reinforcement are processes that strengthen the behavior. The opposite effect is produced by punishment. Punishment refers to the presentation of an event or stimulus following a behavior that acts to decrease the likelihood of the behaviour being repeated.
The application of reinforcement and rewards helps to raise students` performance. The behaviorists emphasize the use of reinforcement in motivating learners` behaviours. This has been used regularly in our classrooms where learners who get correct responses are reinforced through clapping, praises, smiles, head nodding or sometimes, those who perform well are reinforced during their graduation. This helps very much in raising students’ performance in aspiration of getting rewards. Even those subjects though difficult can get a different but positive altitude.
If two stimuli are repeatedly paired; eventually the neutral stimulus elicits the same reflexive response as the natural stimulus even in the absence of the absence of the natural stimulus. (Berk 1989:119)
Behaviorists emphasize on the immediate provision of reinforcement (feedback). When students sit for a test or examination they should be provided with the feedback as soon as possible. Researchers have found that the reinforcer becomes effective if it immediately follows the behaviour it reinforces. Students are particularly motivated by the word of praise attained now that a university degree that is many years to come. In this, Santrock (2005:286) has the following to say:
As is the case with classical conditioning, learning is more efficient in the operant conditioning when the interval between behaviour and its reinforcement is a few seconds rather than minutes or hours. Also Hockebury (1994) supports this by saying “There are several ways you can enhance the effectiveness of positive reinforcement. Positive reinforcement should ideally be delivered immediately after the preferred behaviour occurs”.
The theory provides the best ways of applying reinforcement (preference of partial reinforcement to continuous reinforcement). Researchers have found that if the behaviour is continuously reinforced, a reinforcer may loose its value. The suggestion is that, the teachers should use partial reinforcement especially in variable ratio and variable interval which are very resistant to extinction. The classroom teacher may therefore provide rewards or reinforcement at unexpected time and ratio to keep the students actively participating. Hockebury and Hockebury (1994:211) say:
The positive reinforcer should initially be given every time the preferred behavior occurs. When the desired behaviour becomes well established gradually reduce the frequency of reinforcement hence try to use the variety of positive reinforcement such as tangible items, praise, spiral privileges, recognition and so on.
Behaviorists show how effectively to apply punishment to enhance learning. If punishment is not effectively administered it may reinforce the undesirable behavior or create aggressive behavior to the recipient. However, psychologists do not completely agree on whether or not, punishment is needed in the process of learning. They propose other alternatives to be used where possible and punishment should be the last resort when other means prove failure. Eron Et al (1974) in Berk (1989:479) observes that:
Research shows that children punishment promotes only momentary compliance, not lasting changes in children’s behavior. Children who are frequently criticized, shouted at, or slapped are likely to display the unacceptable response again as soon as adults are out of sight and they can get easy with it.
Turning to cognitivists’ school of thought, among other things they have developed theories like Multiple Intelligence (Gardner, H), Intelligent Quotient-IQ (Binet A) Stages of Cognitive Development (Piaget J.) and Discovery Learning by Brunner J. Their contribution has chiefly been manifested in different scenarios including the following;
Cognitivism helps the teachers in individualized learning experience or precisely speaking, it calls for acceptance of individual differences. Considering that learners in our classroom today differ significantly in their cognitive ability, teachers are argued to use a variety of learning strategies that will help to reach each learner in his or her own right. Gardner put forward seven different intelligences which signify individual differences in learning.
There are considerable individual differences in almost all complex cognitive activities. Accordingly, theories based on the assumption that every one comprehends texts in the same way are likely to be incorrect. Just and Carpenter (1992) assumed that there are individual differences in the capacity of working memory by which they meant a system used for both storage and processing. Eysrick and Keane (2005)
Cognitivism has helped in the development of learner-centered curriculum. In the classroom today, teachers are advised to use the teaching methods that are learner-centered like discussion, since cognitivists view the learner as the information processor thus learners should be given chances to explore their learning and the teacher acts as facilitator. According to them learners are not tabura lasa or programmed animals. Ormrod (2006:37) asserts by saying;
In addition to co-constructing meaning with adults ,children often talk among themselves to make sense of their experiences .Schools provide an ideal setting in which young learners can toss around ideas and perhaps reach consensus about how best to interpret and understand an issue or problem.
