University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh CORRECTING STUDENTS' CONCORD ERRORS BY BRIAN SENYO AKRONG IIiIS IIiESIS IS SUBMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF GHANA. LEGON IN PARTIAL FULFILMENl Of THE REQUIREMENTS FOR 'I HE A WARD OF MA IN TEACIlING ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE NOVEMBER. 2008 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh "'UARATION r cntify that uccpl for ~rc~l"M:es to "orks \\hl..:h hive been cited and acknowled,ed. Ihis "orlr. is Iht mull of my original researdt undertaken under supervision. and Ihlt it has I1Clther In part not",ho'ebernPf't'cniedforan(ll'hcrdcB~clscwherc. CANDIDATE ~7· BRIAN S. AKRONG SUPERVISOR PR()~ESSOR ALAN S. DUTHIE University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh AHS1RA("T This stud)' is an ~nckavour 10 design a strategy or teaching model by which Subjec1-Vcrb concord couk! be taught. to enhance the performance of studenb in Senior Secondary Schools (SSS), which have been re-named in 2007 as Senior High Schools" Errors of concord. includinl Subject-Vemconcord. hnc been 8 problem 10 many Ghanaian students and a concern to many interested puUn. such as parmlS.nd the West Africa Examinations Council. Co~uently. 500me rcxan:hc:rs ha\esludied the errors of stud enis, and others h.ve desigMd methods 10 solvc 50Ine ofthesc sewelll errors" This work conMders the pronoun 3S the basis for teaching Subject- VerbCOf"KOfJ. 1 he: ~arch mcthodolo~y is eclectic. combining elements of quanw8the and QUililafl\'e rncarth: oral inlcrvie"~ "ere conducted and a qUGllonnaire administered 10 students In Identify their peculiar problems M second language leamers. In addition. diagnostiC te~ls (pn:- InterventIOn and po~f.lnterventlOn tests) were conducted to examine the possible difficulti~'''' {If the amen. An e)"pcnment class "as selecled and the language teaching model which is beang propoICd inthlsslud), for Ihe te3l"hlng of Subject-verb agrecmenl \\3S taught to that c lass, while the: other t\loU classcs were excluded. MeASurement of the e«IXts (If the trt'alm~'nt nas done through a post-intervention lest fhe results of the pt'KI-intervention test show Ihallhe l"'JI dedicated to my children. Senyo and Selorm University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh TABU: OF CO"\"n:"'ITS Ocdic3tion Page Tabl~of('ol!lent~ CUAPTER ONE . GENERAL IN fROm Ie nor-.; 1.0 Inuoduclilin 1.1 A HislOncal Sun'c) of Teaching and Acquisition of English In Ghana 1.1. 1 Acquisition of English through Conracl with Early European Traders I 1.1.2 Colonial EdUC:alional Policies and Eni,;h:.h MC1hodolog~ 1.1 .3 The USC' of English and its Methodology after Indepcndcn<:c 1.2 SlltemtntofthreProbl~m 10 1.3 ScopeofSludy. 1.4 ResearchObjecli\c 11 I) 1.6 U)"polhcw,> 14 1.7.Tb~. .t ("II(;llhame""ork. . ... 15 I 8. U4ck~rtlUI1d Informslion aboul the Schools Used fO I the Study ... 17 181 WC:'IAfncaSecondarySchool I.tU.AclronPr08ressivelnSlilUte 18 19 I.imllalionsoflhtStud) ....... 19 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 20 ('H APll:R lWU . REVII:;WOf RELATED lITERAnJRI: ... 20 2.0 Introduction .. .. ... 20 2' The Concept of Concord In English .. .. .20 2.1. II)efimnon .21 2.1.2 Types ofCona, rd 2.2 A Re\i~\\ of the Senior Sceond31") School (SSS) Syllabus ........ . .... 22 23 A R~vi~w of Senior Seconda~ "ichool (SSS) Textbooks .. .. 24 24 A Rc,·icw of Previous Works Related to Concord . 25 CHAPTER THREE - METHOOOLOGY 3.0 Introduction .. R,,~arcIlMethodolog) Qualilatjveand Quantitativc Rcsearch. 31.2 Population ;'1 3 PersonallnlcrviewsandQuestionnaire 3.2 TeachingMcthodolo~ ~ so 3.2. 1 The Oral Appr03Ch and SitU3tional Language Teaching.. . . .. 50 3.2.2 Pre- Imcrw:ntion Evaluation and Post-lntcrvcntionEvaluation ... . .51 3.23 Defining. Pronoun. .. . ..... 52 3.2.4 The Pronoun as the Basis for Grammatical Concord ... 54 Replacing Noun Phrase5withapproprli:ltePronoun~tol·orrespond \\ith Verbs in Givcn$entcflCes .... 51 Replacing Cla~s ..... ilh appropflate pronouns In ~orrc5pond with verbs University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh SK ln I' L\en~~~" I \ln~ DOli!: T~$.n TeadUng Concord (filhng ( iab. . In p;lf3lt/.raphs \.uth I\ppropl'lale Verb!o) . . .. 63 CHAPTER FOUR· DAr A ANALYSIS IINTERPKETA TlONS. ..63 4 .0 Introduction . 6J "I Analysis of Data Colkctcd 86 ... . 2 Clauiftcationand Inlerpt'elationoflJau OJ CIIAPTER FIVF. • DISCUSSION Of FINDINGS. .J 5.0lnlroduCllon ~ I Discussions .. " .. . .. .9 J 5.1 Suuestioru and Mecnmmcndlltons . .9S 53 Conclusion . % LIST OF TABI.ES Tabk I • Aacdistribulion ofrespondef1h Tat* 2 • A~ orcommencemcnl of &.tUC311on and Sj"Ie:lklll t' of English 48 Table 3. . PlY- InlC'rvention Tnt One (WV AM)... . . .. .6 3 T.bIt lb . Pre·intervention Test One (WVAF)... ..66 - TaJly l han for Pre-intervention Test One (WASS) . .....6 7 TabAt 5. . 1 - P""'lnler'd.:nlion TC 'SI One (Action Set. Technical : Males) ... 61 Tabar 5&.2 • ({'ontinuation}Prt·intel"fenhon Tell One (Action Sec. Tech.;MalC''i) University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh · l'rc-inlc(\l"lllion Tes! One (Acrion Sa: . Techniul : female .. , .70 · Tall) Chan lin "re·lnlervcn!ion Tes! One (Acllon) 71 - POSI·inlem.'nll0n Test (WA55. S52 . Visual ArI~) ...8 3 · P~I·inle(\~nlion Tn! (WASS. 552 . Agric) . 84 .I'OSI-i",~rventionTest(Aclion Sec. ·' cchlllcal , 552. Scicnce) . .... 85 APPENDICES. .... .. ... 97 A. Prc-tnlervcntion THt One B. Pre--inlencntionTestT\\"O c. Post - inter\cnlionTesl D. Qur~lionnaire Adminislered 10 Students L Sample Oueslions oflnformallnlerviemo wilh Teacher:. ABBREVIA nONS ¥IV AF • West Africa Second8/) School Visual Arts (Females) WVAM - Wesl Africa Secondary School Visual An.. (Males) WA55 - WeslAfricaSccondaty5chool University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh ClIArlTHONE GENERAL I" 1 Rout 'CTION 1.0 J'l rROUl CTiON ("h.11'kl One presents a historictll sune) of the methods employed In the tc~chml:! and ,1"-~UI ... lion of Engli$h In Ghana, engendt~ mitially b)' lrade and mi loSIOnar) 3cll\,IIIC", !>u'lCe the penolud),thc ~hobj«lhoeandslaleslherelevallCeoflhestudyaswella~thchYPOlhesisandlhe thtomical framc"ork. Finally. the chapter conclude!> with background information 1 I A HISTORICAL SURVEY OF 11-1 £ TE \ (' 111"'( , \SU ACQUI~III(J!'II U .. E~GLlSn IN GHANA 1.1.1 Acqul~ iliun of Ea glu h through (·on.act "jIb Early Europt'an Traden I ftcrc ~e Thr ..".. mcIhod!> or proces. . e .. h~ which tftc Eng lish l an!-,u.I~t: \\'3" tran. . mllted m the Gokl Coast . These "ere CIa! Irilmml!o!>)(\n. ,,,I,ll 1mmer .. lon. ,md forma l classroom acquisition. The IIdvent ofthc Brilish to thc uold Cna.o;1 (Ghana) inthc 1850sm.lrkedlhe ~~IMing 01 the use of English in the countr) . Consequently. "mce colonial timeo; m. . truclKln in the colonial pohce forcc and th~ ann). The statu. . of Engll\h as IhI: officIa.l l. . ngUIIgcof(jhanahaslhusbeencarriedo\~rmlolhcindependencc~ra. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Fo r eXlimpk, urn: ... ..,.1.-" "",h :b .he Fante and Anlo Eoe are famnU5 for ,ode ml'(mg ma),Marexpressionslikc "Meyinauwafiako" (Eue) !\teanin~ " I am JOmg~ hc~", thai is,'" "on', ~H far ' "[)cmad1c :>n)C~"(Fan1e) Meamn~ "Thai thing is not ~." Thai means 11 IS ImpreSSive (burial arolftd). The nord art"ll..relum "as borro\\C'd from utin into Engli~h and subtequend)' into other languas.cli liiuch a5 Eve. The word '''''ningra ' which is ~d amons. some Eve communltics is • co~lon of the Engliliih CKprenlon 'burial ground Before the arrIval ofille English.lhe Portuguuc .md the Dutch tl.d arrived in the 1450)" lIo"l:lIer. lhe Briti5h oecupatlOn and monopoly of trade 011 the Gold C~t was (on\Ohdalfii Ihrough the purc~ of lhe; forb and castles of Ihe Other Europeans. The-st lnc:11.ded the fitmo~ Cape Coast C&St~ (lh~6) , "'ort Amsterdam. Kormantinc (16JI), and Komenda (1M) The purchase of the Dutch and Danish possessions in 1850;and 1'72 rc:spcctl\'cl) sealed British control of lhe <..Jold Coasl and the rooling of Inc English languat(c Thus.. the departure of the otlll-r Furopean coumries made eXllncl ,heir Ncvn1hcless. there are saWcoo of PortugUC$C, Dutch and French \\ords which ha\c been asSimilated j",o the locallM1~U.l~C:!> thr,.ug:h contact. For example the Euc name IUf "lndow is jC"IUTl . which is a H1rrup:cd form uf the Outch "ord for -\\lndow ' ThIS term University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh I!> al)(} u)('d among the til. ,:md Akan to rcf~, hi the: "IOU: thing_ Alw. the \\·urd 'a4J,ka' \\hlch is used in I-.uc. TWI. and Ga to ~fer to .. n.J_\ "lxlu:\'cd to be a Pol1u!!ue.-.c word. I he fonnal leaching of English In the Gold Coast fllll\I\\cd the procC'ss of oral transmission. When schools "''Crt: established. I:::nghsh \\a~ taught and acquired formally In the" !>Chaols. Schools "'ere first established in the castles and then later the colonial administration ~tablishcd schools in the communitie~ (~ackt:!o" 1997; 1\1cWlliiam. H.O.A. and MA K",amena·Poh 1975). The: early method by which the English lan~ \10'&5 laught formall), in the Gold Coast (Ghana) \lollS Iht Grammar Trmn/lJlllln \le'lhod and L,',,,.mng hy Roll' 1 hc method \\as end-driven bl.'cause 'one IntC're"ling f1',III.'\ "fthe [w0rc-an lI.1lkr, \'ilS to train Africans as interpreters' (Sacic.e')' 1997:126). Ark'lh,:, I11l·thod or rroce~\ b~' which the transm ission of the English language \\a.. done IS "'Nt ma~ be described as lolu/ ImmtTSIOn. This was the practice \\herdl~ some Arrinns "'ere sent to Europe 10 acqulre not ju .. t the language but the total cuhure ofthc speakers of the language. for inslaOCe. Sackc~ ref~ to an C'"pt:dihon In 1554 which 'look away five Negroc!o from the Gold Coasl' and when Ihe '555 C'xpedltion wa'i asked about lhe .... egroes who left In I 5S4. the reply was lhal rhe) \\ere in En~IDnJ \\cll usN, and \\~re Il-wrc kCPllililhey (ould speak the l.ln~uJ!-"t.andthcnthcyshould be brought back again to he .1 hc-Ip 10 Englishmen in Ihis country (RI~eI942:383.quoaedins.cke)·1997) University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh The Ghana.rans \\ho were thus immersed retullliC'd 10 help the Europc.m, em thl: COO~I nol onl) In their trading actlvieies bul al .... , 10 the propagatIOn of ehe: lant:uage lO .. tanee, the upedieion thai returned in 1S~1 brou~hl ehroe Negroc~ \\\lo wid Ih\',r pcopk Ihlt thcy had bttn in Loodonand that the othcrs should be brought h\)mcdurln~ the flnl voyage (Blake 1942:)99 a~ quoted In Sackey 1997. 127), The Immer''Ion prottSS KCe-lnaled the p:m\\lh of the population of English speake-,s on Ihe Gold Coo. . , ("olUCqUC'ntly, as Sackey note", . b~ Iix- end of the 17" cenlury. the:re \\ a~ a !oCanerC'd !