Analysis of concord errors among SDA Senior High School students of Bekwai Municipality in Ashanti Region, Ghana

Abstract

The poor performance of students of Bekwai SDA Senior High School in English language has been a source of worry to many people because other subjects they study have also been affected too. The most disturbing aspect of the problem is the students’ inability to use the language to communicate effectively both in speaking and in writing. Their sentences are full of concord errors. This has been attributed to their negative attitudes towards the L2 as most of the students feel comfortable using the L1. This study focused on concord errors among the students, and the sources/causes of the problems. Information gathered was from the primary sources. Students were given questionnaire to elicit information on their attitudes towards the English language. Written scripts, test items as well as interviews were used to extract information on students’ knowledge and use of concord. Corder’s (1974) model of error analysis was adapted to analyze errors identified from the corpus. Finally, the results of the study were analyzed and discussed, and suggestions and recommendations were given for the necessary actions to be taken to help students become proficient in the use of the L2.