Error analysis on concord of students of Gwiraman senior high school Bamiamkor, Nzema East District

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.