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It is believed that understanding the dynamics of classroom communication is essential because how students learn, talk and act in the classroom greatly influences what they learn. The current study therefore aimed at investigating the socio-cultural linguistic aspects influencing learner participation in the learning of English language in selected secondary schools in Kitui Central Sub-County. The study was prompted by the believe that since language is part of culture and learning takes place in a social environment, there is a need to study the socio-cultural linguistic aspects that influence the learning of English language. The objectives of this study were informed by Hymes (1972) Communicative Language Theory approach that promotes the idea that social and cultural knowledge are prerequisite for understanding and using linguistic forms. The researcher adopted a case study research design and purposive simple random sampling techniques was used to get a sample population of 100 students and 10 teachers of English from the target population of 522 students and 40 teachers of English. Questionnaire, interview guides and observation guide were used to collect data. Quantitative data presented an overview while the qualitative data either confirmed or disconfirmed the quantitative data. The key findings of this study revealed that three categories of classroom verbal interaction often used by teachers were teacher talk, student and silence. Teacher reprimanding students, poor pronunciation, overcorrection, fear to be laughed at, demotivating learners and limited vocabulary hinder learner participation. The study concluded that question and answers method should be emphasized since it influences positive learning outcome. The study further concluded that there is a big influence of Sheng outside classroom.

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