Cognitivism helps classroom teachers to select content based on the cognitive level of learners. Spiral curriculum, or learning from simple to complex basing on Piaget`s stages of cognitive development, learners of different cognitive abilities is recommended. So this will help teachers in selection of content relevant to the cognitive level of learners. Supporting Piaget`s perspective, Ormrod says;
Overtime children’s` schemes are modified with experience and become increasingly integrated with one another. For instance children begin to recognize the hierarchical interrelation of some schemes. They learn that poodles and cocker spaniels are both dogs, that dogs and cats are both animals and so on. Children’s progressively more organized body of knowledge and thought processes allow them to think in increasingly complex and logical way.(2006:25)
Cognitivism has also influenced the current paradigm of discovery learning. This is the most current and acceptable paradigm, which puts the learner at the centre of the learning process. Teachers should not give ready made materials to learners but always help them to develop the cognitive structures they already possess through discovery method as propagated by Bruner J. In supporting this view Ormrod paraphrases Piaget`s assumption on cognitive development stages that;
Children construct knowledge from experiences. Children’s knowledge is not limited to collection of violated pieces of information instead children pull their experiences together into an integrated view of how the world operates. This is sometimes known as constructivism.
Cognitivist theory has helped teachers to guide learners on the way to improve memory retention. As cognitivists concentrate on studying human mind and mental processes they also examine the different ways through which human memory operates. Teachers try to organize their content in a way that it will help learners, keep memory and remember easily. Some of the ways suggested by cognitivists are chunking, rehesal, mnemonic devices, relearning and the like. Santrock (2002) supports the idea thus;
You will remember information better if you consciously organize it while trying to absorb it. Arrange information, rework materials and give it a structure that will help you to remember it. To help more information from working memory to long term memory regularly review what you learn. You will also benefit distributing your learning over a longer period rather than creaming for a test at the last minute. Santrock and Halonen (2002)
Cognitivism has influenced teachers to focus on what learners know and not necessarily what they can do. Teachers in a cognitivist school, focus on developing learners’ ability to think and solve real problems. They do not only give instructions geared at passing examinations and/or tests. Teachers provide guidance; hints and clues that help learner accomplish their tasks on their own. This rhymes with what at times Vygotsky called A Zone of Proximal Development. As Ormrod (2006:39) says
Theorists have given considerable thought to the kinds of assistance that can help children compete challenging tasks and activities. The term scaffolding is often used here. Adults and other more competent individuals provide some form of guidance and structures that enables children to perform tasks in their Zone of Proximal Development.
Cognitivists have also influence the education of exceptional children. As they explore human mind they discover that some children are gifted and talented while others have different levels of mental retardation. The cognitivists have had a great influence in the provision of the special education that meets the needs of these learners depending on the nature of their exceptionality. This also helps teachers to grade students into different areas of specialization as Gardner (1983) observes that:
There is clear evidence that outstanding performances in particular area such as literature, mathematics, science, art, athletics and leadership have roots in specialized skills that first appear in childhood
Generally speaking, although cognitivism emerged as critique to most of behaviorists assumptions, both of the two theories have been very influential in the education system of many countries today. While some teachers still believe on the effectiveness of behaviorism in teaching and learning process, some embrace the cognitivist theory as being effective over behaviorism. However in recent years a new theory has emerged which seems to be more effective learner-centered theory advocating on the learner as the constructor of knowledge. This is known as constructivism. All the three theories need to be encompassed to enhance optimal learning.
REFERENCES
Berk L (1989) Child Development (3rd Ed) London: Allyn and Bacon.
Eysrick M, W and M,T Keane(2005) Cognitive Psychology: A students Handbook (5th ed)
USA: Taylor and Francis
Gardner, H (1983) Frames of Mind. New York: Basic Books
Hockebury, D & Hockebury, S (1994) Psychology. New York: Worth Publishers
Lefton, A (2000) Psychology (7th ed) London: Allyn & Bacon.
Ormrod, J. E (2006) Education Psychology: Developing Learners (5th ed) New Jersey:
Pearson Education, Inc.