-'rtluJ" of Ghan3ian~ caJ":lhle IIf interpreting hcl\\een lhe: European lallgu,l!-,e~ and a numbtTofthcindigt'nnu. . lall!!UJ;~n"(Sacke) 1~:n: 121), Ne,"C'rthtless, the castle \ChooIs are famOlJ~ for lhe foundalion thC'y laid not onl)' for II"K lexhina and learning of English in Ghana bUI education as a "'huie" This \\ork is hn"C'\t'r concerned aOOul II"K role they played in the Inching and ie3ming of English The-school which \\3se\!al:Jlished in the Cape Coast Castle is til(' mU'Il"clebraled ()flhc c&Slle schools. It was .. caned by Re\", 1 homas Thompson and latcr taken over by Rev Philip Quaquc. who became lhe chaplain pftne castle The lCUl"riculurn con~s&ed of what one rna) ",rror 1('1 as 2R piLlS 8; thai \\.1', Reading. Wrilin~ IIIld Biblical ie!".M"lm. The teaching methodology was the Gramm,lI tran~lalion method of k.Khing .. JJ 1,,11: le4min. 'The En~ll'.h language was 1c3me,J through ~pealed readings ofrrll1l ... " .tnd spell ina books' (Sackey 1997:127) Apparentl~. the curnculwn was rr,IC.IUl:I. oflcnted so thai the pupil5 couki come OUI and perform ..orne 'JK'clfic fUOI.:lllI11\ III the "'(,Cl)! ~I.k:h ;h Interpret"' and sales as~"'I.1Il" It I" nol "W"fImln~ lho.:rdorc thou mmt of the purl" rrom the Cape ('Otil ca\11c .... h('!.1 d,,J 11"1 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh I;"umpiclC: the prn~r.mlmc heron! the mcl't'hant l'1'llIr.ml.'~ rl11rll'~\,\j th\'m a~ clerk .. Phlhr QUOkIUC \\.I~ ...... '1 pleased with thi'\> I'hc'IIlmcol,ln. \!ll\X 11" aim \\.~ to give them wvnd mo ral ('.:h,\' :tIMln and lrain lhe-m (or the tord's vint)."1. rhc class \\~ "ftt'n an nera~c: ,.1 ~ 1'1\'l'n rllpll~. which gives a pictr.m of the scarcity of loeal English ~pc:.kc:r~ ano.llhc vinUllI Kramble for them by the tradins companies hom the' [X'II to earl) 19'" (:cnlut~ . 1~ Ariti..n n. .... rcMnt companies, who were tradinl in slavn, lOki and other IIcm~ . needed intl!rJmtcI"J who had acqUU'N just enough En.li~h 10 assi!>t them. 1.1.2 ('olonial Eduutional PolH:h~~ and E.glhh Methodolo~~ rhe (.Olol\lalgo\·cmmcnt dnl nol hne poIicin on Enghsh mcthalOlJolosy pet s.e: however the teachm~ uf l:ngh)h was guided b~ the needs of the colonial administration. The major polic:in ufthe coloOial admml!>tratlun included pa)mcnt ",' leachen b) result!> and the ~ o( f.llIlish as lhc mcdnw o( instruction in schools. EdlU:altonal foods (rom the colonial onke were nol disbursed to lichool~ which did nol comply ",ilh the instrUCtion lhal F.n~ish must be the sole medium of instruction in schools. This affected 83Je'1 mlssionat) schools which were leachin~ Ghanaian lallgua~~ ~ in the lower primary bdQrt Introducing En~lish , to ensurc: I~I thew products could read and ",rile their Apparcnll~' . mCm(lrl~;l.Iitln and prescriptive pmm. were the order of the day so tilat interactiw mc1hod~ ('O( ,,·.I..:hirll ~ not empklyed_ lienee. me policin had an impact on Ihr leachtng and le;mllntt o( English In the Gold Coast IGtwla). M.:William and K'NUMna~Poh (1975) nb~·e lbat, 'hou~h the missions had access to more mone)' than the (olMial ~'·~nI. they were not inkresud in tcKhin8 m~hod!i which ",(MIld tk" r t ..... pcopl~ 10 ~'rinr Ihcm~l"es University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh (Inc ,,, 1M C'arl~ gO\~mors of the (;old Coast \\as ~,r 4Chark\ 'tI:alCarth) (1822.181 ) Dunnl! hi" r,,,cmor;hip. he C'nsurC'd Ih.illhe teaching of En~h,h In go ... ~rnmcnt ..chu(,I, "as S .... en cmphaw. and I:nllhsh ways of life were more ",dcl~ Introduced among the local peopk f-or 1O,16nc('. he ord~rtd textbooks to facilitat~ the le.u:hinS and I~arning of ["Blish In 1824, Revn-cnd OeM) took up appointment as school m8s:ler of the Capt (nA)1 Castk schools and laid suns on .he leaching and learnIng of lng\l'\h '"whkh is otMN'$e 1011 and which I order undtr penallY 10 M ~xcJwiVC'/y spoken in the schouls" (~c~c~ 1997) Apparently. an mlC'r.JCIlW approach 10 IC3chin~ and learnmg I:n~lish I he 1I0\CIIlt1I"hlp of Commander HIli loa" '" boo~t III the tC.;J.chlO8 of English In the COUlllf~ He 'Ii!lIed .he Bond of 1844 "ith tN! local chIefs and as a result British lemh,,,,.1 IIIllltCnc~ was extended beyond the coast. The soci.1 and aJmlnl'!ilraliv~ IRSlllU1l0ns thai were needed as. result o(11le expan'>10n of Bnll'1.hJurisdictioll in the Gold Coast had a bearing on the way Enghsh .... a!> taught and leamed. Apin, the vrammu Translallon method Wb the main mtlhodoloBY It was Ch3r.lcICflztd by rote leammB· \~tuch was consl(kred approprialc at the "ffi(' be-cauK t~ was an u'gcnc~ til produc~ pcopl~ "00 could read and "rite, and c.lculal~ s(lm~ mathematics I hu, the cW'ncuh." ".I' n..~ Vf! \\h~l ('''~ tn Iw kllO",n 3$ the 1R .. IMlnd), RcaJlllb. Writinf' .. rxt AlllhmcllC I h.tl lhe dominant muJc or Icaching durintl Ihe coloRl&l period was th .... (jrammar ·1 f.to,lallon method can Ix In(erred from a report by the Educahon Lomml)'SIVn "I Ih..' Prl\) Council to the ('olomal Offic~ in 1847 Indicating the necessity University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh al-'cnt\lfCl\IIiZilion'(Forsterl96S:SSasquOlcJInSad,c~ 1997) Ihcrc".1.\ho\\C'Vttachangrlnlhegrnrral IrendofleachingEnglish inlhe 19205. The \:olonlal ~O\'t'mmcnt decided that local lanlfuages should be used in the lower prima~ natlon-"Idr before the pupils would Ix bridged into the English language Thl~ \\a~ the rt'~ult of the edaxational commission. which came out \\ith the Phdp~-SlOkcs Report that ad\(~ated the usc (If I(>(;dl languagrs in the lower prim3~- .. chools \\ herr thc:rt" ~I't' IinlUiSlic difficulties, for Instance where the Janswgc,- had nut been documented, a common local lanauaSe could be adoj'ltcd. This policy is simi lar to the Itc\\ (ihanaian FdlJCallonal Report (2007). \\hlCh stIpulate .. that a Ghanaian langua~c must be the mrJllIm of Instruction up to class three, Thereafter. the pupils will be bridged inlo the Ourtn)o! the go\emonhip of Sir Gordon Guggishcrg. he drew a ten-year accelerated dc\clopmcnt plan which had an educational component. There Wa5 acceleration in the prm'lSlOn of pnmary and secondary khools. ThiS ~riod expenencc.'d an expansion of political and administrative !>Ct- ups which g'\'e riSC' to tnc need to produce more prople who could I't'ad and write English within. short lime, Consequently. the Bernard Commlncc \'1.'1 ~ppointcd tu ill\'~)tig.1C the 'possibilitles of ddoptmg Enghsh as II medium ofinslruction thruUgOOUI the elementary sehoul (·"IH~<·- ("ia~key 1997:131) University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 1.1 . .3 Th,- t ". of En,li~h and ih ·\·1('thodolo~· .fler IndC'pt'nd('nct' \1 Ihe lUlU.' 01 mJq",nd~I'II.· ~· (.hana had no ~mt:!h: mJIg~nou$ langwJ;l!. \\hu.h could Ix adoPled as the ling .... franc. Therefore. E~lish which had alread) becoO\,,' a common langua~ was the obvioul choice. Slott then, Enillsh has mnaint'd the nfliC:l.al 13n~uage of GhaN and • Pf'I:lUIuisift: for education and employmenl. One requlre\ :1 pass or creuch as Nu~s Training College, I C'.1cher Training CollcfC'. Polytechnic Of l · nl\('r ' lt~ rc=qUlres a credit in English at GeE ' O ' levclorSSSCE SlncClndependentC'1n 1957.lhe mainapproilchesbywhichF.n8h~h has hcCIlI:'lUght in for comprehension In Ihr C.1..<;(' of summAl). one of the: reason., .... h} ,Iudcnu do not do ~IJ is thou the: learning of \O(ahul~ I. . oot 81\'en much all..-llIioll, therefore using words 10 reprc:stnl broIdtr tIk. ... h«mnC"'> dll'flwll This prc'<'nt \\!.rk ,1,hocales a blend oflhe StlllCiurail" University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh .tllrrn:k'h \\llh elements of 'traditional grammar' rhis require!> an I.-ch..-CIK approach to I~' dl.·\.p1 of English Ian~uage ~)lIabi. This appru.c:h can be Implemented from IIx Junior Sc\:llndary Si;hoollo la) solid foundalUlRS for SeniOf Secondary Sthool The stud} of Engh\h is becoming increa"lngly dillicuh for studenlS at the Senior S«ond&r) School (SSS) and each year the Chief Examiner's Repon shows a continuous decline: in the performance of candidates. C'ven though English is the ofliciallanguage in (ih.u\aandlh.,: SSS s)ILabusclearly underscores the imponanceoflhc English language In the cUrriculum BesidC's, teacner» appear to be dOIng their be»!, yet the puhhc continues to fn.l\\n upon 1hC" ,c\ull, Consequently.l1e" suaTegu:-softeachinghaveIt1t'C adopIed such as Ihc sTtaTel) bcmg rroposen. .d ents in ScniorHish Schools 1.3 SCOPE OF STl:DY The SIOO~ h~ focused on Subject-Verb agrttment It has conccntra!W on grammallcal concord and the exceptions TO ,he rule of grammatical concord namel) , Notional concord and ProXImity concord. In addition.!he study has dealt with Pronoull . AnTecedent concord I.Subjecl - Vt"rbConcord lienerall), 'hi'" .... the ;a~nxm('n' be,""" a subJtXt and its verb in a clause. L Gramm_tical Concord' This is the principal issue in Subject - Verb agreemem and I' requIre ... fhal. when the subject in a sentence is third penon phnl in a rrc\.n1t f("n,~' University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh datN', ltwllicarryapiural \ C'I'tI , hul,Irl'I'lhlrdperson slOvul.&r, it wIll carry a !olnt!ular ....b . bamplt'~ I) 1 he 11~ .J.lJ111~ 10 ~ne humanity 2)T~~~lo servehumanit} [neumplC'(I)thesubjecl. ' The student" is tn the sill~u[a, Ihcn:forc II l..Irrll;".1 "nvular In c~amplC' (2) the subject. 'The Mudenls' is In the p lural tllcrcforc It \\111 ~o \\llh a 1,lur,tl\l-rh, ' ",ant' 'OIWILII \7ont.:ord I) the tyJ'IC o f agreement that is not based on grammatical concord but rI1herOfllhc notion or Idea thai the spcakeror wriler has. Tlu, Iype of concord .&(f\.'i:h mostlypnuporcollccllvcnnun, I·.xample:. ))Tbccomminee!H:iagIttdIO'iponsor-.omesludents In Ihl) eumple, the SUbJCi:l . ' 1 he committee ' is considered a.'i a singular unit: therefore Ilc.lfncsasingularverb,'ha'i 4) I .... W!!Im~ ~ agreed to Spo.)nsof )ome studenl.. In C,(3Illl,lC' (4) lhe 'iuhjt'\.'1 iscOMlderedas plur.t1 . The idea isthatlhc ltubjecl i!>lalk.ing Jr.1utlhclndlvidualmemher!>oflhefamily; thercforc, itcarriesapluralverb, 'ha\C" University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh iii.Prollimih Concord \n"tlll" t~po: 01 a~rn'm(,,111 that does noc rC~JXCl the rule of grammallcal concord t~ rrn\'I""I~ (tIOCOrd' rh" I~pe of agreement IS based on "hld1 lI"mln,11 Froup or dement is closer 10 the maIM \erh in the sentence. Eumpl~ 5)Eithcrlhcmana(:crurlilesubordinalcs!!t. hardworking 6) Either the subordinales or Ihc manager !l...hardworking In example (5)lhe nominal group. 'thesubordinale .. ' is closer to the main verb 'to be': [herd.lft' II rake'> tho.:' "Iural fonn. 