An Error Analysis Of Written Yoruba Composition Of Igbo Students In Secondary Schools

Abstract. The study was carried out to determine the major areas of difficulty experienced by the students, and it is hoped that some of the findings may help to overcome the anxieties experienced by students and teachers alike. One thousand two hundred samples of free composition written by Igbo students (J S II & J S III) who have studied Yoruba as L2 for more than one and half years were examined. The samples were randomly selected from three Federal Government Colleges in Awka and Onitsha Education zones of Anambra State. The research instrument used was adopted from NECO’s past questions on the target language. Four research questions were raised; statistical mean was used to answer the four research questions. Based on the findings, the following grammatical errors were identified: (i) misuse of tense, (ii) misuse of verb (iii) pronoun errors, (iv) noun errors, (v) spelling errors, (vi) high case errors, (vii) style errors, (viii) adjectives/adverbs errors (ix) tone usage errors, (x) conjunction errors, (xi) fragment errors and (xii) word order errors etc. Lastly, suggestions relating primarily to a remedial programme of written Yoruba are made in the hope of helping teachers to plan the writing courses and enabling students to improve their writing skills.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 PAGE

TITLE PAGE ------------------------------------------------------------- i

APPROVAL PAGE---------------------------------------------------------- ii

DEDICATION---------------------------------------------------------------- iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS -------------------------------------------------- iv

ABSTRACT------------------------------------------------------------------- vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS---------------------------------------------------- vii

LIST OF TABLES------------------------------------------------------------ viii

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the study ---------------------------------------- 1

1.1.2 Statement of problem------------------------------------------------- 9

1.13 Purpose of the study-------------------------------------------------- 11

1.1.4 Scope of the study----------------------------------------------------- 12

1.1.5 Research questions---------------------------------------------------- 12

1.1.6 Significance of the study--------------------------------------------- 11

CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

2.1 Errors/Mistakes-------------------------------------------------------- 14

2.2 Theoretical framework concerning mistakes and errors------ 16

2.2.1 Contrastive analysis-------------------------------------------------- 17

2.2.2 Error analysis----------------------------------------------------------- 20

2.2.3 Inter-language---------------------------------------------------------- 21

2.2.4 Causes/Sources of Second Language errors---------------------- 23

2.2.5 Types of errors---------------------------------------------------------- 28

2.2.6 Significance of errors to the teachers and the students--------- 36

2.2.7 Teacher’s attitude towards correcting students’ written

errors and mistakes----------------------------------------------------- 38

2.2.8 Techniques for correcting errors and mistakes------------------- 42

CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research Design------------------------------------------------------- 46

3.2 Area of study----------------------------------------------------------- 46

3.3 Population of the study----------------------------------------------- 46

viii

3.4 Sample and sampling technique------------------------------------- 47

3.5 Research instrument--------------------------------------------------- 47

3.6 Validity and Reliability of the instrument------------------------- 48

3.7 Method of Data Collection------------------------------------------ 48

3.8 Method of Data Analysis-------------------------------------------- 49

CHAPTER FOUR: PRESENTATION AND DATA

ANALYSIS 50

CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSIONS, CONCLUSION,

RECOMMENDATIONS AND EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS

5.1 Discussion of the findings------------------------------------------- 76

5.2 Conclusion------------------------------------------------------------- 81

5.3 Educational Implications--------------------------------------------- 82

5.4 Recommendations----------------------------------------------------- 83

REFERENCES--------------------------------------------------------------- 86