AN ERROR ANALYSIS OF THE ENGLISH LEXI AND STRUCTURE OF STUDENTS’ WAEC COMPSITION A CASE STUDY OF GOVERNMENT SECODNARY SCHOOL KURU NASARAWA STATE

ABSTRACT

This aim of the work is to demonstrate the error students often commit in their written compositions in the West African Examinations Council examination (WAEC), which by extension,  shows their  language  inabilities.  The work  also offers  an analysis  of these errors in the table showing their scores. It finally explains how it affects their result. Error analysts distinguish between errors,  which are systematic,  and mistakes,  which are not. They often seek to develop a typology of errors.  Errors can be classified according to basic type: omissive, additive, substitutive or related to word order. Closely related to this is the classification according to domain,  the breadth of context which the analyst must examine,  and extent,  the breadth of the utterance which must be changed in order to fix the error. Errors may also be classified according to the level of language:  phonological errors, vocabulary or lexical errors, syntactic errors, and so on. They may be assessed according to the degree to which they interfere with communication.  In the study of error analysis of this kind,  the errors identified  are dully classified into lexis and structure.  It not only purviews all kinds of errors associated with lexis and structure but also stated the kind of errors that often occur more than others.  The task,  however,  is by no means an easy one.  This is because  very often classes of errors overlap,  and occasionally  some errors simply do not lend themselves  to a clear cut categorization. However, the West African Examinations  Council (WAEC) marking guide seems to produce a near-perfect idea model  of classification  of the  tremendous  varieties  of errors  found  in  students’ compositions.  The way in which errors are counted or enumerated  affects  directly the score  frequencies,  and  statistics  of errors,  and therefore  the results,  conclusions,  and evaluative  power  of the results.  The  data used  in the  study  is adopted  from the  live examination  scripts of the West African Examinations  Council (WAEC) of which the researcher is an assistant examiner (marker). They were part of the examination scripts he examined in the 2013 May/June WAEC examinations.

CHAPTER  ONE

Introduction

1.1 Background  to the Study

In   a   world   where   English   is   employed    for   both   national   and   international communications,  the  knowledge  of oral  and  written  forms remams  a  great  asset.  In addition,  the contents and requirements  of the NERDC curriculum for English language learning at the senior secondary school level recommend its mastery strongly (Ademola• Adeoye  et al v). This stresses the need for the development  of a rich vocabulary  and acquiring  the skills for using the English  lexis  and structure  with the aim of making students become proficient  in the language.  Edge claims that the problem of correctness in the students’ use of English cannot be ignored ‘because successful results depend on a certain level of accuracy in grammar’  (20).  A study by Lehmann showed that secondary school  students’  language  achievements  were unexpectedly  low  and that the  students themselves were not even aware of how poorly they perform (5).  He blamed this poor level  of performance  on  their  focus  on  oral  communication  at  the  expense  of real grammar work and writing.  It is the experience of Lehmann,  as a teacher of English in a secondary school that there are many students who perform poorly in their examinations in English.  This seems to suggest lack of serious attention in the teaching  of the core language features of lexis and structure.  It is also a common experience to see students who,  on  one  hand  seem  to  know  the  rules  of grammar  but  sill  fail  to  produce grammatically  correct  sentences when speaking  and on the other, sound unnatural  and foreign in their use of English.

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Michael  Lewis,  who  might be  considered  the  founder  of the  ‘Lexical and  Structural Approach’,  claimed  that  there  is  no  direct  relationship  between  the  knowledge  of grammar and writing or speaking (14).  In contrast, the knowledge of formulaic language has been shown by research to have a significant bearing on the natural language.

In addition,  certain grammar rules are practically  impossible  to learn.  Dave Wills cites the grammar of orientation (which includes the notoriously difficult present perfect tense and the use of certain modal verbs as particularly resistant to learning)  (3).  To him,  the only way to grasp their meaning is through continuous exposure and use.

This is why it is possible to see that most authoritative English grammarians do not claim to provide a comprehensive  description of all the grammar, hence the word ‘introduction’ is  often  used  in  their  titles  (for  instance,  Huddleston  and  Pullumes    A  Student’s Introduction to English Grammar and Halliday’s An Introduction to Functional Grammar).

