IDENTIFYING AND OVERCOMING CHALLENGES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING PRONUNCIATION IN AN EFL CLASS: AN EXPERIENCE FROM CAMEROON

Purpose: There are still gaps in knowledge with regard to reliable research-based information on what works and what does not work in pronunciation teaching. This gap can be filled by increased academic research on this topic, especially from other teachers’ experiences and practices. This paper investigates some factors hindering the English as a Foreign Language learner (EFL) learners’ acquisition of English pronunciation and reviews issues with English pronunciation instruction from a teacher’s perceived challenges. Methodology: The setting that defines the EFL learner is presented in a case study of an institution of Higher learning, Prepavogt in Yaounde. The participants are 51 students who are in the first year of their studies in a Management and Finance department. Data was collected through observation and analyses of audio tape recordings of students’ oral productions as part of a pre-test and post-test TOEFL examination preparation during the 2020/2021 academic year. Textual data representation is favored as the objective was to supplement qualitative statements with some data. Findings: The findings reveal the factors that affect the students ease of learning pronunciation. These emanated from factors such as the novelty in exposure to the practice of phonetics, the influence of mother tongue, and lack of interest. Segmental features; such as vowels, consonants and suprasegmental features like intonation and stress were all identified as posing serious problems that affected intelligibility. From the pre-test to the post-test, observed individual student improvement are indicators that the teaching strategies, coupled with the supporting audio-visual material, were successful in arousing students’ interest, and developing improved pronunciation. Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: With the popular decry of how pronunciation skills training are done in secondary schools, which have been proven to be unhelpful, this study demonstrates that appropriate target and focused teaching with supporting equipment, and teacher motivation is needed to train for effective and intelligible standard pronunciation in English among the Cameroonian EFL learners.

THE MORPHOSYNTACTIC FEATURES AND TENSE ASPECT MARKING IN SAMOR OF BARINGO COUNTY, KENYA. A MORPHO- PHONOSYNTACTIC STUDY

Purpose: The present study focuses on the role of morphosyntactic features in tense marking among the Samor people residing in Baringo County. The desire to study Samor is because this sub- dialect of Tugen has not been studied before. Dialects vary in the way in which TA is marked. This assertion is based on previous research which classified languages and dialects as follows: agglutinating, polysynthetic, fusional and isolating. Since human languages display distinct differences in tense marking, the current study sought to investigate how Samor speakers mark tense. The objective of the study is to examine the various morphosyntactic that mark tense. To achieve the objective of this study, one hundred Samor utterances were used to analyze tense marking. The research targeted Samor speakers from Baringo County. Methodology: Data in form of speeches during diverse ceremonies were collected using tape recordings, interviews and natural observation. The researcher sourced 50% of speeches from tape recordings, 30% from the interviews and 20% from naturalistic observations. The study is anticipated to be a reference point in tense marking in Samor a sub- dialect that has not been studied. The research focused on tense which falls under the verb phrase, this means the other parts of speech were not investigated. The design in this study was cross- sectional case study of a target phenomena i.e. Samor. To investigate how tense is marked, Chomsky’s Feature Checking Theory (FCT) and Hardley’s Grounded Theory (GT) were used as conceptual frameworks. FCT identifies grammatical features in an utterance and checks each feature to ensure grammaticality. On the other hand, GT a theory in qualitative research was responsible for assigning chaotic data labels and categories. The data in this research was analyzed using GT. GT is a methodological framework in analyzing text. Findings: The theory proposes three steps used to analyze data. These steps are open, axial and selective coding. The findings in this research show the unique tense marking strategies used in Samor. The paper found out that Samor is a verb initial sub- dialect and morpho- syntactic features such as tense and aspect are marked in the verbal stem by attaching affixes. Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: The sub- dialect is agglutinating in nature since affixes expressing various features affix to the root verb. These affixes as seen in figure 1 are /ka-, ko-, ki-/ that express immediate past, recent past and distant past accordingly.

HOW COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING METHOD ACTIVATE STUDENTS LEARNING PROCESSES IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN TANZANIA

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to make a thorough assessment of how communicative language teaching method activates student learning process in secondary schools in Tanzania, particularly Arusha district. Methodology: This study employed both qualitative and quantitative approaches under case study design and data were gathered through questionnaires and interviews. Data obtained were analyzed using descriptive and thematic analysis. Findings: Results from the study reveals that, CLT promotes learner’s self-expression abilities using a target language; build learners communicative competences; Create and maintain the interaction between language, learner and the speaker and enhance easy assessment of the learners' practices and development. Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy CLT method is the best approach to be adopted by all teachers on instructing learners’ new language particularly the English language. The scrutiny of this study will help the policymakers to review the curriculum and add utmost CLT activities to be done in and outside the classroom thus enable students to get more time to practice the language.