Abstract:
English as a Second Language (ESL) writing is a challenge to most of the learners in
the Ghanaian schools. This study was carried out to investigate the concord problems
among students of Gwriman Senior High School, Bamiankor in the Nzema East
District. The purpose was to find out the nature and causes of these concord errors
which involved subject- verb agreement in students' use of English language especially
in writing. The students who participated in the study were students of Gwriman Senior
High School. The techniques used were interviews, observation and test in addition to
errors observed in their spoken English and during concord lessons with their English
teacher. Data collected were analyzed using tables, percentages, and descriptions which
made comparison of pre-intervention and post- intervention results easy. Having
analyzed the data, the study revealed that students are not proficient in the use of
grammatical concord as a result of poor foundation they had in their previous class
(primary six) before entering junior high school. Concord errors are caused by such
factors as the inconsistency in the concord rules of English, overgeneralization of the
rules as well as the interference of the subjects' mother tongue in English, in order to
minimize concord errors, the study offered a variety of strategies that could be
employed by both teachers and learners of English.
Description:
A Dissertation in the Department of Applied Linguistics, Faculty of Foreign
Languages Education and Communication, submitted to the School of Graduate
Studies, in partial fulfilment
of the requirements for the award of the award of the degree of
Master of Education
(Teaching English as a Second Language)
In the University of Education, Winneba
SEPTEMBER, 2019