An interlanguage analysis of the syntax of the written English of deaf secondary school students in Kenya

Abstract

This study examined the Syntax of the Written English of Kenyan Deaf Learners (KDL). It adapted lnterlanguage (IL) as its theoretical framework. The study was designed to examine the extent to which Kenyan Sign Language (KSL), among other factors, contributes to the formation of lnterlanguage Syntactic Strings. The data for this study was collected from creative compositions written by Kenyan Deaf Secondary School Learners whose first language is Kenyan Sign Language. All the Interlanguage Syntactic Strings were identified and classified into four categories according to the nature of their occurrence. The identified strings related to the following grammatical categories. a) Noun phrases b) Verb phrases c) Prepositional phrases d) Word order After the description of the syntactic strings, an explanation was provided on the possible causes of their occurrence. It was found out that Kenyan Sign Language, among other factors, contributes to the formation of Interlanguage Syntactic Strings.