Learners' acquisition of English vocabulary: Challenges and implications for classroom teaching practice (Kenya)

Abstract

The Kenyan learner of English acquires his or her vocabulary without overt structured instruction. The learning of vocabulary is a continuous process, through listening, speaking, reading, and writing activities. The lexicon to be learned, therefore, depends on the learner. What the syllabus implies is that the Kenyan learner of English is capable of acquiring on his or her own an English vocabulary of the ideal depth and breadth. The argument in this research is that this may not be the case. The research therefore seeks to investigate what English lexical items the Kenyan learner acquired against such a pedagogic background with the aim of arguing for different lexical pedagogy. This research observes that learners display difficulties in the acquisition and use of vocabu-lary. The research mainly places focus on the use of synonym interchangeability and synonym substitution.