A MORPHO-SYNTACTIC ANALYSIS OF SHORT FORM ERROR IN FORM THREE SECONDARY ENGLISH COMPOSITIONS: A CASE OF KAKAMEGA CENTRAL SUB-COUNTY, KENYA

The study explores the error analysis of linguistic errors attributed to short forms in form three written English compositions at secondary school level within Kakamega Central Sub-County, Kenya. The infiltration of errors attributed to short forms in written English compositions has been a major concern for educational stakeholders and examiners of English paper three. Paper three is one and the last of the three papers of English set in the national examinations at the secondary school level. This study therefore aims to investigate the influence of social networking on short forms on learners’ written English compositions; specifically learners in form three in Kakamega Central Sub- County. Error of analysis theory is adopted as it not only identifies but it explains why errors are made. Additionally, the theory of constructivism is used in this study as it looks at the way a learner learns. Constructivists believe that the learner learns best when he/she is actively engaged. The study was guided by the descriptive survey design. The study's target population consisted of 116 teachers of English and 28,350 learners selected from 28 secondary schools. Simple random sampling was used to select a sample size of 90 teachers of English and 394 learners while stratified simple random sampling was used to select 9 schools from the 28 secondary schools. The researcher used questionnaires, interviews, and document analysis for data collection. Study findings showed that the most common error among the form threes written English compositions is shortening, contraction, number and letter homophone. Study findings showed that that there are numerous linguistic short form errors among the form three written compositions of which many respondents agree with these statements. However, it is also clear that students also use abbreviations and non-standard spellings and majority of the respondents agree that short forms have a negative influence on written English compositions. In conclusion most school should have punitive measure in order to punish student that have mobile phones in school as most students will always use short forms in writing SMS and will duplicate them in written English composition. The suggested remedies to the effect of short form errors in written English compositions are frequent practice, extensive reading, sensitization, exposure, and heavy penalties to those found using short forms in written work. The findings of this research provides insights to policy makers and stakeholders in the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology in finding recommendation that would help to remedy the fate of Standard English.