Santrock J & Halonen J, A (2002) Your Guide to College Success (2nd ed) Beltmont, CA:
Wadsworth.
Santrock, J .W (2005) Psychology (7th ed) New York. McGraw-Hill.
Wade, C & Tavris C (1993) Psychology (3rd ed) New York: Harper Collins College Publishers
ANALYISIS OF LITERARY DEVICES
A figure of speech is a word or phrase that departs from everyday literal language for the sake of comparison, emphasis, clarity, or freshness. http//www.fictionwriting.about.com
A figure of speech is a specific device or kind of figurative language such as hyperbole, metaphor, personification, simile or understatement. Chin et al (2003)
A figure of speech is also a word or group of words used to give emphasis to an idea or sentiment. Microsoft Encarta (2009)
Generally, a figure of speech is any word, phrase or sentence used in a literary work for special purpose of eliciting emotions in the side of the audience and distinguish a literary text from a non-literary text.
For any work of art to be effective, and to be distinguished from a non-literary work, it is imperative that authors use figures of speech. The figures of speech help in making a literary work very effective and more appealing on the side of the reader/audience. These help the artists to manipulate the language, the way they see fit to deliver their content to their targeted audiences. They occur in the following classification: Figurative comparison; (Metaphor, simile, personification, apostrophe, analogy and allegory). Substitution and Representation; (metonym, Synecdoche, and Symbol). Changes in Degree; (Hyperbole and Litotes). Contradictions, opposition and Juxtaposition; (irony, oxymoron, and paradox).Alan & Joseph (1997). Below are the reasons/importance explaining the rationale of using figures of speech in literature.
Figures of speech are used for emphatic reason or to emphasize a point in a literary work. Not all words will have the same importance in a literary work. When authors want their audience to pay attention to particular words, phrases or sentences, they do so well by using figures of speech. The figures of speech responsible for emphatic purpose include, repetition, rhetorical question or exaggeration (hyperbole). With repetition, the author repeats the words, phrases or sentences to show that the character wants to emphasize a point. For example in Imbuga’s The Successsor.
“CHONDA: Fool! Fool! You little fool! Take her out of my sight! Take her out! Out! Pg 59
Also a rhetorical question may be used for emphatic function as in Ngugi’s A Grain of Wheat pg 62 “why did they want him to lead uhuru celebration? Why not Gikonyo, Warui or one of the forest fighters? Why Mugo? Why? Why?
Figures of speech are also used to make comparison in a literary work. When authors want their readers to easily grasp an idea they usually compare it with something very familiar to them, or which shares the features with the thing being compared with. The authors make use of metaphors, and similes for this comparison. For example in Grain of Wheat a number of similes have been used including the following;
“Such a tall man-his thing is probably as long as donkey’s penis” pg187
“She whimpered and cried like an animal in a cage.” Pg 201.
“…one by one Gikonyo removed her clothes as if performing a ritual in the
wood.” Pg88.
“When he shot them they seemed less like human beings and more like animals”
Figures of speech are used to connect the content of the text with the larger world. Sometimes authors write but readers fail to get a connection with the real world. To combat this, writers make reference to real historical figures, places, or people to make their work vivid. When they do so, they apply a figure of speech known as allusion. Ngugi is one the others who like to use allusion in their works. In most of his works, he would first introduce the history of Kenya, before colonialism, during Mau Mau and after independence. He would also include real memorable historical figures in Kenyan history like Kenyatta, Harry Thuku, Dedan Kimathi, General China, to mention just a few. Example in page 4 of A Grain of Wheat he writes;
Thabai was a big village. When built it had combined a number of ridges: Thabai, Kamandura, Kibingo, and parts of Weru. And in 1963 it had not changed much from the day 1955 when grass grass-thatched roofs and mud walls were hastily collected together”
This is a real historical event that occurred in the history of Kenya.
Figures of speech also help the authors to escape from punishment. One of the roles of literature is to criticize the society. Authors usually examine the misdeeds from their societies and decide to write to condemn them. When the pen of the author touches the ruling class, the writer’s work may be banned or the author’s life may be at stake. To avoid this, authors usually use figures of speech especially to avoid mentioning the names directly. The figures of speech responsible for this purpose include allegory, personification, satire, and symbolism. For example Armah’s symbolic representation of The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born has totally nothing to do with beautiful ladies, but rather it symbolizes that Africa has not yet got uncorrupt leaders. He criticizes his government that, despite the independence that was attained as a result of collective efforts of the mass, and even after the revolution, still the new government continued with its corrupt tendencies as the old one.
