COMPETENCE OF ESL STUDENTS IN GRAMMATICAL STRUCTURES

Ambrose Ochigbo Adaje, Patience Ochanya Onekutu

Abstract


Knowledge of basic elements of English grammar facilitates communicative competence. Grammatical structure, therefore, constitutes a main component of English language study at all school levels in Nigeria. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the grammatical competence of senior secondary school three students as candidates of senior school certificate examination (SSCE). The study subjects were some one hundred regular senior secondary school certificate examination (SSCE) candidates in Makurdi town in central Nigeria. The test instrument comprises of thirty structural items adopted from a particular past SSCE English language paper 2 of West African Examination Council (WAEC). The data were analyzed with percentage and frequency statistics. The results of the data analysis show that the students are particularly weak in question tags, phrasal verbs, subject-verb concord, modal meanings, subjunctive mood, tense backshift, personal pronoun objective case, correlative conjunction and compound noun plurals. These deficiencies affect their communication in English and invariably their performance in senior school certificate English examination. It is therefore recommended that students at this level should be taught basic elements of grammar to aid their proficiency in communication.

 

Article visualizations:

Hit counter

DOI

Keywords


competence, grammatical structures, Nigerian ESL students

Full Text:

PDF

References


Asiyanbola, A. A. (2005). Grammar as a Tool of Language Literacy: An Evaluation of Three Nigerian Senior Secondary School Course Books. Proceedings of the 22nd Annual Conference of English Scholars Association of Nigeria.

Awopetu, E. O., B. B. Adeyemi, J. O. Salami and S. A. Oyeleke (2018). Communicative English for Primary Schools, Books 1-6. Sango- Ota, Nigeria: Melrose Books and Publishing Limited

Azar, Betty Schrampfer (1999). Fundamentals of English grammar. New York: Pearson Education Limited.

Alufohai Peace John (2015). Grammatical errors in written composition of junior secondary school students in Owan West Local Government Area of Edo State, Nigeria. International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education .and Development, April, Vol. 5. No. 2

Banjo, L. Ayo and J. O. Bisong (2006). Developmental English. Ibadan: Spectrum Books Limited.

Biber, Douglas, Susan Conrad and Geoffrey Leech (2003). Longman student grammar of spoken and written English. England: Pearson Education Limited

Bulus Wayar & Aminu Saleh (2016). An analysis of the causes of English grammatical errors in communicative genre: A case study of Mathematics students at Gombe State University, Nigeria. Nigeria Journal of Educational Research Review, Vol. 4(5), 45-53.

Carter, Ronald and Michael McCarthy (2006) Cambridge grammar of English. Cambridge: Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Close, R. A. (1974). A reference grammar for students of English. England: Longman.

Cowie, A. P. and Mackin, R. (1993). Oxford dictionary of phrasal verbs. New York: Oxford University Press.

Crystal, David and Derek Davy (1969). Investigating English Style. London: Longman

Debala, P. K. (2003) The Importance of Grammar in English Language Teaching: A Reassessment. Language in India, 13(5).

Dehe, Nicole (2002) Particle Verbs in English: Syntax, Information Structure and Intonation. Amsterdam: John Benjamin’s Publishing Company

Ellis, R. (2006). The effects of form-focused instruction on L2 acquisition. AILA Review, 19 (1),18-41

Errey, Matt (2007). 1000 Phrasal Verbs in Context. www.tefgames,com

Foley, Mark and Diane Hall (2003). Longman advanced learners’ grammar. England: Pearson Education Limited.

Grant, N.J.H, S. Nnamonu, and D. Jowitt (2011). English Project, Books1-6. Edinburgh: Pearson Education Limited.

Greenbaum, Sidney and Gerald Nelson (2002). An introduction to English Grammar. Edinurgh: Pearson Education Limited.

Hashemi, Louise and Barbara Thomson (2003). Cambridge grammar for first certificate. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Huddleston, Rodney and Geoffrey K. Pullum (2007). A student’s introduction to English Grammar. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Huddleston, Rodney D. and Geoffrey K. Pullum (2012). Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Leech, G, M. Deuchar and R. Hoogenraad (1986). English Grammar Today. London: Macmillan Education.

Leech, N. Geoffrey. (1989). Meaning and the verb English. London: Longman.

Lest, Mark (1990). Grammar in the classroom. New York: Macmillan

Martin Hewings (2013). Advanced grammar in use. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Nwigwe, N. V. & Izuagha, A. C. (2017). An analysis of the grammatical errors of Igbo-speaking graduates’ written English: Implications for teaching. International Journal of Language, Literature and Gender Studies (LALIGENS), Bahir Dar-Ethiopia, Vol.6(2), Serial No 14, 65-78

Ojetunde, Cecilia Folasade (2013). Lexico-grammatical errors in Nigerian English: Implications for Nigerian teachers and learners of English. European Scientific Journal. Vol.9 , No.17

Okanlawon , B. O. (2006). The usage of tense and aspect in the written English of some selected secondary school students in Nigeria. Taiwan Journal of TESOL. National Chengchi University. Vol.31

Quirk, R., Greenbaum, S., Leech, N. D. and Svartvik, J. (2007). A comprehensive grammar of the English Language. England: Pearson Education Limited.

Quirk, Randolph and Greenbaum Sidney. (1973). A university grammar of English. London: Longman.

Wickens, Mark (1992) Grammatical Number in English Nouns. Amsterdam: John Benjamin’s Publishing Company

Woods, G. Edwards and McLeod, Nicole. J. (1990). Using English grammar: Meaning and form. Hertfordshire: Prentice Hall International UK Ltd.

Sinclair, John (1993). Student’s Grammar. London: Harper Collins Publishers.

Thomson, A., J. and A. V. Martinet (1986). A Practical English Grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press.


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The research works published in this journal are free to be accessed. They can be shared (copied and redistributed in any medium or format) and\or adapted (remixed, transformed, and built upon the material for any purpose, commercially and\or not commercially) under the following terms: attribution (appropriate credit must be given indicating original authors, research work name and publication name mentioning if changes were made) and without adding additional restrictions (without restricting others from doing anything the actual license permits). Authors retain the full copyright of their published research works and cannot revoke these freedoms as long as the license terms are followed.

Copyright © 2018-2023. European Journal of Applied Linguistics Studies (ISSN 2602 - 0254 / ISSN-L 2602 - 0254). All rights reserved.

This journal is a serial publication uniquely identified by an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) serial number certificate issued by Romanian National Library. All the research works are uniquely identified by a CrossRef DOI digital object identifier supplied by indexing and repository platforms. All the research works published on this journal are meeting the Open Access Publishing requirements and standards formulated by Budapest Open Access Initiative (2002), the Bethesda Statement on Open Access Publishing (2003) and Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities (2003) and can be freely accessed, shared, modified, distributed and used in educational, commercial and non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Copyrights of the published research works are retained by authors.