'are'. On the other hand in (6), the TlHUn phrase, 'tbe mJ.ru,~a' isclo~rto the: m,lIn \erh; therefore it takes the form 'is' Apr"rh'un. \\hethl.'r;lrclat,vepronounorapossessivepronoun, mus t agrcc with II~ anh:t:cJcnt 1M number and gender 7)\1an~lIf~donotpayfor!b£irgoodsonlime, Inthisexample(7)lhcpo\~ssive pronoun, 'their' agrtts wilhlheantec:edenl, 'our 8) Konadu is one of1ho~ ,lwsnl1 who want In eQJthlish ~llsinesses ror !hem~I\'es Here.thcpos.sessivcpronoun,'thcmsclvtS'agrttswilhitsantecederu,'those5ludents' "'lmIJllrl~.artlativCI)l'otll""II"'''';lgJ"ft'''ilhit5anleccdcnl ,"orcxumpk 9) Ihr.)~~ "'"On rhe British Council award 1!'>.1 mod~1 r(l, til\' )oulh ton:pl.1(e'who·w;lh'\\h".:h University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 1..4 .U~SI: .\H.CH OHJH 'TiVE UII I I U c=,pcnmcni \\ itk an af'proach thai I~ suxly proposes to call the Stratc=gic-ProllO .\pPfoach In some sc=l«Ic=d SoChools.ltlascc=rtamho", rcliablc the apprt1ach could bc as. ludnngmc=ltM.ldolug) id 2. To lind out ",hethersludc=nISnl8.Y perfonn bcller in tcrms of concord. ifstressisl. on pfl.lmlUn com:orda\ 11 fnun1 Ill thc theory b~ wnich the \\CJ \10 the c\\mplexlly and !.lmplK:ity of grammallcal item!. , .. the focus I' (In lhe: nul.;otn(' or the product' (Rabbini 2002). A m.jor crih(.:I"m 3gainst this mct~ University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh IS INiI II Ipres OIhtr skills of langU3gc'. r\3rncl~ . 1I)lcnlng and \f'IC.lklni! . and concentral~ nn \HillO~ and reading skills The limitations of the' structuralllppronch led lolh¢siluatumalapproa.:h Tille Si"nfianal Laagulige Teachiltg Approach T~ (urKllonal and mleracl10nal views arc: lhe thcor1n underlying thI S approach. It is a communicall\(' .Ippt"oach 10 lhe teachin8 o( language lndtr this approach. specific needs of L2 learners such as tourists are considered. This approiJI.: h is adopted especial!) "hrn lh1: lirM (Of leaching is very short. In IhlS I)PC. the major orgaRl/.lRg racloT is .Iisl The ltamer 1\ able to dedu« meaning (rom II relevant ":lonlcXI The SHUll Ion often in\'Olvn seveul pil1IClpanls \\110 .Ire engaged in some activltle5 in a specific scumg The situalluns may be rc~.1fdn.l as themes. Examples 1)( such lhemes arc - al the hospital. in the m. . H~C'I. bu)in~ 3 book a' the bookshop. and so on. A major advantage or the "·.11 ..· .I •.• Ii-rr lh;an subJecl.centrcd(Wi lkinsI976:16). I-lo\\(' .. cr.itsdisadvantageislhat II.i ....· ", 110" 1.1\,'ur lumers whoxncrdsatc nOllJICluiJed In lhe "ilustions in lhe \)llahus Tb('!'\nliIUI.l! FUDctional Approach 'ht' IIl.1hlrh "I tn..· S'IIIIIII.mdu,:llon of the "JI~lf'Kff /urJCtlOnalopttr()Udl 10 the propolICIlt:. ur the NIf the Slar1m~ potnt lor • )~ lI.hus IS the cnmmunlc.tlive pwJlO".A; :and concC:f'fual mUl1l11f .. r languqe' (Rabbini 2002).The term nollono/ approach embntt~ any slr.a1c~~ of Ian~ ttKhin~ thai dcmcs the tOnIent from an inilial Malysis of lcamen' necd~ University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh '\\lll.ln1 1976). 8) ·fUfI\."lIonal" we mean thl: "':01.·131 "1g.mficIOCt" Hf the unerancc. I Wk:t,on~ may be dt!'Crlbc-t.I as the com",II",c-ull\""r I'''rpu)~.' for whIch \\C U'>C 'anguasc lhe main thcor)' undcrl)ln~ tht noIiOf\lI- functiOf\llI s) lIabus is thr functlunal "'II~\\ of 1.8.0. BACKl>RO\ NI) INFOl-t!\.1A liON ABOl"T THE SCHOOLS l ..... U FOR III[STlUY 1.8.1. Wat Arri~ St"condary School Wnt Africa Secondary School was selected for ,hl __ \tudy bec:ause of proximit~ and the (Kt dw it is • fairly rImous school and repl't:scnts the calci!0~ of schools lhal admit ~1udt-nt5 with a rclativtly aood academic b.d.jp"ound This is in conlra~t \\ilh lnc ;\chon ]'rugrc15Ive In.s1itute whach somctlmes admit .. 'ludenlS who do not ~alO admiSSion to establ,shed In 1946 I he school is ramou, 1:>c.~3u~ it is quilc an old ~hool whkh attained the ate of sixty in 2006 and has O~t" run I sixth form pmgramme. HowclfeT. IILe many public schools in Ghana, 11 ~I,ulct.l as I private Institution beforc being absorbcd inlO the public system in 1954asaf:0\ernmentassistedsecondaf) school -\~3In. like man) public secnntbf) schonb III ,-,hana . accommodation his bc-en one ur "Il\" 1'l\"llllnIOlhcOlhcr.IIPlofourditTerenll~·.ItlonsInAccrabcrorclbpr('CnIsile I he S4"1loo1 \I4S moved finally to its cum:nl silt at Adenta from Accra New T!l\\n University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh (fonnerl) l..~SOS Town, a"he beglMm~ I" thl: 1~87/88 acaJl.'mu.. ~e.H on 5'" OClobrr, 1917. II SW1cd initially as a private 8wltII:" College \\hl~h otTcred only cIHomen:lal subjecu but v.as changed into a seconda!) ~hoollhal otTen~d rUII::I~ a~:ademic subJect. . in the liberal Aru and Pure Science with An and Craft before becoming a goverrunent anisted xhooL CtaTCnlly. purely academic disciplines in the Am and Pure Science .. arc ~hJdird together wlln Uu,incss. A~m'ultural SCience and Visual Arb Accordmg 10 available records. the school started wjlh eight ~Iudents but the 'iludenl population currenlly (2007) stands !!It nine hundred (900). It is still !I. day )Choul. therefore students have 10 commute from various parts of Accra 10 school each day ~ides, staff 8Ccommodalion IS also limited . It is the: HetKJmistres5 and a few member.> of stafT "no an: IKcommodated. NotWlfhSlanding this limitalion. West Africa Secondary School has been doin, ,",'C'II academicaJly and In extra-curricular aClivilil:s For irutancc. \\~n 'Debating Time' - the Radio Ghana programme· was mtroduced In 1994 to promote debating 10 ~ondary schools. West Africa Secondary School emerged lhe overall champlon\ of the f'r.>t comJJC'ition In 1994 for Greater Accra and wlcm Re~lfm Ill,· .,..)"",1 11.1~ .11,u ,lone well in Music and cultural competitions. 1.8.2. AdioaProcrnsivelnsfilule ·":':.IIU\In!-' 'f'<.-'I.d dUSon 10 ~ student- \\110 \\anted to \Hlle lhe: then University I l1tl,II"M.:C Lununation (tJEE). Mr Jamc, Amankwa. who IS the inilialor of lhe rr"l.'f,lInmc, had Oc-cn organlsini! da'~e~ lor l:andidatn or the UEE. and \\hen the UEE ,h"l."onlmur:d he dedded ttl ("t coooucled an urban Khools for the sake of proximil) in view of available time PerhaJ'1 the results might not. be ~uctl)' the saml' If a ~omparali\"c study was don~ bcl'Aftna nnl and an urban school University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 20 rHAPIUtTWO .USI[\\ OF fn:LATEU LI "'-RATl' ttE 2.0 INTROnl"CTI()~ This chaptcf define, III.: concept of concord and identifies lhe various types bul the \'ar,ous 1~'ptS an: nu' f ,vcn • derailed treatment. since the focus of lhe study is on Subjttt -vnb agtttmeni. T~ cnapen also reviews the Senior Secondary School Syllabus 10 estlblish lilt gap bc!''''ttn the concept being advocated in this work and whlit ren,ln, in the syll.bus. Fir-.Jly. the chapler reviews previous ",orks on melhodolo8)' 2.1 THE rONCF.PTOF (,OSCORD 'I'" r.~r.USIl Concord" definc',j d,fT"t'renlly b~ various author!> In the words of Crystal (1988 '50). 'Concord. or agreement. ,), a \\a~ of soo\\mg thai 1\\0 grammatical UOI" h;\\.:.1 c,,-n,un (Win In common.' In this WlioC. If the ~ubJecl is singular the verb must also he !>In).!ular I)MI:..>i>!.tt. has Singuiarsut,cci Slnt[ularverb 2)~ have ni~idc," Pluraisubjcci Plural\erb University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 21 ()utrt. and Gm:nbaum (~()()() 116) underscore tlx (K'IIh.:it . fhe 1'111",1 IInl"lrt.mlIYf!e of ,nntord in English is concord ofnumbcr Ixl\\l"t'n .. uhjecI and \crt> ' t r~ .. t.11 \ Iq88:~O) holds a simi .... v~w in ,tat In!.! thai '"the most Important is tilt: "thud person' rule for 'It'f'bs in the presenl tense" \.\fllchstaln "1h31!'>lOgular subjectstakc!>ingularverbs,and plural subj«tstakeplural vcrb!." Again, on the relevance of concord. Yankson (1994 XI ) o~n'es that e~n though some errors rna) be pardoned. others like 'concord rule ~iancn' arc nM pardoned Accordin~ 10 him, "Such erron ret1«t badly on the ~ak('''!>pcrsonalily;lhe) portray his interlanguageasa 'devclopin8 grammar" lhat bordcr'tllldhtcr1lCY." To savc Ghanaian students from suchan unfa\O\uable silUilion desttibcd u akin toillitcracy. though theyha\(' been educated. It Isesscntialto look at stmqics beyond rules thlt can facilitate S1udenls' comprehension of the underlying 2.1.2.1'pr-IorConcord There "f,' dIfTercnl"::JIlo).:l,)rirs of concord such as Subject- Verb Concord (Alw kno\\n .J.~ ~Ih,· ... t - Verb Agrttment). This includes Grammatical Concord and .. lInll' n(cp""ns 10 the rule of I!rammaltcal concord namely. 'ohonal Concordo and Proximity Concord . Other types of concord include Noun -Determiner Concord, Pronoun- Ant«Cdent Concord. SuhtCCI Complement Concord. Ver.Vcrb Concord. Object Complement Concord. SuhlC1.·t -Obj«c Concord. and Ad'erblal· Verb Concord. Thi!> cl.r.sllicQlion is based "".' ".,,~O\\ o(rhr ""r)..s of Agnr (:!O(1). and YOII)..",II {IQ99)./\ furtlk.T dlscusswn on t)pe\ of (nncord ha. . heen done under the rt'\"iew or Yank~un'l \\nl\"lhIS~I"1)rkho\\"e\'e'focuse50nSubj«t.Verbconcord University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 2.2 A RniC"l' .r Ihl' SconlDr ~1'~·tjAda~ ~chovl S~ lIabu~ I he F..naJlsh $)'I"bu~ It II ~mor SccOI1.I.H~ ;-.choob published b~ the (il\an.& Educatum SCn.ICC In Februiry 199) .... hichhas Ixcn In usc untilnow(2007). ... talclothat olltofttk· alms of teaChina English In Ghanaian schools is 10 ptepare ~Iud('nh It 1 'functIon effccIIVcI) ' on 111I;'Ir o .... n, In officcs and alht1' wor¥ situation ... . dnd In tentaf) IMlJlutlOf'lS The ~~ lI .. bu~ uf'ltkf"SCOf'e'S J:nr"rqUI5Ill' skill u foUows ' The Enllish coune builds on kno~lcd~c and ~kills already Kquired .1 lhe Basic [dlXallt'li Ic\(·r (page iii) Contrary 10 this cXpt"Ct.tlon. the Chief E:o.aminer's ~pon from the West African I',xammalions Council (WAEq on the perfonnance of cafwild.],,!, III [n~lish for the BasiC l:.da.::;J,lIon ( 'cnlftcalc Examination (81:<.': 1:.) has often shown thaI foundallons arc really no(!iOlid llllhe basiC level upon which ful'thcr langU3ge leaching can bt built dt-si .... ~ .11 lhe 'lCJ\lm ~ecnndar)' level , For cxampk, in 200S the Chief Examinrr'!o Rcpon IndK;J,h:d lh.i! 'Man~ of the candidates could not "b\\Cr the questions due to \H',al. p.UIIIl1.U .and thclf mabilify to express themselves well in the English language . '(II n.amplc-. tn.. .. lhl.:C txaminer fOf PJJPef Craft under Techmcal and Vocational Engh~h coolinut$ to be the malll arr. of candidaI e's weakness This )Ut lOG, wrona spelling". has been common, This asldc. there is lllso W probiem oftno man) grnmmatlcal erran lhal Ic\":I .. ,(t,,lIndidatn(200s : 121) The rrport ~atcd lunhcr lhal 'In some cUtS, cv,,:hd.lle<- \~ere uruhle 10 ~nte even one simpk -.cnteOl;e wilhoui;) gr.ammatical ~r'. Th" )lIlYllon gl\C's credence 10 lilt view University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh fIK)\'C to the nc~t '\g.un !kl' much appears to be included in the wholc syllabus on ~n'ences . II is only Unit 14 of Ycar One. Section 2. which dc.ls \\lith Grammar that has ~(lmclhlOlo! on types uf !