Figures of speech are used to express meaning beyond the literal definition of each individual word. Sometimes writers write their works to give the language a new meaning. They use ordinary language but assign it a new meaning. The authors may use irony, symbolism, metaphor, and euphemism to express meanings beyond what the words literally mean. For example in Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People the author did not actually mean that Dr. Stockmann is an Enemy, so the words in it need to be interpreted beyond what they literally suggest.
Figures of speech may be used for Economic purpose. In other words, few words may be used but to represent a lot of things. When writers want to economize the space in their works they will often opt to use figures of speech which represent the larger event/idea. These include metaphor, simile, synecdoche and symbolism. For example when Ngugi in A Grain of Wheat metaphorically refers to Tom as “he was a man-eater walking in the day and night. He was death …”. By saying “he was death” one may attribute all the concepts related to death, like, he was brutal, merciless, cruel, oppressive, murderer and so on.
Figures of speech may be used to organize the text and make it easier to understand. When the author wants to organize ideas, say which have the same level of importance he will use a figure of speech which helps him connect his flow of ideas but also to bring about rhythm when reading. These figures of speech include Parallelism and anaphora. Parallelism is the repetition of the same pattern of words or phrases within a sentence or passage to show that two or more ideas have the same level of importance. Anaphora involves repeating the same words/phrases at the beginning of the neighboring sentences. For example Ngugi in his I Will Marry When I Want. Use both anaphora and Parallelism in the following lines:
Organization is our sword
Organization is our gun
Organization is our shield.
Organization is our strength. Page 116
Figures of speech are used to make contrast between two opposing ideas in a literary work. Writer would sometimes want to show the oppositeness or contradictions arising in his work as a result of, say, characters conflicts, conflicting ideas, or values. They use figures of speech to represent/portray these contradictions. These include paradox, irony, oxymoron, and antithesis. Oxymoron for example is a figure of speech that takes two opposing ideas and makes them sit next to each other. Imbuga has employed this in his The Successor
“At first I saw flood waters of the River of life and death. Pg 38
It is obvious that life and death do not go together as they are opposing phenomena. Another is found in page 39 when he says
“… beware of darkness in light” the fact is that darkness cannot sit where light reins, neither is light where darkness reigns. The presence of one implies automatic absence of the other.
Figures of speech are also used to create suspense to the readers, of a literary work. Suspense helps to keep the readers reading to see what happens at last. The author may create a situation in which one character is ignorant of a situation, but it affects him directly. So readers continue reading to see what happens if the character discovers the truth. This is a kind of irony literary known as dramatic irony. It occurs when a character on stage doesn’t know something that the readers and some characters know. For example in his The Successor, Imbuga creates a situation where the whole community of Masero plus their emperor, Chonda, believed that it was Jandi who impregnated Zira (his cousin). But the reader, and some characters like Sasia, Zira herself, and Oriomra knew that it was Sasia who was responsible for the pregnancy. Jandi is banished following that crime (abomination). He disappears and they all think him dead since he is nowhere to be seen. As readers we know that he is with See Thro, hidden in the shrine. This creates suspense for the reader to see what will happen if they disclose that it wasn’t Jandi who impregnated Zira and also that Jandi I still alive.
Figures of speech also help to avoid banality (boredom, familiarity). In most cases, things which look very familiar or common are boring. Thus human beings decide to do things in an unfamiliar way. Even the artist of literary works, acknowledging this, they decide to colour their works with literary devices so that their audience may not be bored by their works. The artists use, say Metonymy-substituting one thing with another associated to it. For example “we waited for two sunsets” (two days), and hyperbole (over exaggeration) for example. “I hardly saw him at the part since there were billions and billions of people”. A good example is synecdoche (substation of whole for its part) found in Ngugi’s A Grain of Wheat page 206. Where blood has been used to substitute the whole human being.
