Abstract:
This study attempts to explore the major sources of errors occur in the writing of
Odumase-Amanfrom M/A Basic School “4” J. H. S. learners in the Ga West
Municipality of Ghana in the Greater Accra region. It also investigates the types of
errors and the linguistic level that presents the most errors in their writing. The study
limited itself to the analysis of Error in the writing of the learners from J. H. S. one (1)
to J. H. S. three (3) as this would enhance effective teaching and learning. The study
used the case study method. A simple of thirty (30) respondents were randomly
selected, ten (10) from each form with gender equality. The quantitative data
collection instrument was used to conduct a composition test to the respondents. The
nature of the essay topic given was descriptive which allowed room for the learners to
share what they have experienced and witnessed. The five most common errors
committed by the learners were: error of concord, error of spelling, error of tense,
error of punctuation and vocabulary error. These five common errors would help the
researcher to find out the difficult areas of learners and to achieve fuller
understanding of errors committed in writing and to use the appropriate teaching and
learning materials as well as effective pedagogies in teaching and learning. It is also
important to educators and curriculum developers who should become aware of the
kind of errors that their target learners make, so that they are in a better position to put
appropriate intervention strategies into place. Learners can also improve on their
writing skills for better performances. Among the key recommendations made by this
study is the difference for the subject area instructors who are trained or specialised in
the subject he or she is teaching and between instructors who are not trained or
specialised in the subject they he or she is teaching. Also, the comparison of learners
in the urban areas and those in the rural areas notwithstanding the investigation on
writing errors in the upper primary learners and the J.H.S learners..
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 fulfillment
of the requirements for the award of the degree of
Master of Education
(Teaching English as a Second Language)
in the University of Education, Winneba
OCTOBER, 2020