>CntC'l"M:n. The unit is titled 'TYPES OF SENTENCES' and has the rollowin~ :? 14 I ldentif) \arious types ofsentenccs ~ 142 l'~t~t}pesappropnately Though t~re\ of sentences are mentioned in the ~}lIabu~. the on1) ~~nt('nce typn ltc:ml'-(',l undt'r 'Content' are Simple. Compound. and Complex scnlen,;es This IIl.lJ'°'lII..'!C tn:.1lmenl of sentences is of interest becausc one would havetho ughtlhatin Ire .. 'in!.! !>Cnte"nces the relationship betwccn th~ ~ubject and the" \lerb in gi\len cI.uses \\tLuJdbctrcatedtol.yafoundationfortheunde:rstandingofthcconceptofconcofd 11 must .. 1'0(' Ix noted that the SSS English syll.bu~ appear. . Inadequate: al certain Kdions. \\hleh ma)' contrib .... e to inadequatc teaching and Ic,nmng of those section!> and this rna) ullimalely hive an ad\lcnc efT«t on student performance, For Instance. concord.\ ~illen only one unilthroughoullhe ~hole sy llabu!>c\len though it has berotllC' lhe: b.ane of studmts. this j" 'rc:alt:"d lIll it IS stalc:d that ° Students will be ablc: to I . mmch the appropriak ....e rb fonn WIth its subject in numhcr and pC'N>n 2. dctennlnc ,."ntc:x"'" of lIariation In n..mba selection University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh l 'Jmrk 1 The commll1C'C (Nvelhas) dtcMted. \~J.,n . under Conlenl, four rulcs on concord "ilh examples are given, It loa)' 'Sll.iI.. . nh ",Ucxamulemefollowin{!!>Ilualiom WhC'rethcnouncu<;cJrcfellt1Ihl'onrandthe !WImeper'KlO,the verbissmgul;1r l-.xampee 4: His bo\ .. JIlJ fnend works hard • Sint[ul:ulouhJeclsjoUledh) 'oNltlf\\lth'lakcsingularverbs hample~ ' fither m) hrother or my Sister h~ .. :lrrivcd. \Ioncna sln~ularsubject and a plural subject are joined by 'or/nor' the verbagr«s with tht'whjttl within the 'nor' CIr 'or' phrasc 1-,ample6 : Eitherlhe headmasleror the leachers are right .\ 'mgulJr \ubJItCI and a plural subjCC1 joined by 'wilh' or 'no leM. I"an' take .. a singullr I umpk7 Thebo) \\llhhl\parenlsisgoingwchurch This " Ih(" \\holc ~~II"hu' nn (('IKord and dearly is inadequatc; no !»o;lemallc methodolog) I~ '1If'~e"ted c,ccpt lhat s.lucknls in pairs and groups all! expected 10 _yte and di~u!>~ 5ub,CCI \'erb agreement in a givcn passage. The nlClhodoiogy heine sUU'"trd 111 thi" present work 1n:IY lherefoll! be found uKful In alie\ialmg the diffictllill" nflfic Il'achin[[and learnin~ of concord 2J :\ R('\'k\\ of St'ftior Secolltla r-\ School Te",book~ fuooJIn("nlal definlllllll ofa pronoun in several booksappcarlti to be: misleading It is ~'("ncf3l1) defined as a word which can replace I noun This definition is appropriate It lhe bask lewl whch: the learners arc stud)'ing m.inl~ \\ord!i or the parts of speech University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh lto~n'Cr M the Juntur ~ond&r) School ;md Senior Sccondat) ~hoc'll levels. \\herc phrases and clauses are taught. the definlilOn must (hange acenrdlOgly. Hence, the pfonoun maybe defiT1C\l asn word thai can rcplacca noun. a noun phrase or. noun clau\.C lhe learner. ' uJ\Jcr)l.1ndmg of thIs basic concept may then serve as lhe foundallonrOlrurthcr~rkin(oncord . I he tlhana SenlU( s«ondar) School Enghloh Hook I d('fi~$ • pronoun u ". word thai \1a.nd .. (or a noun". AIM), the authors. David Cobb and others (200 I). perhaps assuming th.1t rJdinilioru; must have been laught in the lS S .. do not define a pronoun in their bool.. English for Semor Secondary Schools. In Unit 2 Seclion 7 which is lilled. 'Focus (lll ~ramtn3l1c.a1 (onn - noun phrases and pronouns' )Iwents art' asked 10 identitY noun phrasc:$anJlhenpronoura(roma~vlouspas"'g<'readtmlnodefiniIlOnnurre\I!<.)on (,Jo,ntilt is ,aiven. Moreo\cr. concord is trelled only In the Ghana Senior Seeondar) ~ht ... )1 Engli$h Book 2l 'nIIl This ISscanlily prc!>C'nlcd ,J!. Illustrated abmc (Re(cr 10 the rt"')C\\o(lhtSSSsyliabusahme) 2.~ -\ Ke\'it'" o( PU'\'toU5 Work Renled 10 COllcord Vanous rnearchm; s~h ..... Agor (2003), Edu· Buandoh (1996). Yankson (1m). nako C1alllt:l97)I\a\(elludiederrorsof<;ludcnt~hulrtwuv:ofrersonaJ pronoum.u:.lhcbbi) (or le3(lunG concord has 001 come up. Wlredu (1998 ;66) defines pronouns as ",ords \\~lI~h.lre u~ 10 r"q)lace a noun, especially where \\~. dll nOI wanllO rt:pta, thai nnun' NOI\\llhs~n{hna Ihls. hu, book. ",hu;h IS tilled OrKII""~" t;nKI"h (jrallfmm IS wt:lI. (Ml. .. "i.....-t (or selr-aud) and pra..:tict lJy 'Iudt'nh;ll ~ondary 4nd It'rtillf) Itwl HU\\(,\t'f. CI)"IIal (1'1)1111. HefTt'Ol'Ian allJ I u-.:oln (1'186) dcfinc ;I pfunoun &.s • WOHJ University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 26 "Im"h c.an trplan' ') noun or. noun phra~ 1 h,~ JdimllOn 1$ u'>Cful . yet a definition that "oukt gi\'c (~ kamers an Ide.a about the: noun dause and the (OK! lhal II CAll al50 be rc"..cedb).pronounma) bebdter V.ltoUischolan~proposcddivcrseapproachestothetcachinsofEngli!lhingcneral and grammar in pII1K:ulat. for iRS&anCe. iOffiC scholars have advocated. communic3til.:C olpfY08Ch to dlr lcoachmg of En~li~ as a second language in Ghana . ro Dumc\hu;, (1997), ' the (umntapproxh 10 ESL pedagog) in Ghana that generally sees language 8\ t:rammar r.1lhcr than as a mcaru of commulI1calion is deficient' ; therefore he advocates a l.llmmunlcalivc. skill-oricnted approacll "hose ultimate goal and misston should be nol ~ 10 equip the le.ntrs with grammatical competence but more crucially. with .tl.kqualC communicative competence' in English. As ht" ri. ...l )' obsenes, the communicall\C approach "ill afford ESt. learners the ability to "communicate in sociocullurall~ appropriate ways in English with both nativcandnon·nativc UKrs ofEnglish ' Hov.(:'\"er.other scholar" have a lso lamented lhe ckplorablc performance of studcnts In grammar such as Dlko cLal (1997). and c~ucnll)' suggal differcni approaches 10 the teaching of t:nglilh. For hi .. ran. D~ic draws • dislinctton between grammatical lind communicati\c competence and brines out the essence of communicali\c competence. A SUn-C) 1)(: cllnducled lL'> ~tufhi<:tc~atchsho\Vcdlhal the pnmar) emphasis in t:SL In our scllools from the thcSlrucl~of[rw.lish(173)" University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh t 'nfOrtunalt:I~. lhou~h m lr there appcaD to be an empha!>ls on the kaTRlng of gram . ;spprupnale methods or ,UiltCgIC" are not htmg employed in the teaching ofconc(\rJ. theRb)' makmg It impossll'Ilc 10 salisfy the objectl\cs ofleac:hing concord in Ghanaian schools. Hence. lhe...e is a pcrsi'ilC'nt complaint about the poor performance of candldatesalthe Senior Secondary SchoolCC'rtiticale Examination as notcd elsewh ere m Ihis work. That is why mC'lhodologic!>. such as the stratC'glcs ... ug~stcd in this CUrTenlworkforteach,"gsubjcct.verbconcord.areu~ful Oumcshlc further notes thai 'cmrhasllm~ grammar in an ESl proSramme proJuce~ speakerlio who may acquire a 1I;0od d ... ~rcc of grammatical cornpclence in English but lack adequate communicative competence," the languagc". Thilio observation I .. generaU)' true; Ilowevcr. Ihe trend as revealed from report .. of the West African Examinations Council (WAITI and frequent complaints in the dailies indicate that most KCOndary school students face a double agony of neither "'Tiling good grammar nor bein. able to demonstrate communicative competence when the} speak Certainly. the communicative appf'OKh "1)Old enable leatnn'5 to make arrropnatc linguistic cnou:a when interacting with people. but grammar need. . to ht- given a mo~ me,:ulIngfuJ appl'OKh. This curren!: work dOC'S not suggest thai sl~ss should be placed 1l111h(>IC'achingofgrammarlothtdisad\'anla~ofothcrhmguagcskills, Rather.the \~lIabl in schools should adopt an eclttl,( .Irrrc.aeh by which there ..... ill be places for hUlb the lCachi"l of grammar and • communicative approach to the teaching and leamincofthe Engh .. h languqc. Tht usc of appropriate stralegies in tcachingconcord \\ III also promote the skills of students in verbal and ..... Tinen Ctlmmum(:allon. Canale University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh «198), quu'ed in Dzamc .. hic 1997) undto<:ocn the Impon.tIK'~ of 8T1mmar 3:> ,In,; ,If the componcn'" of (ommunlC3tion comPO:'C'nc~ Damcshic (1997:1&8) also ackno,",'icdICS that 'adopting the CommuniClli ve ApproKh doC'S noc call (or c~ total rcjec1ton of the existing ,lructl. ...I 1~ .~ c. . ~nll.1 componelll . Thus Sl~'rn n98J), Allen (19110). Dzamclihie (1997) hI~ .11 advoclled an inlCJlMed lanpagc s~ lI.bus thai ,,·ill reflect the various aspect .. of communicallon compttcnce. This cunmt work therefore '" • step further in dnigninG This study focu)<" ) on subject . \~rbeoncord and deviates. from pre\tous sludin such 3. . Se)' (1973) Criper (1971). Dako et , .1 (1997). Agor (20U3) which were mostl) on the INII)'scs of erro~ made by Ghanaians generally and students in particuw-. Furthcnnor-C',thisscudy foc:uses on thC' premise thai C'CTOrso(subjecl-verbconcord may .,nt b«ause or the methodology or approKh by which it is taught in our '-Chcanl .. This is conirat)' to earlier ~tudics such as Dako et II (1997) thlt lay the blame f\tI the- trainmlo(~achers. [)ako ~t al , 11997:53) indicatC' that their study: isb3sedonthcQ.S,umrti"nth.llthcll .. inillgo(tc;ld\cr~ anrlrhrf'lI.lenl10 which Ihrsc !.~ lcochc:rs at( r. . mili.ar coruibu1oJy factortothtdec:line of Enslish il1 (ihanaian schools University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 28 (f"'8~ . ~lJ(lIcJ In f)/ank:'\hit' 1997) underscores the! imptlMann' of 8rammar as OJ'lC' 01 the comporn:nl' "I commUnication competeme Ozarneshie (11)97:18H) also acknO\"ledges that 'aJoplll1' the Communicllj\lc App'oach d(l("~ nol call for the lolal rejection of the existing structurally -ba.'>Cd \~lIal'!u, ' \1111,:(: communical''''C' competence includes grammatical competence as an ("\'>entla] component. Thus Stem (1913). Allen (1980), Dzamcshie (1997) have.1I ;tJ\,,';,lI!;"d an intelll'ted lanpLIgc- syllabus that will reO«1 the various aspeelS of commuOI"allon competence. This cWTenl wor\: therefor\." , .. a step funhcf in dcsi!,!ninf! a \1"'1~~ t'o)" which an aspect of grammar may be taugh!:. This study fOCUK~ on subJfi:1 \erb concord and deviates from pre",iou\ studies such as Sty (1973) Criper (1971), Oako et .