Misspellings of Swahilized English Loan Words Committed in Kiswahili Functional Writing by Form Four Learners in Public Secondary Schools in Nyamira County, Kenya

Abstract

This study investigated types of misspellings ofSwahilized English loanwords made by form learners in Kiswahili functional writing in public secondary schools in NyamiraCounty, Kenya. This study was guided by Corder’s Error Analysis Theory (1967). A total of 326 participants of equal gender proportion sampled from 8 public secondary schools in Nyamira County were involved in the study. All 326 participants wrote a Kiswahili functional essay that provided data for the study. Descriptive research design was used in carrying out this study.The descriptive statistics (frequencies and percentages) were used in conformity with five stages of erroranalysis asputforward byCorder (1967). The study found that learners committed five categories ofSwahilized Englishloanwords in theirKiswahili functional essays. The misspellings were:preservation (33.3%), addition (30.3 %), substitution (27.1 %) omission (6.2%)and split (3.1%). The study recommends the following: a) special attention be paid to the teaching of preservation, deletion, insertion and substitutionmisspellingsas they relate to therephonologization of English loanwords adapted into Kiswahili b) teachers of Kiswahili language need toemploy instructional methods and media which  enrich learners’ understanding of the process of adapting English loanwords into Kiswahili c)pronunciation and spelling of loanwords be taught concurrently  for they are symbiotic and reinforce each other  d) an English –Kiswahili  borrowings  adaptation  model be designed  by Kiswahili and English phonologists,semanticists and teachers of Kiswahili  to enhance  learners’ understanding of how the process is carried out in relation to the three phonological processes; deletion ,insertion and substitution.