Emerging language trends and the intellectually challenged youth in Kenya

Abstract

Educating the intellectually challenged (I.C) youth has been a great challenge in Kenya over the years. The emergence of several forms of youth languages has made it even more challenging. Just like other regular youth, the I.C youth find themselves caged into the euphoria of emerging languages like Sheng’. Unfortunately, most of them are not even able to make sense out of the language they use due to their mental incapability. The study sought to find out what causes the I.C youth get carried away with emerging youth languages and how these languages affected their education, either positively or negatively. The study utilized the social theory of language by Herbert Blumer (1969). The theory posits that it is not true that the full expanse of society, in any human society, is but an expression of pre-established forms of joint action. New situations are constantly arising within the scope of group life that are problematic and for which existing rules are inadequate. These new situations constantly arising bring about changes in all spheres of society, language being one of them. The study was carried out in Kiambu County. It targeted I.C youth in special schools located in urban centres. Five boys and five girls of between 14-20 years were sampled purposively. Two teachers of the I.C youth are also sampled purposively. This enables the researcher to get respondents who could give required data. Interview guide was used to collect data from all the respondents. Data was analyzed qualitatively through description and explanation in prose.