If grammarians and academics of such reputation do not even attempt to address all areas of grammar,  how  do we  expect  students  who  learn the  English  language  in  second language situation to know all the details and aspects of grammar especially as the focus is more on the communication  skills in lieu of real grammatical  studies that have lexis and structure as the core concepts.  But in the form of solution,  one of the fathers of the Communicative   Language  Teaching,  Henry  Widdowson   advocated  using  lexis  and structure as the focal and starting point (95).

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The concepts  ‘lexis’ and ‘structure’ are of importance to language study at every level of educational attainment. They lay a foundation for effective study of the English language, through   a  down-to-earth   and  comprehensive   analysis   (Ibe  V).   Lexis  and  structure constitute  the building  blocks  with  which  we build  grammatical  structures  in  order  to enhance our linguistic competence in language learning. They include the descriptive statements  on the  morphological  and  syntactic  structures  of a  language  (Tomori  1).  If these  descriptive  statements  are  well  applied  in  our  use  of the  language  (writing  or speech),  the target audience or reader will enjoy it with relish.

According  to  Ibe,  a  firm  grasp  of the  concepts,  will  save  the  user  from  the  often experienced  dilemma  most  students  encounter  under  examination  conditions  (VI).  This could  be  why  Ogunsanwo,  et al  include  the  following  areas  of study  into  lexis  and structure: register, word groupings (synonyms, antonyms, homonyms) grammatical structures,  grammatical units,  parts  of speech,  phrases,  clauses and sentence structures (IV-VIII).

Some syllabus designers and English  language textbook  writers share similar views in what constitute lexis and structure in language study. Grant, et al in their Junior English Project for Secondary  Schools  (New Edition) identify lexis as vocabulary ;  structure as sentence structure.

For Oluikpe,  et al,  lexis and structure  are vocabulary building  and language  structure respectively.

The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) groups the following topics under lexis:   synonym,   antonym,   homonym,   and  sentence  structure  under  structure  (JAMB

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Syllabus  289-290).  The  West  African  Examinations  Council  (WAEC)  has  something similar,  which includes:  synonym,  antonym,  idiom, register,  homonym,  spelling,  making of plural,  parts of speech,  and their classifications,  concord,  phrasal verb,  phrase,  clause and sentence  (WAEC  Syllabus   190-193).  If the  aforementioned  areas  are well  learnt, knowing full well that they are the most important items on which sentences are formed (Akudolu & Osakwe 1), students will pass their examinations with relative ease. One can infer this because WAEC tests students that enroll for the examination in these stipulated areas.  If this is true,  a serious attention should therefore,  be given to the concepts (lexis and structure) in teaching and learning at the appropriate levels of educational attainment to enable students to sit for such a standard examination with absolute confidence.

Regrettably, these cardinal elements in the teaching and learning of the English language have been  grossly  misapplied  (Yankson  XIII-XIV).  Owing to the  ‘publish  or perish’ syndrome  that  characterises  the  educational   system  and  the  financial  dividends  it generates, most people dabble in writing without having profound knowledge of the skills (Aka 15). To this end, instead of enhancing knowledge, they have succeeded in spreading ignorance.  This is why Oji posits that ‘as everyone knows,  the standard   of English in Nigeria has fallen rock bottom’  (VI). The main reason for this problem is traceable to the ignorance of lexis and structure.

In the view of Jowitt,  a continuous public opinion was mustered to prevail on the West African Examinations Council to reduce the status of the English language as a subject in the Senior School Certificate Examinations  and the result is the general complaint  that

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the level ofproficiency in the English language within and outside the educational system has been falling, and with it, understandably, the general level of education (VI).

It is hardly necessary  to stress the importance of improving the teaching of lexis  and structure  in  schools  at the present  time.  But  most  of those  who  are  concerned  with educational  and social problems  in Nigeria  today would  agree that in all the states,  a reasonable  standard of attainment  in a common  language such as English  is vital,  not only  in the narrower  field of education  in  school,  but  also  in developing  a sense  of community of ‘belonging together’  across the states of the federation. This could possibly be why Chinua Achebe asserts:

I am convinced that a major  flaw of our political  culture is the inefficient  and half-baked  language in which we conduct our national affairs.  The quality of the English language spoken and written in Nigeria has been falling rapidly and will fall more dramatically in the next few years (qtd. in Eyisi Common Errors  1).

