Investigating the concord problems of senior high school students, a case study of Ghana Senior High School, Tamale.

Abstract

Studies indicate that the major area of students’ writing problems in English language relates to the violation of English language concord rules. Concord rules are taught at all levels of education in Ghana, but sadly, most Senior High School students have great challenges in making their sentences concordant. The students of Ghana Senior High school, Tamale, are no exception. The study sought to identify the peculiar concord problem areas of Ghana Senior High School students, to examine the possible factors that account for those errors and to identify appropriate strategies that will assist the students to overcome their concord errors. The instruments used for the data collection were; observation, interview and objective test. These were analysed using qualitative design. The findings revealed that the students make all kinds of concord errors particularly subject- verb concord errors, determiner – noun concord errors, verb -verb concord errors, invented subject – verb concord errors and shifts in constructions concord errors. The findings also revealed that the most challenging category of concord for the respondents is subject-verb concord. It revealed that teachers, students and L1 interference are the factors that account for these errors. Suggestions and recommendations were given in the concluding chapter for the way forward. It relates to the involvement of policy makers, teachers of English, students, curriculum designers and textbooks writers. It is hoped that if these suggestions are implemented, students will eventually overcome their concord challenges and make their sentences concordant.