CHAPTER ONE

Introduction

Background of the Study

Language is an interesting phenomenon that has been bestowed on man. It is a means by which
man expresses his ideas and gives meaning to his existence. According to Daramola (2004:23),
‘’Language does not exist like an organism, but occurs.’’ This implies that language occurs, functions
and is put to work with the whole existence of man. Osisanwo (2003) describes language as an
instrument of communication among human beings. In any human society, language performs
transactional, interactional and educational functions. Language also occupies an important place in
any educational system. It is therefore the nucleus of any course of study (Ige, 2000).

English language is one of the major languages of the world. English language like other languages
is used by man in its spoken and written forms generally to communicate emotions, desires, feelings
and experiences to another. English language is a legacy which was bequeathed to us by the former
colonial masters; the British. The main purpose during the colonial era was to train people who could
communicate in English language and thereby help to facilitate their commercial evangelization and
colonial intentions. Otagburuaga (2002) noted that the teaching and learning of English language
dates back to early days of European trading expedition, British colonization efforts and the
introduction of Christian and western education by the early Christians. Nigeria being a multilingual
nation, there was no need for a common language. The English language functions in various societal
situations: it functions as language of the government, business, commerce, education, the mass
media, in creative arts and literature as the most popular language for novels. This necessitated the
entrenchment of English language in Nigeria. Since then, it has become our second language and is
used as the official language or language of administration, instruction, commerce, and industry, civil
service, police and armed forces, a medium of transmitting knowledge in the field of technology,
medicine, law and other professions. It is essential that these functions are aptly corroborated by
Adeyanju(2002:67) who states that the English language in Nigeria has for long championed the
course of human cooperation by performing effectively all the above functions. Confirming this,
Otagburuagu (2002) states that the Nigerian national language dilemma makes it necessary that the
English language is used for inter-ethnic communication in Nigeria. English has therefore, facilitated
contact between people of diverse language backgrounds. It is therefore, a means of establishing
human relationship; that is human interaction. Azuike (2001) lends credence to the above when he
states that the English language makes it possible for ‘’Nigerians to share common hopes,
aspirations, fears, etc. Thus, by the use of English, Nigerian nationals can react to the happenings in
their environment in the way that is meaningful to them regardless of their ethnic background.’’ So,
in Nigeria, the English language is the medium of communication and the binding force in the
Nigerian society.

The first education ordinance of 1882 recognized only the English language as language of
instruction. Since then, the language has been ‘’the barometer with which the equality, efficiency
and effectiveness of our school curricula are measured (Eyisi 2005). Poor performance in the
language leads to poor performance in other subjects. The new National Policy on Education, section
four and five, does not only recommend the English language as the language of instruction from the
fourth year of primary education, it is also a compulsory subject in secondary and tertiary levels of
education in Nigeria. Hence, a credit pass in English at senior secondary certificate or general
certificate O’level examination is a prerequisite for admission into various tertiary institutions in the
country. Ufomata (2005) re-emphasized that in education, English is introduced as a core subject
from the first year in primary schools and used as a medium of instruction from primary four through
secondary and tertiary education. As a result, the teaching and learning of the English language has
been on the increase. It is worth knowing that because English language in Nigeria is a second
language which is acquired after the mother tongue, there are bound to be peculiarities in the
syntactic, lexical and semantic levels of language use. This is a consequence of two languages, first
(that is Nigerian languages) and the second (that is English) exhibit a lot of structural differences.
Consequently, most Nigerian learners and users of English face many difficulties.

The English language is a core subject and grammar which is an important aspect for it is
concerned primarily with developing the control of language structures as a basis for effective
communication. English language is very much controlled, conditioned, and regulated by grammar.
Grammar in its simplest sense is ‘’the study of how a language works’’ (Charpman 2000). What this
means specifically is that grammar is the study of the systems and patterns which operate in a
language to give meaning to an utterance. These acceptable systems and patterns are believed to
constitute the rules of language. These rules govern the sounds, words, sentences, and other
elements, as well as their combination and interpretation. Grammar lays the groundwork for
effective communication, just as an improperly configured telephone wire can be static during a
phone conversation, improper grammar can likewise affect the meaning and clarity of an intended
message. In the view of David Crystal (2004), grammar is the structural foundation of an individual’s
ability to express his ideas. It can foster precision, detect ambiguity and exploit the richness of
expression available in English. The science of grammar teaches us how language is spoken and
written correctly and effectively. As far as English language is concerned, grammar has greater
importance and significance in practical life. Unless we have mastered grammar, we do not or cannot
speak or write English language because it is entirely based on grammar. Grammar is glue that holds
the pieces of language together. If the language is unclear and the message is meaningless, it can be
attributed to incorrect grammar.

The introduction of grammatical analysis by the West African Examination Council (WAEC) is
yet another evidence of the importance of grammar in the study of English language. This is why
students’ knowledge is tested on grammar in almost all the aspects of the English language. Essay
writing for instance, is grouped into a number of well-defined aspects with a maximum mark for
each. These include: content, organization, expression and mechanical accuracy. Under mechanical
accuracy, the main categories which the examiner indicates with rings include: error in grammatical
structure, for example ‘They come yesterday’, ‘She have pen’. Punctuation errors for example ‘Obi
the secretary is here’. Spelling errors for example ‘but’ for ‘both’, ‘nice’ for ‘niece’. The omission of an
essential sentence element, example subject, predicate, complement, wrong tense, misuse of modal
operators (may/might, can/could, etc) misuse or omission of articles.