•1 (1997). Agor (2UU3) which were mostly on the "'yasofcrrorsmackbyGhanliaru.gcnerallyandstudenlsinpartieular, Fd'thrnnol'C', this study focu!iC!o on the premise that errors of subjee1 - verb f;Orl('ord may arise: because of the mcthodoloBY or approe.ch by which it is taught In our schools This iscomrar)'toearlier sludies such as Dakoetal (1997)tha1layt~ blameoolhe traininlofll9chcrlly "'lud~nlS ' knowtcd8~ of Grammar makes certain slartlins revelations regarding the dCICflo,.lllng performance of stud en Is. According 10 them. thel' ,Iudy had been prompled I'I) thelf nh'l.cnallon O\Cf the )('afr. or. steady decline in the English competence of Il'Ic rfl~hKt of our K'0001$ and urUvcrsilte!>" The:-- refer to al'C'port by the Minister for ldlA:.:alion rcp>ni"lIO Parhamenl on 20· Mly 1994 on the mulls of the senior Second.:ary School final examination In wruch he:: noted that " BO% of lhe (ota l 42, I 05 cand idate!> dllJ not passin English". The standard OIsainst \\hich the r.u 1\ onen measurc.."(i IS the le vel of language u~: \\h'ch studtob arc expeclCd (0 6emonmate in • particular milieu or time, This mJ~ \ .11) from , )1'1(' period to the Olhct, Fot In!>UJKe. dunng the colonial period there \\a!> an an\I~) about falln" sa.ndanIs in the pcrfol11'Wl(:C' in English. Graduales "ere nol btinS prnduccdatthellme w hu\\ouldn«dacadt:mlclan!!t1.1t!.c lur rt:scarch and so on bul thc- products of the then Semor School (Standard Se\'cnl \\crcexpcctctl to acquire I lev elof IAft~'U.ljl!e UK' tklt "auld be CUI""K'n!>Uf3Ie \ \llh II",· 'a!> t...\ anlle 'p"' .., 1 for them, \ I"-"h 3' clcrb in lhe co kMUJ suvice. !OCCfC1arin. pte.ll'hcr)o, sales persons and the M.e University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh In the Iwt1"llMeth CCn!UI') the cry about rallin~ .. Iandanll in English in (iharlJ,lan och. (jluational leaching and oral lechlllqUb 11111)' also he: cmplo~cd 10 dnclop the commurucalive competence of studenls University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh lhe "Iud) b) Oako CI aL I"vohed "Italknl" of the Oepan~nh (II l:.n~lr,h In Till' IJnl\crsil) of Ghana. and Tbc Univcrsity of Educalion, Winneba to a~cl1alO The SCudml', Ic\('1 ofgr.Jmmalical knowledge To "h31 clIfenl "modern" grammar had heen Intcrnalized How much of the older -"..ditional" (Uafflmatic:al knowledge still lingen. to our school)Y'5lem Ho\\ ~cl\qtlve'5ludenlsarcto idiomatic 'cnteoccstruclure '/(1\\ mudl gr.lmmalical understandin. (if any) is actually retained from a Unf\enll:-" (OUf)C' (Oakoet aL 1991: 61), lbtir ftndi,.. among others. wathat "our students do oot ha\eadequatc grammatic.ll kno"kdgc and do nul havc an adeqUllk: fed for a grammallc.l1 and idiom.tlc,1l1~ COTrttl Kr'IIencc", 1 ht~ abn 1lI.11cd that FUE respon!>cs showed that 'teachmg of baSIC language (onccpts I~ lrudequald~ handled in the Secondary School', This is where the curren! S(ud~ and similar onn on melhodology may be considered u~ful. for the syllabus ma~ be' he8",il) dosed \\ith !-!rammar, but if the appropriate teaching stralegics 4IC'rK'l adof*d, the rnult will not be appreciable One agren "ilh Oako et al. that the s)lIabi used in the J,S.S. and S,S S. arc .. entente based,thercforc langualC teaching is deall with frornlhc sentcf\(C level andcomblnH (oncC'pt~ "hall·wa~ up the lrec- (Dako Cl al. 1997). To illuslrate their poinl Dako and oche-n diSCUSS an extract (rom the JSS SU~·.fIN English Syll"hll.f. They ar~uc lhal one 'oouki fi,. ~ some "lnowlcdge of whit a verb iI as \\Til a .. 00\\ and where it runcliom in the sentencC''' before one: can effeclively undcmand 1he- COtl(;epl of finill: and University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh OlIn .Iinllr \r~ This '"~stcmalic kno\\ledgr is crucial 10 It.: 8\Oldance of c(lO(t1rt.! crmrsandl(lthisoncma) 3Jd(urt~rthal.\\henthcverbisbeinataught.itmu:'>t be ~I&led to its subject so thai the concept of concord i ~ inuoduud before il is gh'cn a dctalled Heatmen! In Ihls "a~. the cstablishment (If ,h~~ <';ui'l,cct -Verb relationship will !JCI" e ~, the foundltion for tht sUMequcnt leUtment of concord The «.rm of the J.S.S. S~ 1I3i'1U~ is !uOll lar 10 the Senior Secondary School (S .S S.) EnBlishS~1I3bu)"hK:hWtipublished in 1993 and has heen in UK unlil no'\- (2007) AnCX1ract(romthillytiabusisgl\fenbck>w' Year()n,r ' Sc-ct;on2-Grammar Unit41Vcrbsi Tt.: scudmt \\0 ill bcable: to· I de1ermlnethecorrect \'crb forms; 2 ,drntlf} thc vc:rh forms in context; '\ u'C\crbfomnc:ffcctlvclyinspc«handwritLng The unit ~)C'ntC'd above: ha~ no place for the revision of what a ,,,,,,b I.' ;lnJ /1/"" "I ',",hJ so thai tht J'IC\\ tOpiC namely. ·to dde:rmirt(' the correct verb fonll" lila) he Introduced More: 500. the topic, "'10 dnemHnc the correct verb form'''' appears to be \\mngl~ ,fated It should ha~ been 'Concord'so that• • fter "tu.iC'nts have: been laken through the' "tud~ of concord. they eM)' ~ asked to Kim!ify corn:c! vt:rb fonm In sentenccs. By JUSt listmg \erM :lOd uJ'lCc!mg 5!udc:n!~ lu identify C«r«1 verb forms in Ihc= ti,umptKm tha1 the srudcnlS w;11 kno ... by usmg "ahlc~ to identify ronns of verbs" (\:i\S "i~ lIahu, Iqc)J}. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh .n \\ Ilhtlul .. ~ )lemaIKall) Icachlng concord and the "ari{lU'> 'y~. the: objccli\c !>Iatcd in Iilc: )~II.bus lhaz sludenls will "usc verb form~ effectively in speech and in wriling" rna) nil' be- achtned. "crhap!> Ihi!> .l!.:o.:tlunb partl~ for the n:ason wh} errors of cOrK:ord arc~ p-rvaienl in the ",Titingr. of sludcnb. 1 hesc errors are therefore carried 0\,1:' b~ 'ilUdcnh 10 the tcniary level. as .nested by Dako ci .•1 (1997). who examined the errors od ,luJ..:nh In !lOme universlUes. and Agor (2003) who analyzed the errors of studenh in From the discussion ofltlc 1.5.5. and 5.S.S. syllabi ahove, one agrees "ilh Dake el.8l (1997:63) lhal il appears the leaching of a syslematic grammar is nol required from the leacher of Lnglish ,I the J.5.5. and S.5.S. Consequently. "our pupils thus leave school \\111),,'ul much understandina of how Englilh worits ..... (Ibid). AI C\ef)' level it is bSumc:d 'hit the studeI'll already k.nows whit he is supposed 10 have learnt; thercfo~ IS iIIustralN a~nt. there I~ no revision and the foundation appears nol to be properly latel II any k\(lhcscincIUlkincomplClcsenlences). She rcponcd th31 'Inthesamplcsofessa:vscoll«twbylhe researchers, concord rule d(\lance "'as also hi8h in frequency ofrecurrinf! errors in most of the schools' (202). (learl), the problem orf;oncord nrecb to be tackled. perhaps through the adoption of Sf)fTI('rM'thods,suchas thcstralcgy being suggested in this current work. Ht'rstudyalso provcs lhIt. loough thc syllabus being uKJ lI.gclher "11h Ihe ... ommunicativ(' approach of t('achlng and 3\Old \crnal:ular University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 't"nslalions of E"Ih~h ",ords and u~'lon' II ma), be inferTeJ IlIlm Ihis proposal that Ih.:ro;,' aft' prohkms \\-Ilh Enpli'h 1t.",ldllll~' Ol":lhndolog) 10 lohan,1I3n ltChools lhat ha~ leJ amollt! olhet) 10 the ~na!olvelrss of com:or,J error ... y."kson (199'" also conducted asur\e), alrned aI htlping West African sludenls The "Iud) \\.1) bJ~ on concord errors from over onl: thousand "end..of-year tJi.aminatlon SCripts "Tinen bct\\een the 1977 197' and the Iq8411985 academIC yean" (Yankson 1994: xi,. The errors covered. period of eight )c.m>, involvi"! first year unJcrt!raduaIC\ of ,hi,: llmversiry of Nigeria. !\;~ukka. and University of Cape Co.st in Ghana. ThebookLs.,t'\lsededitionofanearlterwork(IQ89)whlchcontalm,·concord mun made by Ihe third and finaJ year tmdergraduate students of the Uni~rsily of Cape l (1;\'\( Apr,Heml). much time was spenl on the research making it an authentic SQurt'e 101 plauslole alj;uments. According 10 hllll, 'concord rule dc:vi.ncescasl a sturon the penonahty of the Ont who makes the ,:nllr ' This implies that, if lan(!UAge depiCl~ pcrsonaJity,thensludcnlswhoarebcing lraincdtohcrespectablepcrsonsi n thefulure musl also k.am to u.sc lanauageappropriatel),. He fwther indic3.ted that concord errors pomay that the speaker's interWigu.age is a "developint-: ~rammaI" thai borden on Illiteracy . .., ,mhon propo~s 1h.31 hiS work wn/lld provide 'whd dab upon which any l(lng.laS1luH \\ lb.blJ.~ CM! confidcncl~ hc." hasc: •.r 111.11). In 1hi, lighl. thiS current \\ork may be ......... 'iIl,.IerediUananemplluprovldea\aCfulmethodoIOlYlhatwillconirtbu1etosol. .. ing ... 'm('~hJdemconc::md l'tlUI\ University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh YJn,I..-.onargur~ that hrorsthalpcrsistat the tmdergraduate/c\cIand heyondundouhtedl} quclotionthceffectivenessorourEnghshl,mguageteaching: malerialsandstrategiesatlllle"elsorourcdocationals)'stem lhc primary and Kcondaryschools. training colleges, colleges of higher education. Swely. thrre must be something wrong with In ('du,:tti"n31 ~~ slem which producn the crop of errors \\e shall Yankton sho'A"S concem about the effectiveness of 'our EnLthsh I:mguage fl'aching mMerialsandstraliegies' . which is the ccmral inteTeSl oftl'lelulhoro(thlspre,em\\'Ork As Dato C't. II have noted. the lexlbooks which are used in teaching m our schools have problems r:qually.d)est"legl~orapproacheslolcachingha ... ealsobeenproblematic HOWf'\·er. Y.bon's work does noI provide a methodology but a corpus of CITOI'S and rules of concord. His lim is nOllo provide a methodology, bul 'incra..,inB an lwart'ReSS of tile t'oormil) of the problem' (xii) He slresse5the imponancc of empirical data for a.cconhnglohlm."ilisthelack\lflhl\kindof~equale,rcliablc:.empiricaldStIi,inthl!oo arCJ \\hICh 10 a 13rge C;'ltcm, account'. rolf the promlncnce InoJ pcIM"I.:nl· ... of concord rrror.; mour students' interlanguagc'·f"l1) [I i!; also hIS oope Ihal teachers may U5e Iht informatton gi\n1 in his book lodnektp methodologies University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh II , (urn'nf "ork " JII "Hempt 10 develop a mcthodolog~' or "U3h!~~ a .. :I ,-"mrlo.:!IIcnl 10 prt\'ious .«cmph fnIIdc at solving Iht problcm~ of concord. such IS 'an\..!'o(ln s \~ork . For. an ;I\IIatrMS$ of d)t prohkm \ulhHut Inc appropriate .. tcps or I '.Jp!el one, Vankson anal}scs the errors students make and classifies them mto 1.1 ()mlss ionof,he /·s/ factor Thai Istht inflmion ··s· 0(,1l(' thtrd person singular indicative in the prescntlcnsc l.l!-.ubJ«t·VertJConcord The rule of {he subjecI·"erb concord 1~ that a singular subj«1 carTies a \IIl1.'lIbr \t~rh while: • plur.tl subject carnes. plural vcrb Pnder the subject·verb concord . Y;mkllol.ln idemlfies SIX c..1lqjorioea of errors (rolll Ilk crrors recorded in his sludy. rtlCscare ., f)e\-elopmcntalelrors b) Notional concord erron c) PtOJumityconcorderrors d) Memory limillition concord CHtlr) e) PlurOlllnneclional COfk'IU~ errors I) Inabllil)' to identify noWi hcadv.