“blood has been split for this day. Not blood from the ram but from the veins and
skins of our sons and daughters..”
Artists also use figures of speech to show divine worships to their God, gods/goddess. Apostrophe is usually used when addressing the natural powers. An apostrophe refers to addressing an absent person/thing as if present. This is used by characters when praying to their God/gods. A good example of apostrophe is in Ngugi’s A Grain of Wheat page 206. When Kigori leads a prayer.
“Kigori: Let us pray. Lord, open thou our hearts.
Crowrd: And our mouths shall show forth thy praise
Kigori: God of Isaac and Jacob and Abraham, who also created Gikuyu and Mumbi
and gave us, your children, this land of Kenya, we, on this occasion ever to be remembered by all the nations of the earth as the day you delivered your children from Misri, do now ask you to let your tears stream down upon us, for your tears oh Lord are eternal blessings”
Figures of speech are also used to make literature (message) memorable and heighten the emotional effects of words. When artists use repletion of words, phrases, or sentences they make these words memorable as compared to others. The figures used to attain this include repetition itself, parallelism and anaphora. For example is very easy for the reader to remember these words as used in Ngugi’s I Will Marry When I Want. Simply because they are repeated and organized in a way enhancing memory.
Organization is our sword
Organization is our gun
Organization is our shield.
Organization is our strength. Page 116
Figures of speech are used for euphemistic purpose. It is obvious that every natural language has words that can be used publicly and those considered as taboo words meaning that they cannot be used publicly. If then one wants to express a concept involving a taboo word he will opt to use a figure of speech to cover the effect. The figures that are used for euphemistic purpose include euphemism itself, irony and symbolism. For example Ngugi uses Euphemism to describe the act of making love in the following paragraph extracted from A Grain of Wheat. Page 88.
Gikonyo passed his hands through her hair and over her breasts, slowly coaxing and smoothing stillness from her body until she lay limp in his hands. Suddenly Gikonyo found himself suspended in a void, he was near breaking point and as he swooned into the dark depth he heard a moan escape Mumbi’s parted lips. She held him tight together to herself. Their breath was now one.
So basically, figures of speech are effective tools for making literature. They are not used haphazardly, but always artists use them as a means to enhance the effectiveness of their works as well as considering the interests of their audiences. Any work of art that is free of figures of speech is not worth the name. It should be taken as a non-literary work than the opposite of it.
A figure of speech is a specific device or kind of figurative language such as hyperbole, metaphor, personification, simile or understatement. Chin et al (2003)
A figure of speech is also a word or group of words used to give emphasis to an idea or sentiment. Microsoft Encarta (2009)
Generally, a figure of speech is any word, phrase or sentence used in a literary work for special purpose of eliciting emotions in the side of the audience and distinguish a literary text from a non-literary text.
For any work of art to be effective, and to be distinguished from a non-literary work, it is imperative that authors use figures of speech. The figures of speech help in making a literary work very effective and more appealing on the side of the reader/audience. These help the artists to manipulate the language, the way they see fit to deliver their content to their targeted audiences. They occur in the following classification: Figurative comparison; (Metaphor, simile, personification, apostrophe, analogy and allegory). Substitution and Representation; (metonym, Synecdoche, and Symbol). Changes in Degree; (Hyperbole and Litotes). Contradictions, opposition and Juxtaposition; (irony, oxymoron, and paradox).Alan & Joseph (1997). Below are the reasons/importance explaining the rationale of using figures of speech in literature.
Figures of speech are used for emphatic reason or to emphasize a point in a literary work. Not all words will have the same importance in a literary work. When authors want their audience to pay attention to particular words, phrases or sentences, they do so well by using figures of speech. The figures of speech responsible for emphatic purpose include, repetition, rhetorical question or exaggeration (hyperbole). With repetition, the author repeats the words, phrases or sentences to show that the character wants to emphasize a point. For example in Imbuga’s The Successsor.
“CHONDA: Fool! Fool! You little fool! Take her out of my sight! Take her out! Out! Pg 59
Also a rhetorical question may be used for emphatic function as in Ngugi’s A Grain of Wheat pg 62 “why did they want him to lead uhuru celebration? Why not Gikonyo, Warui or one of the forest fighters? Why Mugo? Why? Why?
