The acquisition of English articles as discourse-internal linguistic devices by Grade 1 isiXhosa L1 learners with English as LOLT

Abstract

Texture in narratives is important and grows with an increase in age of a child (Tolchinsky 2004: 237). Furthermore, the development of discourse-internal linguistic devices takes place between the ages of four and nine as part of later developing child language skills (Tolchinsky 2004: 237). These devices are maintained by the development of, amongst others, constructions containing articles. Articles aid the introduction of an object or character in a narrative and with the unambiguous referral to this object or character (by means of definite, indefinite, endophoric and exophoric reference) further on in the discourse or narrative. This study aimed to ascertain how well Grade 1 isiXhosa mother tongue speakers from a low socio-economic status (SES) background with English as their language of learning and teaching (LOLT) perform at the beginning and the end of Grade 1 on article comprehension and production tasks. The isiXhosa first language speakers (n = 30) with English as the LOLT were tested twice (at the start of their Grade 1 year, when the youngest participant was 6 years 0 months and at the end of the year, when the oldest participant was 8 years 2 months) on the comprehension and production of articles by means of the Receptive and Expressive Activities for Language Therapy (REALt) (Southwood & van Dulm 2012a). The study found that the learners had a better grasp of the comprehension of articles in terms of Rule 1 (the general-general subtype) and Rule 1b (the general-specific subtype) at the end of Grade 1 than at the beginning of Grade 1. However, only the development for the general-specific subtype was significant (p = 0.0001), and comprehension of neither of the two subtypes had been mastered by the group as a whole by the end of Grade 1. In terms of the production of articles for Rule 1, there was no growth and no mastery, while for Rule 2, neither the decrease in scores for the part-whole subtype nor the increase for the whole-part subtype was statistically significant, with no mastery by the end of Grade 1. Thus, the learners mastered neither the comprehension nor the production of all subtypes of article distinctions. Such low levels of comprehension and production of articles could negatively affect their comprehension of curriculum material and their ability to express themselves clearly in their LOLT, which could indicate that additional assistance with the acquisition of articles by non-first language (L1) learners of English with English as LOLT would be beneficial.