-ord. Thi~ !.tud) also looked al \\hat Ylnkson la'xls as dC\'dopmcntal erron under subject_ \'eft! concord Thl~ Cltegory has to do with the students' inabilit), to match I subject "lIhll't(~tc.uxiliil0vmasin: I xmlple 1 Kwamc have (lmldonchis v.orX University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh bample I. ~'hallhc: ,IIIJen1'- lhd have (has) made c"erybody hapP) Also under Ihl:!i group I' the lhlrd person '~s· inlkcllon errors, such a~ l:.xample-9: Theargumc-nl r;tlhC"rsound(sound~) Inlert!sling !-.xample 10 Education promote (promotes) nalionai grov.1h. l.l,l Netiega' co.cord errors: Thi'i I. . lhe 3gn:cmenllk:l;,l,dins CO the noIionor idea that Ihe speaker or writcrhas. llsualt)lthastodo\. .i thdassorcollectivcnouns "umple 11 . Theco,"mincc:~done;tgoodjob I umrle 12: ThC'commllt« have done a good job. In examplc 11. 'Ihe commincc' is considered a.. . a "il1~k ullIl Iherefore it takes a singular In cJWnple 12, 'the wmmlnre' is considered as a plural unit (the !opcaker con"IJef!l member of lhe committee as individuals) as a result. tile subject. 'The Committee' i!> considc-red asa plural uni1.lhereforeilcarriesaplural verb, 'have', Sometlm~ Ie-arners are baffled b) this concept and tend to construct ~ntenccs like Fxample 13: 'My ""hool ~ done well at the recent games' 1 he- 'Iuden!!> think of '~chool' .5 • cotle~tive noun Instead of looking 31 II .1, ;! ","~u1.1' Uflilfromihegrammallcalpcf'ipecuvc. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 1.2JPrulimlh ronrord~rron rhl~ typtof~'(I'Kord is based on the noun thai isclosesllo lhe main verb in lhesenlencc I ,amples I" I tlhcr lhe "'Ofk en or ihe manager\\u seriolH t·. xarnplc 15: Either the manager or lhe worlters were scnolJS t Colrners a~ sometimc~ wnfuscd by this t)'pC of error; therefore wor ha\e errors like the h.lIllnln, from Yank~on(I994)' ElWTIpleI6: Thcreasonforitsfallinthcseareasare(is)notfar-fetchcd EumP'eJ7· Alongdiscussiononlhe wayofthecoloniststake(takes)pJace. Thn I~~ of error In coocQrd 15 idcmified In the curreRI ,Iud) as the failure of the larntn 10 ldentlf) the subJttt oflhc senlence. III~ the view of the current \Hllt:r IhJl . iflfudents~h.:lpedloldenlifylhesubjeclotasenlence.lht!yshould kno""halt)PC nl pronoun can ~place tilt.· ,ubject ("hecher third person sm~lIlar etc) .1nd therefore the appropnaltVf"rt:llha! \\ill go with lhc pronoun In this currmt Sit.:!)' it b suggested that Iht- proooWl mu:u he tau8ht as the subject oh daUSC'.thalphrase-:. ;mdclauscsassubiectsofaclauscmustfollnw. Fnllnwinglhis,\hc ICAmers mU.\1 t>c ~ult.fC'11 10 rerl~ suhjcct phrascos and clauses in given selllelU:l..~ with approprutc pronoun .. Methodol08~ IS M esse-nlial as 1he rules of conwrd. (or if the University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh \"'Jl"'>lln(I'N-I)tJo".hlh,"'v'C\\lhat.'I,"luJ~'nbaremade.~orlherule!oorcI ......,. ord and I~ I.'ITOrs they nul.c. they ma~ learn from l~ir mistahs and a\oid them This currmtseudyisoflhtopinionthallhra\u~smuslbebackedb)aleachingslrateg) (If methodology which will firmly establish the koov.lC"dge in the minds ofthc learners. Ob Icarner .. of I ng" .. h as a second lan~ua~c. 'iO thai suitable leachlnll methods ml)' be designed nm,' the light In v.hlch the current study may be found l.lSCful. since it dnigns • mClhvdolog~ by which .. ubject·verb concord may be tauj!ht In the words of tht classroom teacher needs to kno\.\-~ errors S1udents make and \\hl..lhc)makelhemtoenabJehimtodevi~appropriatepeda80gical '>tralCtltCS to dimlnalc them, The student mU51 also be made a"are of h,~ .. ~ ~tematn: and r«urrent~. uthl:rwise he cannot learn rrom them I \cn Ihou,tJ ' ... nk ... ·n ,nJI~ ... ll·," the Imporbncc of 'pedagogic straleg~: his work does not focus on lhat. ,\nothcr I~rt" pI \'fror \\hJeh VanksondiscUSXI in ""'at he labc"" III" .M emory limitatIOn ''" ,dcllIlljed in thl,> p«'senl woR a learners' ,"at'lIlil~ In Idenllf)" noun phr~ and dau.w.'> .IUJ lhelr COrTespondmg vcrbs. Tt,e eumplc nled by Vanbon (1994 5)1~.noullphr ... ~modlfiedby.rd.llvt:cl.ausc: University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh lxaml"lk 18: This KLof under age students who don', knuw the difference be1",C'C'n good and bad ~~(ma~C's) things difficuh for tht reader' He argues that bcause the ~nlen~e is long:. by the lime tilt student finishes \Hiting, he has forgonen the subject of the "I!ntence - 'set" - \\hich should go with the verb 'makes' thc:~fotC' the student writes 'make.' While this view cannot be discounted. it appears IMI In mlt"'t Ghanaian schools. the noun phrase and other groups of words which can functl('ln~ Ille subject ofa senlence are not being properly trealed T~conc:ernin schools is for cMdidaleS to be able to identifY the phrases and clauses m the asp«tof I~ Senior ~nmdary School ('orC' English Comprehension question which requirt's undld.lc~ 10 .dentlf) a phr.a~ or clause in a ~iven sentence AnCnlltln.lppcar., to have shiftcd frornlhetcachingofphrasesanJ clauses as important a.'p«h of "rilmg to preparalion for an objccli\'e test, This trend may be reversed by ltachmg Noun PhrlSC's and NounClau5C's not only as subjects ofpanicular verbs. but also as knou.ledsc reqUired for the process of writing Fnough time needs to be spenl in teaching the elemenh of a noun phra~ such as the !::!£~dword and modifiers because the ''Aucneu of the head .... ord Will asSist the student 10 determine the appropriate connpon..hngverb Uo"ner. \\-hen useful melhods are ndopted to leach COfl\:ord. niles ilia) also be [.:Iup. IR wme inslanc('s. For Instance. plural inflectional concord errors have' 10 del mainly 'A;lh words borrowed into English from foreign lO\1Kes such as Greek. hamplcs arc Mathernall", I'h~' '1'::', and Aesthetics Such words go with a tinplar verb ;1.<; III I-.xampk 1'/ I'h~\ICS!!.subjeclllike University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Ant'lh~'r ~Jlq.'or:- of ,,"ub,ect-verb concord which Vankson identl(u,:~ is ',\,),ll!nl.ltu: 1 h" .'!. the situation \\here the 's«ond I.n~uage learner's inlerlan~uage IS dl.U;!dcrll.t:J b~ IR(on"slencies' (1994:6). Again, one would like In atlnbute this "lwlltHl ttl the inabilil} of learners to identify lhe subject of a sentence and its Hence. they do 001 realize thaI the <;ubject (lfa S('ntence "ith SC'vC'ral ,erbs ml.Kt corre ... ponJ In 311 the 'Verbs according 10 numhcr. rhe follo\l.ing IS an examplefromYankson's\wrk L",arnpIc20: A child wakes up and expect (expects) his parencsto greet him In 11m e:\ample, the subject. ' A chi ld' , is a noun phrase which can be replaced by the pronoun 'He' , Since this is. compotnl clause. the subject of the second '-em, 'e'Cntia! for turners to understand the' tomponenlS of a structure and how they function. ('lImpo~lOg • sentence: either \(~rbally or 10 \\Tiling may be equaled to puttinS up • t-ulldlOg. ""hereby the tllocks (the words) must be moulded first before lhe building is r,I1'>l"d (.ood blocks musl be moulded to put up good walls and in raisin!.! the wall. one rllU" lnow which block rnUS1 fit into what place. This is the e!t.locncc ,If .. tudying as such. strategies of ICachinl! and learning concord are only in effect '\ltdln~ Ihe blocks for the construelion ofscntcnces University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh CHAPTER 1 HlUf-: ~1ETJIOl)OLOG' J.OIl'\rKOUlCTIUN Ihl!>ch.ptf"rdiscussc~lheresean:hmethOOologyemployedinthe~scarch.sweliasthe teaching mf"lhodology which \\/lS employed n. . a model for the inler\"rnllon J.I RESJ:·\R( H \U,lHUUULO(;Y J.l.l"Qu.lilatjv~andQuantilativel{cse,archTechniqueJi Siner 'all approaches 10 second language research require some form of disci pi in cd ulquit}' (Selinger and Sholwny 2001:113), both qualitative and quantitative research I«ivliques were employed in the study . Available empiric.lliteralun: \\&$ examined to utilist relevant ideas. some of which nave been used to validate artz:ul1l~'nt~ in the work This rcseart'h methodology is to some I.".\h"m eclectic siO(I." II wmhUlt;:S elements of quantltall\~ and ",ualilalive fl:'scarch Oral mtervic\\s ncr!.' ... 1"0 conducted and a qucslionn.llfc,ldmmiS1ercdtoSludems.lnthiscaSC'. "Iheverl:laliscdmtrospeclionsoflhe le,1rm:r .. ahoullOc:u performance comprise: the data" (Selinger and Shohamy 2001: 115) "h"h I~ t"omplcmcnll."d b~ the verbal intervicws with their teachers. Thus. adminislcnng lht: I.jul.",lltlnn And IN- rrsulb h.3\(' ",'en 4u.lnillied III stalistl~ ... 1 Lenns a"J Ihne have become the d3ta prCSCnled. Several h:1I)CJflS gUided the choice of Ihe'OC I'olrametersofrnearch University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Quahtaliu: rncarch appro3Ch was partl) adopled becau~ II .1JTurds natural 1'C~I"'>Il"'~"'- III §iluations" In - qualil3lih' l'C\.Carch IlK mllst typical inh:n'IC\\!<> are tOOK \\hldl an: 01"-"". Inrormal and strUC!un:d" (Selinger and Shoham} 2001:160). Man: so. quahtatlve ~arch C.m rr,\\ ide insight not a\flilablc through research mClhodologtes dep:ncknl on a sincleapprnach 'IIrn as an experiment. oralesl (SelingerWld Shohamy 2001 :122). HO\l,C"\cr. Ihl~ rl"can;n was basically an experimental reseall:h because of its analytic and deductive component. According to Selinger and Shoham~ (2001). experimental research entails the conlrol or manipulation of the three basic componenls of lhe e.\pcnmcnl ....m el~. the population. the Ireatmenl. and the measurement or Ihe In Icrm~ or ·treatment'.lhe scl«tcd classes "erc ~I\·en controlled experience. Thus. fhe language Inchmg model which is being proposed in Ihb stud} ror the Icaching or Subjcct·verfJ agh:'Cmc" was taught to one class, while the other 1"0 classes \\ere excluded. Measurement or the effects or the Irealmenl was done through a post· J.I.2Populalion Tht ~tud~ focused on the perfonnance or th ... ,dcCI1."d POPUhUI(l1l \\ilh lhe hope that mulls obtained would reprcscni a rcalit~ for the ~1«lcd population which may be KmC1'8li,,","", for olher sroups. ]he pdvuliltiun or groups used lor lhe research '''core:- "I \\cn: conducted to elicit viewo; of English teachers .bout lhe leaching of concord and why they thought students had problems with concord. Most of the respondents said students were not cSoing well in Enalish and had problems with concord because they ""('re not ~rious with their studies. They also complained that 'lud4:nts were not Interested in readin~. otherwise they could Slin some knowledge of I!-rammar .... oc.buhu) .