Classroom Discourse in a Multilingual Context: The Case of Selected Primary Schools in Chuka Division, Tharaka- Nithi County, Kenya.

Abstract

The sociolinguistic situation in Kenya is triglossic in nature (Schmied, 2012) English is at the top of the rank as the official language. Kiswahili has been in the middle as the co-official and national language. It is also used as the country’s lingua franca.The indigenous languages are at the base of the hierarchy. This paper sought to evaluate whether the language-in-education policy is implemented in the classroom. The study was a case study carried out in Chuka Division, Tharaka-Nithi County, Kenya. The paper establishes that teachers mainly use code- mixing in the classroom and also in official domains. The findings in this paper contribute to scholarly literature in Sociolinguistics and are of great benefit to curriculum developers in the ministry of education in Kenya.

Keywords: Language of Instruction (LOI), mother tongue (MT), Policy Implementation, Language –in –Education Policy