Figures of speech are also used to make comparison in a literary work. When authors want their readers to easily grasp an idea they usually compare it with something very familiar to them, or which shares the features with the thing being compared with. The authors make use of metaphors, and similes for this comparison. For example in Grain of Wheat a number of similes have been used including the following;
“Such a tall man-his thing is probably as long as donkey’s penis” pg187
“She whimpered and cried like an animal in a cage.” Pg 201.
“…one by one Gikonyo removed her clothes as if performing a ritual in the
wood.” Pg88.
“When he shot them they seemed less like human beings and more like animals”
Figures of speech are used to connect the content of the text with the larger world. Sometimes authors write but readers fail to get a connection with the real world. To combat this, writers make reference to real historical figures, places, or people to make their work vivid. When they do so, they apply a figure of speech known as allusion. Ngugi is one the others who like to use allusion in their works. In most of his works, he would first introduce the history of Kenya, before colonialism, during Mau Mau and after independence. He would also include real memorable historical figures in Kenyan history like Kenyatta, Harry Thuku, Dedan Kimathi, General China, to mention just a few. Example in page 4 of A Grain of Wheat he writes;
Thabai was a big village. When built it had combined a number of ridges: Thabai, Kamandura, Kibingo, and parts of Weru. And in 1963 it had not changed much from the day 1955 when grass grass-thatched roofs and mud walls were hastily collected together”
This is a real historical event that occurred in the history of Kenya.
Figures of speech also help the authors to escape from punishment. One of the roles of literature is to criticize the society. Authors usually examine the misdeeds from their societies and decide to write to condemn them. When the pen of the author touches the ruling class, the writer’s work may be banned or the author’s life may be at stake. To avoid this, authors usually use figures of speech especially to avoid mentioning the names directly. The figures of speech responsible for this purpose include allegory, personification, satire, and symbolism. For example Armah’s symbolic representation of The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born has totally nothing to do with beautiful ladies, but rather it symbolizes that Africa has not yet got uncorrupt leaders. He criticizes his government that, despite the independence that was attained as a result of collective efforts of the mass, and even after the revolution, still the new government continued with its corrupt tendencies as the old one.
Figures of speech are used to express meaning beyond the literal definition of each individual word. Sometimes writers write their works to give the language a new meaning. They use ordinary language but assign it a new meaning. The authors may use irony, symbolism, metaphor, and euphemism to express meanings beyond what the words literally mean. For example in Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People the author did not actually mean that Dr. Stockmann is an Enemy, so the words in it need to be interpreted beyond what they literally suggest.
Figures of speech may be used for Economic purpose. In other words, few words may be used but to represent a lot of things. When writers want to economize the space in their works they will often opt to use figures of speech which represent the larger event/idea. These include metaphor, simile, synecdoche and symbolism. For example when Ngugi in A Grain of Wheat metaphorically refers to Tom as “he was a man-eater walking in the day and night. He was death …”. By saying “he was death” one may attribute all the concepts related to death, like, he was brutal, merciless, cruel, oppressive, murderer and so on.
Figures of speech may be used to organize the text and make it easier to understand. When the author wants to organize ideas, say which have the same level of importance he will use a figure of speech which helps him connect his flow of ideas but also to bring about rhythm when reading. These figures of speech include Parallelism and anaphora. Parallelism is the repetition of the same pattern of words or phrases within a sentence or passage to show that two or more ideas have the same level of importance. Anaphora involves repeating the same words/phrases at the beginning of the neighboring sentences. For example Ngugi in his I Will Marry When I Want. Use both anaphora and Parallelism in the following lines:
Organization is our sword
Organization is our gun
Organization is our shield.
Organization is our strength. Page 116
Figures of speech are used to make contrast between two opposing ideas in a literary work. Writer would sometimes want to show the oppositeness or contradictions arising in his work as a result of, say, characters conflicts, conflicting ideas, or values. They use figures of speech to represent/portray these contradictions. These include paradox, irony, oxymoron, and antithesis. Oxymoron for example is a figure of speech that takes two opposing ideas and makes them sit next to each other. Imbuga has employed this in his The Successor
“At first I saw flood waters of the River of life and death. Pg 38
It is obvious that life and death do not go together as they are opposing phenomena. Another is found in page 39 when he says
“… beware of darkness in light” the fact is that darkness cannot sit where light reins, neither is light where darkness reigns. The presence of one implies automatic absence of the other.