•n d language usc: through reading. lIowe\·er. personal observatIOn and random inspn:tion of the books students read In(hcated that they were Interested in booklets in the form of the prm crbial Omtsa Market st~s. Such booklets may not benefit them as much a.. novels from the African Writers Series or Pacesetters. Indeed. some knowledge of grammar may be obtained from reading books. but conscious efforts must be made to adopt strategies that may enhance the leaming of grammar 10 complement what is gleaned from the books. In addition 10 lhe informal interview of teachers. a slruc;:tured questionnaire was admlOl~ercd to \ludents 10 asceruin the problems they face in English.1 the SSS. (Refer 10 Appendix IJ for sample of quntionnairc adminiSlered to students and Appendix E for sample q~lions posed durins informal personal Interviews) University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 47 AOMINISTRA nON OF QUEsnONNAIRE Fift} questionnairn were administered and retrieved. The respondents were ,"coly-nine ",.;lIn and twenty O~ remak"!>. The age dislrlbulion o(11le respoodenlS \\3$ as follows; Tabkl : Ascdistriburionofrcspondents Thoughthehighcst(requencyofagewasI7years,lheaw:rage /mcanagcv.asI8yc.:ln.. IC:~-18 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 4R T.bk 2 Asec of commcnccm~~ of schooling and speak.ing of En):,hsh Tile ..b le above shows ehe ages at which the sllIcicnls slarted scho()l. Thirty- 1"0 people 'lJr1cd [c,nning m )pc'olkmg Enalish at tnc: kllll.kfgartc:n. cleven people ~Ianl,.-d learomp: c.nghsh In primary I,one person star1.ed.t primAl) 4 and 2 people at primary 5 Mostly, it wu Iht eLderly ones who wrote thai their late sian "as a disadvantage to chem T"Cn~-(OUf people said they ) pokc Enalish ~t home. "hile twenty-silt yjd they did not spnil: it It home (hII of I~ who spoke English at home, only six spoke il alWlYs ~hllc clBhtecn spoke II at home sometimes. 30 of the respondents said they studied ~rammar on lhelr own, while 18 did noc study grammar on their own and two were neutral ThMc- who studied f':n(!hsh ('In their 0 ...." " stlled that if they encountered dlnicuhlCSttEyc:onsutkdanyofthtfollo""'"B University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 49 SI~ICr'bf(llhcr.-··---··-- Parents _.' Fn('ncb· Anybody •• _ •• --=:=1 --1l! A few boob were mentioned as grammar books they have been using This shows ,hal apart(ruml~irschool textbooks, students did not use an) other books. Consequently. wtterc:lhtlC'xlbookdoesnoladcquatel)'help.andlhcleac~rdoesnoladoptsuppor1ive strateglcs In laChina. the students may stili have problems Wlthrqard to the: readingofslory books, 19 said1hey read story books, 13 said they had no t.me to rud S\Ory books. and 18 were ne~ral . Those who read story books indteeted their areas of interest as follows .) Subjm. mancr------·-----13 b) Voc.obulary········_··_··-ll c) Charxters--·----_·--------17 M!;m ofthc-rnpondenI5(37)indicatcd lhalthcy had problems \\llh English. Ttlosewho said the) had no difliculty With English were 6. while 7 wett neutral. They slal~ their artasofditrtCuhy u follows: Comp05llton IEHly writing (21). Summary t 7). Sre.Jkmg (4), Reading (2), UOl.knt&n(hnt;~hllllreadt4),('(lmpreherulOnexcrclses(8).Pront.lnci.'ion(3), Lrwnmar(16), Spelhng(S),l.nemure(7). Vocabulary (6) University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh so The result oflhe questlOnnal~ gives a general view ofsorne of.he militating factors thai hlnd(,'I~perf(lnnanc('o(studentsingrammar J.2 I l!:ACIIINc.; VlETHODOLO(;Y J.2.1 The Onll Aprroach Rnd Situational Language TcachinR The Oral Approach and Slluattnnlll LanF1'lIage Teaching "ere olso employed ill lite: experimental research. One key element in this approach. which was developed in ,he 1920s onwards by notable British applied linguists such as Palmer and Hornby. is the eontexNalill.lion of what is to be learnt (Richards and Rodgers 1986). This current work acknowledges I~ principle of this theory lhal speech is the bAsis of langua~(' ronscqUC'nll~. after an ('''planation had been given to sludmlo; Ihc~ "ere ~uidcd to construcl ,.mllar <.('nlef1Ces sometimes throop chain drills. For instance. thiS approach \\.L~ u-.cd wncn sludents .... ere asked to repl3CC' phrases and cl.us~ wilh appropriate pronouns The proponents of this theory believe lhal the 'oral practice of controlled sentence pancms should be given in situations designed to give the greater amount of jnCtice in English speech 10 the pupil' (Pinman 1963: 119, quoted in Richards and Rodaen 1986:35). Under this approach language is considered as a purpc»cful aCllvit). t.ed on raj world Silualions. To simulate the real world situation, substitution tablclt ~ sometimes provided to gUide learners in the construction of sentence patterns. This CUl'1'tf1l work., however, did not use substitution tables but allowcct the studenls to construct their 0"" sentences in the hope that they may develop the §CftSe of creativity and impnm: upon their perfonnance in English. This approICh gi\ltS credence to the: fact that situltion.sI language tnchmS I' ba Of Ih.ngs" I hi' \kllmlltln does not. however. focus on gmmmatical UtI,tssuchasnounptn.sesandclauw\\\htehlhis\\Ofkconsidenessenlial. Also, Ebest et al (2003.432) il""k.~ thlt'. pronoun is used as I subshiutC' fora noWl ora noun phrase' Again. DOYlT1intt dlkl Locke (2006: 415) ror their pan identIfy the discourse fucuon of pronouns thus: Theprincipalfunctiofl~r)Of'!alpronounsis 10 help establIsh maJor refcn=n1s in thedlSCOUlSC by sening up rcferenlial (or identity) chains by me.ansofanaphora Strong 1:"1. al (19Qb'40) also present a definition which is quite ac:c:eptab~ according to the (ocusofthis work. They define '. pronnund~a ","ord Ihall.keslhc place or. noun, a grour of worm acting as I noun, llr anotncr pronoun', Here, 'a gmup ofworW.'could ~. noun phrase or a f)('Iun clause. They funller point out that a ptrsonal pronoun rtfen to a specific penon or thing by indiclling the! person speaking the person being Iddres.scd.OC"anyotherpersonOf"thingbeingdisc:ussed· "'T"hlA. various definitions of a pronom :Ire silent on the fact that I ptOOOwt may be ustd 10 repl8CCa nouncLaux. Gt:rw:rally,lhcscdefinicionsdl'ioCusscdaoovedo not explicitly slate IbII a penonaI pronoun can be used to replace I noun clause, yet this explicit u\(l\Ol"kdge IS eutnti.al for students IS foWldalion knowtcdgc for the proper lM of peN)nll pronouns and the uOOcntandinc of grammatieal concord It mil)' be sUQCslcd University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Ihalmlheprimaryschoolitrnaysufficelodefineapronounru.a .. \ordlhallsuscdinthC' place of. noun. but in lhe Junior Secondary School. now JIIOIor High School, .he JcfiOllllon mW;1 be broadened Co lav Ihe founRS2aand2b (Refcrto Appendix A) 2.) Some of the ~ludenl:s in this class (sound/sounds) serious 2b) Write down the subject of the above sentence TM following were some of the &n5WCrs the students wrote as subject of the Stnfence i) Students ii) TheshJdents ii. SomeofthestudenlS III . Some of the studenls in this class This underscores the need to discuss the SIf\JclutCofthe noun phrase beforeprocce:ling lOaskSCudentstoreplaccno~phraseswhicharesubjectswithapproprialcprooouns A noun phrase "a.., defined for the siudenis as a group ofrelalcd Words (hal perfonns (he funcllonsofan(lunand lla.'Ia noun ora pmnounas its head\.\lOrd. Next.thcstruclure ""lbdiscus.scd University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 56 lhc:_: 'lructureofthcNo~Phrase : \[ the SSS level II must be: explained 10 scudmts thai • single \\ord may also be "'Ihldcrcdasaphn.se.l-iaving explained this to the stulnk' lur ,· .,r In..· th 'UII l'hroS '!:. " udenh \\ CI ": .1, kcJ '0 undrrhnc Ihe noun phrases In q)mc ~ivcn ~nICIICC~ unJ chou" .. Ihl: l"orf'Cc( ",,-orb Inca:hbracke1 h amplc7 That interesting cla.u (h"velhas) done ..w:JI. Ii budonewell E~;ample3 ~(behaveJbehavcs )wcl1 . IIlD:~wcll E,ampieIO.~an.!c ·)~(W'Otkl ....' Orks)niccly. U~nic:ely USing. cham - drill.cachsludentBivn.scnu~ncc: thai has a noun phrase as itssubjeci and llte-n ~·states the sentence, replacing the noun phra~ with the appropriate pcnGnil pronoun The: students wcrt' ,-urr«led when they made mI stakes Addillonall)' • • stUdent \\as asked to give a sentence and then the neAt student tw:hlnd honl IJent lflC'o the noun phruc. which it the subject of the sentence and ~.stales Iht: "';lIh:r'R.C rep1acina the subject wilh a penonal pronoun. This was aJso 'rated as a chain University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh dnll. Through thr Oral and Silunliooai Appt'Ultl.:h. tOe dus became interactive and the bomlom ofleaming grammatical rules was reduced. After the chain-dri ll. the class took iil Rt'plannJ! 'auu ( 1:1I'!lts " ,itb AppropriRIt' Pronouns 10 Correspond with Verbs inGi\lcnScnt~IIn-\ Wk.atlsaclause? What is a nounclause':t A clause was defined as I group of rclall. . 'd words that contains a verb. Hence. a noun ClaUK "at dc:fiM'd as • group or related .... ords that conllins a verb and performs the functions ofa now., Some ~ntences that had noun tl8~ as subject were wrinen on the board and tht ~Iudents wcrc asked to underline the subjccts o( thc scntem:es Nc"t,Ihc:~ \\en: a."kcdlon='\'Titcthescnlcnccs.~placin8thenouncllu!>('subjectswilh lherighlptnonllpronouns. Types and examples of noun clauses v.tTe disct.lSJed with studcnlJ namely' Thcthlt nominal clause: F.umpk 12' ~J.n:~~isanatural phalomennn The '\\h ' nouncla.use I .~ampk I): ~lQHf1..&..1D1l1hasbcncfiledo'hc:rpeoplelSwell University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh I h.' noun phra.w plI~l·modifit'd bya relative clause: I.\ample 14' My :.islCr who worb with a non- &9'yemmcnl!l organi~tlo" hilS saved mM~ reoplc I he "Iudellb \\eh: made to note that the 'Ihott now'I clause' :b )ubJect 4) well as the '"h' ~,'n\I~15 of. noun pt"Obe, post-modifted hy a relalive clause, the clause tan IlIIk(" a \llIgular mainverbora plural main verb depcnding on the form o(thehtadword in the noun phrase, I(the headword is singular, the whole clause will carry (l sin~,'ular verb UO\o\,~'er, if the hQdword in the noun phrase is plural. the clause will go with a plural tnalnvern Example IS Itk:_mlnl\lcr \o\,hod,d well m his cOll$lituency was relamed Eumptc 16: Ih.e_JTl.JD'~I:d well jntbeirooMtj!t!tocjq "ererdamcd Ine1l.ample IS , lhc headv.ord(minister} is singular Iherdore it earnes a singular vcr b, '\0\,;15' In example 16, the headword (ministers) is plural therefore it carries a plural verb. Ha"'ngdeall \\ilh these bad.ground Ideas. Sfl.Kknts \YCI'e gi"tn some sentences \o\,hlch had clauses as subjects so that they "ould ~Iine the subjects in the !1,ven Ne"t, the students wereaskcd to re-writelhoscsubjcct fmnh I.frerwnai pronoun~ III gu ",ilh the proper verbs. they should finall} be laken Ihroughsimilarexercisesinclozctcsts. Aclozrtcstlsapro~passageconsistingof. passage from which words have been omincd. depending on what is to be tested . As the third and final s&cp of tile proposed model in thi.;; wotk, "cloze lest is useful M1:OlUSC it I~ mtegrative - that is, it reqUires Siudentsto process the componmts of language simultaneously, muctllike what happens when peopk communicate ... In brief. it is a good measure of overall proficiency (Madsm 1983 : 47), II is anticipated thal1he bmefits of doze !