In comprehension, marks are deducted for any grammatical errors for scoring point. In
summary writing, there is also the penalty of deducting mark for any grammatical errors in each
correct answer. In lexis and structure zero is awarded for any wrong choice of option (WAEC marking
guide 2011). This shows that grammar is an important aspect of the English language and no doubt
equips one greatly to have a firm grasp and command of the English language.

Learning the basics of English grammar is a worthwhile endeavour which helps the second
language speaker or learner to eliminate errors. There is no doubt that in the course of learning a
second language, learners are bound to commit errors. This is due to the fact that learning a second
and indeed a foreign one entails a lot of difficulties. These difficulties have been traced to a number
of factors. The issue here is not to identify why learners have difficulties in learning a second
language rather we are concerned with the types of errors made by learners in grammar in the
senior secondary schools.

Error according to Anasiudu (2001) is a systematic deviation from the accepted rules of a target
language by a non-native speaker. He observes that it is very unrealistic to reckon on language
learning without error. He adds that errors are bound to occur in one form or another and to varying
degree of frequency in the cause of language learning. Brown (2000) defines errors as noticeable
deviation from the adult grammar of a native speaker which also reflects the competence of the
learner. Error is also defined as a gross deviation from the norm or convention of the language and
this could lead to a breakdown in communication (Njoku and Izuagba, 2001:76). Ammar and Spada
(2006), consider errors to be caused by insufficient level of competence

Statement of the Problem

The English language is Nigeria’s lingua franca. It is the medium through which Nigerians
interact with the outside world. It is also a core subject in Nigerian secondary schools. The influence
of English language is felt even at the domestic level as the language of everyday communication in
homes and among the diverse ethnic groups that make up the country. English grammar is an
important part of the English language. However, the teaching and learning of English grammar has
been faced with a lot of challenges which have led to the poor performance of students in the
English language. One of these challenges is the interference of the mother tongue on the target
language (English language) by the students. The students having learnt the Igbo language as their
mother tongue before learning the English language as Nigeria’s official language tend to transfer the
grammatical rules of the first language already learnt to their learning and writing of English. Such
erroneous and negative transfer of grammatical rules from Igbo to the English language without
proper reference to their background would culminate to wrong communication of meaning leading
to the subsequent misunderstanding of the desired message. Other challenges are: dearth of
sufficiently qualified English teachers, insufficient knowledge of the basic rules in grammar by the
students, insufficient teaching materials, poor teaching techniques, and poor learning environment.
Eyisi(2005 ) affirms that: …although the available position of English in the national life is waxing
stronger than it has been, the spoken and written quality of the language in Nigeria, as perceived by
the expert judges have deteriorated to a drastic level.

The problem of this study is to analyse the grammatical errors in written English exercises in
senior secondary schools in Enugu education zone, Enugu state.

Purpose of the Study

 The main purpose of this study is to analyze the errors made by senior secondary school
students in English grammar in Enugu Education zone in Enugu state.

Specifically, the study intends to:

1) Find out the types of errors made by senior secondary school students in English language in
Senior School Certificate Examination.

2) Determine the extent of errors committed by male and female students.

3) Find out the gender that commits more errors and the types of errors they commit most.

Significance of the Study

This study has both theoretical and practical significance. Theoretically, this study will be
based on cognitive theory because of its assumption that errors provide evidence about the nature
of the learning process of the second language learner. Analysis of errors has two objectives: one is
theoretical and the other is applied. The theoretical object serves to elucidate what and how a
learner learns when he studies a second language. The applied object serves to enable a learner to
learn more efficiently by exploiting our knowledge of his dialect for pedagogical purposes.

Practically, the significance of this study lies in the favourable contributions it will make
towards the effective teaching and learning processes. The study is expected to be of great
significance to many, like the learners, teachers, examination bodies, and the curriculum planners. It
analyzed grammatical errors and their types and also classified them. This analysis of errors in
written English grammar would go a long way in redirecting both teachers of the English language in
secondary schools, as well as curriculum planners in their curriculum planning in sequencing
grammatical items according to levels of difficulties. The analysis is also significant because it took
cognizance of the possible interference of other languages already acquired (mother tongue
interference) by English learners, through second language acquisition and learning theories and
practical experience while redirecting English teachers on the best approaches or methods of
teaching English grammar. The curriculum planners would be advised on the appropriate curriculum
adaptation that could make for improved methods of teaching English grammar and subsequently
improve students’ performance in written English grammar in particular. The concern of the study is
to identify and analyse students’ areas of strength and weakness, make recommendations for
improvement of teaching and learning of the English language. Knowledge of the difficult areas of
the learners would help to direct teachers’ attention on these areas, so that they might devote
special care and emphasis on his language teaching to overcome and possibly avoid such predicted
difficulties.

The study is equally significant as such examination bodies such as SSCE, NECO, JAMB and
GCE will find it useful I the planning and validation of examination questions especially for secondary
school students.

Scope of the Study

 This study is limited to the senior secondary school students in the government secondary
schools in the three local government areas which make up the Enugu Education Zone of Enugu
state. The local government areas are: .The content scope of this study is limited to
analyzing the errors committed in written English grammar by senior secondary school students
namely: spelling, concord, adjectival, verb-conjugation and article errors. This study is set out to
collate and analyse these grammatical errors with view to finding out the frequency of their
occurrence and to determine which gender commits more of what errors than the other.

Research Questions

The following research questions will guide the study:

1) What kinds of errors do the senior secondary school students in Enugu Education zone make
in written English?

2) What is the extent of difference between errors committed by male and female senior
secondary students in English?

Research Hypotheses

1)