The usage of nominal groups among students of Don Bosco Technical and Vocational Institute, Sunyani

Abstract

The complexities and technicalities in the usage of the nominal group has been a matter of concern to English users especially in countries that have adopted English as their official language. In such countries English is only taught in school but students generally speak their native language and seldom speak the English language. The situation is no different in Ghana where students will generally use their native language as medium of communication and only use the English language at school, thus there is less practise of the English language. However, the extensive use of English language in the formal sector and as a means of teaching and learning requires that students have a firm grip on sentence construction for which the nominal group is an integral part. The study sought to investigate the use of nominal groups in Ghanaian schools using Don Bosco Technical and Vocational Institute, Sunyani as a case study, dwelling on the premise of Systemic Functional Grammar Theory by Halliday (1985). Adopting a descriptive survey method for the study as described by Ary et al (2002), findings revealed that the philosophy of the school which is geared towards excelling in technical pursuits of students’ choice of subjects has influenced their attitude towards the use of the English language. Factors including insufficient learning materials, class size, poor library facilities, lack of modern study resources, poor use of instructional time, among others, have contributed to poor fluency, vocabulary and grammar usage in the use of nominal groups among students. The study recommended that the existing philosophy in the school be altered to make students have a renewed interest in enhancing their use of the English language. Moreover, the School’s management should endeavour to make available all that is required in the school to provide students with a unique learning experience.