At the moment,  for practical purposes,  in many states of the federation, the most sensible choice of a ‘common language’ is English.  It is, therefore,  in the interest of the children in school and the country as a whole that we should make every effort to ensure that this

‘common tongue’ is efficiently taught (Boadi, Grieve and Nwankwo 2).

Unfortunately,  there  is a great  deal of evidence  to show that the present  standard  of English (grammar) in our schools is not very high,  if one considers examination results. It would seem that the standard is becoming lower rather than improving (Baldeh 34).

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In the opinion of Chuta,  a majority of candidates lack much of the basic knowledge of the English   language   grammar   (lexis   and   structure),   which   are   necessary   for  proper understanding  of the  language,  and  confidence  in  handling  the  questions  (1).  Many  a time,  candidates  could offer  the correct  answers to  questions on lexis and structure  not because they know the syntactical rules involved, but because they are either used to such expressions or they are good at guess work.

While  we  would  not  lay  too  much  stress  on  examination  results  as  a  measure  of attainment,  very often,  they are the only measures we have,  and in any case,  it would be unwise to ignore them completely.  It is disturbing,  therefore,  to see in examiners’ reports on  the performance  of candidates  in  public  examinations,  constant  references  to  such faults as weak  handling  of sentence  structures,  inability to  control  sentences,  errors  of agreement,  unidiomatic  use  of prepositions   (Boadi,  Grieve  and  Nwankwo   2).    This situation is very disturbing.

Lexis and structure have always formed major part of the ‘Use  of English’  syllabus and examination, but there is evidence that candidates tend to tackle questions on them mechanically without knowing the rules governing the concepts (Bamgbose I).

Lexis refers  to  vocabulary  or the  entire  stock  of words  in  a language.  (Ibe  327).  And knowledge   to   a  wide  range   of  vocabulary   enhances   considerably   one’s   ability   to communicate one’s  ideas and to express oneself clearly.

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The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) seeks to test, among other things, the scope of the candidate’s  vocabulary  and his skills to use appropriate words  in a given context. It covers such aspects as the use of terms in various  areas of human endeavour (register),   synonyms, antonyms, homonyms, homophones, polysemy, and idioms (Ogunsanwo et al 113).

On the other hand,  in the study of English grammatical  structure,  we learn how words combine with other words to form larger units (phrases, clauses, and sentences). We also learn the rules that govern the changes that occur in word forms (Ibe 167). With a good knowledge of the grammatical structure in English,  mastery of the language is achieved through:

( i)          ability  to  listen  to  spoken  English  and  read  written  English  with  better comprehension, and

( ii)       ability to speak and write better English.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Over the years,  our bookshelves have been consistently stuffed with several books – but not  many  of these  address  the  problems  annually  encountered  by  candidates  sitting standard external examinations. To make matters worse for these candidates, most books available only ascribe solutions to past examination questions without explanation concerning the areas the students did not do well.

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The  latest reports  released  by the West African  Examinations  Council  (WAEC)  have shown that  six out  of every  eight  candidates  fail the  examination  hence  missing  the opportunity to make credit passes in their results, year-in, year out, some having to retake the  examination  for upward  of four years  or  more.  Candidates  could not  have been passing with approaches that only suggest the answers without stating the reason behind such answers.

And  from what  is experienced  during  coordination,  (WAEC and NECO  pre-marking exercises), not as many as 25% of the candidates get all the answers right. This could be why Chuta comments:

The issue of why many secondary school students and private candidates perform  badly  in the  English  language  examinations  has so  for defied solutions …. Many experts in the field agreed that poor foundation (neglect of grammar) in the subject has something to do with it. Where there was a bad beginning  and equally inadequate final “brushing up” the result has always been catastrophic (1).

This is similar to the Chief Examiners’ Reports of the West African Examination Council for May/June, 2005:

… Some of the candidates who had some material could not organize the material properly. Candidates’  expressions were generally poor and their range of vocabulary so limited.  Grammatical errors such as:  spelling and punctuation  errors,  the misuse of pronouns were common features in the candidates’ essays …  (6).