Figures of speech are also used to create suspense to the readers, of a literary work. Suspense helps to keep the readers reading to see what happens at last. The author may create a situation in which one character is ignorant of a situation, but it affects him directly. So readers continue reading to see what happens if the character discovers the truth. This is a kind of irony literary known as dramatic irony. It occurs when a character on stage doesn’t know something that the readers and some characters know. For example in his The Successor, Imbuga creates a situation where the whole community of Masero plus their emperor, Chonda, believed that it was Jandi who impregnated Zira (his cousin). But the reader, and some characters like Sasia, Zira herself, and Oriomra knew that it was Sasia who was responsible for the pregnancy. Jandi is banished following that crime (abomination). He disappears and they all think him dead since he is nowhere to be seen. As readers we know that he is with See Thro, hidden in the shrine. This creates suspense for the reader to see what will happen if they disclose that it wasn’t Jandi who impregnated Zira and also that Jandi I still alive.
Figures of speech also help to avoid banality (boredom, familiarity). In most cases, things which look very familiar or common are boring. Thus human beings decide to do things in an unfamiliar way. Even the artist of literary works, acknowledging this, they decide to colour their works with literary devices so that their audience may not be bored by their works. The artists use, say Metonymy-substituting one thing with another associated to it. For example “we waited for two sunsets” (two days), and hyperbole (over exaggeration) for example. “I hardly saw him at the part since there were billions and billions of people”. A good example is synecdoche (substation of whole for its part) found in Ngugi’s A Grain of Wheat page 206. Where blood has been used to substitute the whole human being.
“blood has been split for this day. Not blood from the ram but from the veins and
skins of our sons and daughters..”
Artists also use figures of speech to show divine worships to their God, gods/goddess. Apostrophe is usually used when addressing the natural powers. An apostrophe refers to addressing an absent person/thing as if present. This is used by characters when praying to their God/gods. A good example of apostrophe is in Ngugi’s A Grain of Wheat page 206. When Kigori leads a prayer.
“Kigori: Let us pray. Lord, open thou our hearts.
Crowrd: And our mouths shall show forth thy praise
Kigori: God of Isaac and Jacob and Abraham, who also created Gikuyu and Mumbi
and gave us, your children, this land of Kenya, we, on this occasion ever to be remembered by all the nations of the earth as the day you delivered your children from Misri, do now ask you to let your tears stream down upon us, for your tears oh Lord are eternal blessings”
Figures of speech are also used to make literature (message) memorable and heighten the emotional effects of words. When artists use repletion of words, phrases, or sentences they make these words memorable as compared to others. The figures used to attain this include repetition itself, parallelism and anaphora. For example is very easy for the reader to remember these words as used in Ngugi’s I Will Marry When I Want. Simply because they are repeated and organized in a way enhancing memory.
Organization is our sword
Organization is our gun
Organization is our shield.
Organization is our strength. Page 116
Figures of speech are used for euphemistic purpose. It is obvious that every natural language has words that can be used publicly and those considered as taboo words meaning that they cannot be used publicly. If then one wants to express a concept involving a taboo word he will opt to use a figure of speech to cover the effect. The figures that are used for euphemistic purpose include euphemism itself, irony and symbolism. For example Ngugi uses Euphemism to describe the act of making love in the following paragraph extracted from A Grain of Wheat. Page 88.
Gikonyo passed his hands through her hair and over her breasts, slowly coaxing and smoothing stillness from her body until she lay limp in his hands. Suddenly Gikonyo found himself suspended in a void, he was near breaking point and as he swooned into the dark depth he heard a moan escape Mumbi’s parted lips. She held him tight together to herself. Their breath was now one.
So basically, figures of speech are effective tools for making literature. They are not used haphazardly, but always artists use them as a means to enhance the effectiveness of their works as well as considering the interests of their audiences. Any work of art that is free of figures of speech is not worth the name. It should be taken as a non-literary work than the opposite of it.
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