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Sequel to  all these,  the  following  different  categories  of errors  were  detected  and they formed the nucleus of the problem; they include:

concord errors (subject and verb agreement). spelling errors.

the wrong word order.

treating  idiomatic expressions  in the denotative  sense of the words that constitute them.

problems of collocations (word association). inability to understand  synonyms and antonyms. wrong use of countable and uncountable nouns. the use of wrong prepositions.

association of wrong meanings to phrasal verbs. problems associated  with homophones  and homonyms. ability to  use idioms and understand their different  senses.

As stated earlier,  these formed the problems this research  examined and they are chosen after  taking  into  account  students’   scripts  in  both  essay  and  objective  questions.  The errors frequently revolved around the aforementioned  areas.

Even though the students’ approach to these problems  is discouraging,  some of them feel that since the questions  on lexis and structure  are of minute  segments, especially  in the objective questions,  there is no need to bother so much in mastering the subtleties of their handling.  But  examiners  insist that  questions  can  make  a great  difference  between  one grade of pass and the other (Ibe VII).

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It is legitimate  to speak of errors as variants  where  they are due to wrong  learning,  and are generally  regarded  by  educated  people  as errors (Jowitt  59).  Most  times,  errors are corrected  through  a comparison  with  the  standard  forms  and usage,  and the motive  for such correction  comes from a variety of psychological sources among which is the fear of poor  performance   in  examinations.  But  in  recent   times,  error  analysis  has  been  an important  development   in  English  teaching  and  learning  in  order  to  aid students/candidates  to  resolve  their  doubt  and  that  is  the  focus  of this  work.     Some general  work  may  have  been  done  in the  area  of lexis  and  structure  but  not  much  has been done in examining  the problems  in these areas in such a public  examination  like the West African  Examinations  Council  (WAEC).   And that  is the main  concern  this  study has achieved.

1.3 Purpose of Study

Students  perform  very  poorly  in the  English  language  examination  as  a result  of their ignorance  and  inadequate  background  in the study  of lexis  and structure  of the English language. This  is perhaps  because  of simple  discouragement from the technical  ways  in which the concepts are presented  by writers.  And this is the common reason we hear from most  students.  Many  of them  claimed  to read  regularly  but  such  efforts  usually  end  in fruitless result.

Another  possible  reason   is  that  teachers   may  have  abandoned   the  teaching   of these important  areas  of the  target  language  (English)  (Ibe).  Many  graduates  with  excellent degrees,  do not believe that grammar, punctuation,  spelling and syntax do matter.

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Therefore, this study focuses on those areas that constitute problems for students in their examinations  in lexis and structure, in a non-technical  way and present  a step by step approach in solving them though the recommendations.  The researcher has embarked on a task that provided the candidates with necessary  things that are required  of them to know. The error types are presented in a table in their various groups for quick and easy identification.  This will perhaps reinstate the lost interest and enthusiasm on the students and teachers respectively.

1.4 Significance of the Study

The researcher undertook this study with the confidence that it will render worthwhile assistance to students, English language teachers and curriculum planners.

The  findings  of this  study will provide  students  preparing  for WASSCE  and UTME examinations,  with thorough understanding  the issues involved  in the study of English lexis and structure. It will inform them more fully the areas in English that are associated with lexis and structure.

Since whenever language learning is mentioned,  teaching is also implicated, the findings of the study will also be beneficial to English language teachers.  It will provide the basis for improved teaching  of English  lexis and structure  and expose the recurrent  errors students  make.  This I hope will make teachers  adjust  in order to cover the necessary grounds.

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Curriculum  planners  are not  left out,  information  provided  in the findings of this  study may be utilized in order to know the intellectual need of students in the area of lexis and structure  as well as their errors. They may be built into  syllabuses to ensure that the set objectives are achieved.

1.5 Scope and Delimination of the Study

This research  dwelt  on error  analysis  of lexis  and  structure,  which  are the  essential ingredients for the mastery of the English language.  They (lexis and structure), according to Metcalfe and Astle, are:  ‘The framework on which ideas are hung ….

Messages may be too easily understood ifwe get the fundamentals wrong’ (15-16).

Lexis and structure  are the pillars on which a good knowledge  of the grammar of the English language stands. They assist the learner to learn other facets of English as well as other subjects written in English (Okoye and Umeasiegbu 3).  Whereas words (lexis) are the building blocks, grammar (structure) most importantly conveys the thought.

The research  is limited to these essentials of English grammar,  which are identified  as lexis and structure and the concomitant students’ errors in them.

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