(Soh ,,,ill be maximised if it is adopted in the teaching of concord "ow Ihe Clm TIjII Was PreDlind In choosing the passage II "as ensured that it did not contain jargons to confuse the $Iudcnls. It \Wi considered lhat lhe text musl much the standard of the sutents f'or Instance, the puuses chosen during the C'xperimental research were taken from The A/m'un C'h,ld by Camara laye which has. standard commensur31e wilt'lll1e level of lhe \Iudcnb The doze Icst can be used in Icstin& various ibpecls of grammar. In the tes( (or f;:Of1COrd il is Ihe vcrbs that go with the subjects in thesenlenccs lhal "credclc:led. For In\lanccScctlonCand DofthepoSl- interventlontestarcshortclozetests. ( Refer 10 Appendix C) University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 62 SEQ] ,!!::!"'!:_ Cupy do"," the following pa..-.sage choosing the correct word from the: 2ptlOOS below the passage thot fills each gtlr· Nunltl.ll~ . c ... , .. ryone dra .... s - A- watc:r (rum the n ... ~( . The Nig!:!' - B - slowly .nd :lburubntly. 11 can be foRkd ; and the crotodih:s. lhar livt' in I~ deep \\ater upstream or do .... nstre:tm from where the water is drawn. - C - nol 10 be fcared . You - U - bathe: qoile fn:-d) on fhe banksofpalc sand and do -E-\\;Ishingthcn:. Possible: ans .... crs :(A) thelrl 11I :!o ' her (B) flewl flows! flow (C) arel were I is (D) CItY could(E)lhelr/ )'oorf hl~ her pmnQ!m~ and cbooS lhe conqi vqb in p:h hrKkrt When I finaJly lot back 10 m~ compound. ~ ( .... ..sI\~cre) waiting (or me. ~(hcldlhold)rntlighllyinlhcir:mns.particularly~asi(shewas wailing secretly 10 proclaim Ifw I (was! "ere) slill .!:!n.J2n. dw my second birth (h.-d /has) done nothing to aJkr IhIe fact that I WI.5 still her son My [~Mr .... 3lched us for .. momcnl.lhcn he r.aid 10 me . • lmo\1 regrelfull)" : 'from now on, this is ~ my son ' University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 63 CHAPTr.R fOUR (>ATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPItE1A nor.; 4.0 INTRODUCTION This chapter I~ concerned wirh the analysis and interpretatIOn of Ihe data cullec:ted and a study ofthc lrend unMr.w:nn>' some of the afsuments presented in the work. 4.1 ANALYSIS OF DATA COLLECTED Table 3a: Pre~ Intervention Test One (WASS Visual Arts Malgl (WVAM) Data On Ouestions Answered (21 Candidates) Kn: (Ol!e5tions 1·5- !nw1se!!li~~6.!-8b- 2markuachl x-Wrona 'I,: Ac:rual half(Dcpending on the answer) oJ· Cornet - • Not anmcred h'" Half the mark! score for thil qut ... llon The abo'-e table shows the performance of21 mate candidaleS In Wesl Africa Seconda') School in P~-inlrnentlon Test One (AppendiX A). Out of 21 males. IS were- able" 10 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh &I1S\\erqlJeStion la, 10 males _ question 2a. 19 male~ q!Xslion 3a. 13 males question 4a. 21 males q!Xslion Sa. No candidOlle could answer the five questions which required lhem to stale the subiects or the SCnlern;:e ... Th.: an.ctwcr fur Qut"siion Ih is '11 noun c:lause·. while questions 2b. 3b. 4b, and 5bare noun phrasc. .. Sir.;e they coukf not state the subjects of the sentences, it was pos~ihle tMI some of them simply guessed the "'crbs in the sentences. The questions are presented helow as Examples: 1a,2a.,3a.4a.andSa bample I a) What tbe:se stm" did (havclhas) made me unhapp) b. Whal these sludentsdid (Subject) Example 2 .) Some orlhe ,(\ldenlS in this class (sound/sounds) seriou'i b. Someoflhcsludenlsinthisclass (Subject) Example 3. .) Some sludent'> (ha5lhave) good character. b.Somestudents(Subject) fumple4 a.) These boys (doesldo) well in class. b.Theseboys (Subject) hJlIlph:5 OIl That boy (doesn'tfdon'l) bchavc \,ell b 'l hatboy (Subject) Question 6 requiredthern to dcfine a pronoun and 8 candidalcs said it was a word \\ohich "'n used 10 replace a noun. They we~ scored one mark each. inclacated by 'h' on the table One carnhdate scored 'I, over rwo (2) because the ans\>ocr had grammalic:al problem~. fo'or quesllon 7, only S candidates could stale the 'iuhJect fonn of a masculine penoRilpronoun(He) University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 65 1. a) Write down the subj«t ronn ora masculine pronoun 8. a) Wnte down the objcct ronn ora feminine pronoun Unh one CAndidate was able to SUllc the object fonn of .'I feminine pronoun. App3rt'nciy. n-en IhouJ:h they WC~ suppor.cd tn h. ... e )hJdied prn'lI'lIl1'!1 (rvm the primary school 10 secondary <;chonl. they must hive done some rote leammg without am• • Uy unJcr .. t.1ntlingthtcooccph Table 3b below shows the perfonnance of 20 females of the West Africa Visual Arts Class (Experiment class) in Pre-intervention Tnt One. A glance at the: lable shows thai several (andldates were able 10 select the righl verbs In Section A like their male counlerpal1s bUI none was able to Slate the subject or an)' of the sentences. Also for question 6 which required the definition of a pronoun, (Welve oul of the twenty candidates said a pronoun was a word used to replace a ROlUl. However. the females in this class did bener than tile males in staling the subj~t fonn of a maKulinc pronoun. OnJy two candidates were able to stale the object fonn of a feminine pronoun. Again. only the sue two candidales were able co UK the object form of the femimne pronoun (hcr)intheircrwnscntences University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 66 ?N. x Iv xl~1fi x xi" loJ loJlv x xli 2- ~~ :,r- ~ d]~;; ~ 1~ ~ I~ -G. I ~!.i-=-~- -H--=-t"--++t-t1 ~I~ I~ I~ I~I~I~ • I~I~I~ I~ I~I~ 1"1,, ~". 5 a I " I" I" tititi I " I" I " I" I -J I -J x I " I " I"· ~ b.:-..; h, "h"h h :~hh h i.~ xhhxh·h +-fa~ v x V " I" x x xli . b" " , "" x "I "I" , IV I v x xl" • x " x x x" x b x , x x x ,,_ x x x x x x x . x I X Total 7V, 12 10 9 9 10 8 6 7 10 10 8 3V, 4 414 4 7 ..Q 4 Table 3b: Pre-intervention Test One (WASS. SS2 (Visual Ans) Females (WVAF) Data on Questions Answered (20 Candidates) Below is Table 4, a Tally Chart for WASS perform;lm:c In Pre-Intervention Tesl One The chart mows lhal lhe performance ofthrtclass "as nol encouraging. Out 0(21 males only one scored 50% while oW: of20fnnaJes onl) 5 scored 50%. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh ~F£.M. '"._ _ ~ ~~/~- .,-- .I. " '"" :;:~~aes:! r~ -- ~ _=---=1 Table 4: Tally Chart for Prc·inlen could nOt give any meaningful definition (or • pronoun Outor.he 41 candidates 28 said it was a word thai was used to replace a noun. Here several of the candidates were able 10 slate Itk= ~uhJec:t (onn of a masculine pronoun and used it in I~'ro"'nsentcnces. On the contrary, only six candidates eQuId 5&Mt the object form of. fermnme ptonOWl of which only 5 could usc it in their own University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 69 ON MARKS I ai' ,TT ,r;;-r-{ , , " I b -'I ' , 't' Kit 'Il - '.J" 2 .1' I' I' I.;'-~ :~:.- X 1-;'-0-+-"; f-J ~r'fR- v ~ -tI::r'f r;r1"1" Iv :I~-I-;'-~~ r.-~ ~ 1"1" I" I" -IV I" f-s" :r:Ht Iv ~ ~ I" 'I" Li v v Iv I" b 'I' Iv Li 6 h h h h h' h -h h h h ,h 7 .: -h h h x- I II - I II " .. h v -Iv -,"- ~ 8 . . v I v b .. v Iv Tolal I 10 8 2 5 10 13 59 ':" 5 4 9 10 II!/, 2 12 15 II 9 Table 5 ~.2 (Continuation): Pre -intervention Test One (Action Secondary Technical (Males)-(l9Candidales) Tllble 5b belo\\' showslhe performance of females of Action Secondary Technical. 55 2 SctmCe clau in Pre-InterventIOn Test One. They did well in Section A but only two candidates ans~red queslltms 73 and 7b. The ~e candidates plus one other candidate ancmpced question 6 but Kon:d one mark each because their ans .... ers were nol satisfactory. Question 8 was not amwcred al a1l by any female candIdate of the class University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 6 ~-. b Table Sb: Pre-intervention TeSl One· (S Candidates) (Action Secondary Technical. Ssl Sctenc:e) Females' Data on Qucstion~ Answered T.ble 6 bcl(1\\ is the Tally Chan (or the performance of the Action Sec. Technical class in Pre"IK"'cnIJOn Test One. Out of 41 candidates. 24 male candidoates scored less than 50% ; 17 male candidates scored 50% and above. Oflhe females. 3 candidates out ors scored Ins than 5(wo • while 2 candidates scored 50% and abo"c University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 71 ~--~ 13 "11 ';; . IS 16 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 72 Anal,,~is of Dlifa From Pre-Ialenention Test Two Qn.IAko$(\\.antJ~togotoFrancc. rhesubjcclolthI5scnlcnceis.sing1e\\'(Irdnounphrasc. lntt-.cuperimcnIClass, II females oul of 19 (S7.~ or SB%) got it right However. 13 out of 19 males (68%) 801 it riaht,lntht'eontrolcl~s,thatlstheACltonclass.allthcfivefcmalcsgotlhisquestlon right while 22 oul 0(30 males (%%) got 11 right. Apparently, the Action class did betler than the Eltpe:rimcnl class (WASS Vf A class) Qa. 1. The English language (""ere/~ forced on people during the colonial period In the WAS VIA class alllne 19 females had Ihis question right but one: male could not ltUv.crll.lnlhe Action class all the five females gol II correct but fourmalescouldnol QIIJ. Socict)' cla~s, I I could nol pick lhe verb 'docs' while only fOUl c;u .... hrJ .. tc, eould not pick the vcrb 'condcmn', In the AClion school, no female \\a, able lo,ucklhcvcrb'don' and 2 OUI of 5 eould rkll pl..:k ThC' verb 'condemn' , lnthi sclass, 19 m:ak' OUI of 10 (6.3-10) could not pick the ' "crb 'docs' and 22 (73%) could nol pid the University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 74 The ummpr~~l\Ie perfonnancc in this question shows thai they were not familiar "ith the emphallc tense. Besides. most of them were not able to pick 'dflc~' because it is in the thud person singular. which is • major difficulty of Siodenis \10'" !itudents are comfortable using the infiniliveand this problem is further aggravated bypidp: inEn~lish whichoftftloperatcsonth...·mfinitl\lc.translilec1llionandcode-mixing Qn.8.1,lam(doI~(frownsl~uponsuchbehaviour Question 8 IS simIlar to question 9 and could not be an:merN SJ,lisfactorily_ In WAS$ V'A class, 17 out of 19 females (89D4) could not pick the verb 'docs' and 7 could not pick the verb 'frown'. For the males, 9 out of 19 (47%) could not pick the \'crb 'does' and 6 (32%) could not pick the verb 'frown' In the Action class, 2 femalc~ oul of 5 could not pK:k the verb 'does' and 3 could not pick the verb 'frown' , As regards the male1. IS out of 30 (50%) could not pick the verb 'does' and I I (37%) could not pick Q• ••• ~ levels of fame (QQIdoes) earn Ihcse ladies attractive advertising packtlge5. ThcqUl"'Stionconsistsof'pluralhcadword. ·[e\cl!.'.qualified byaprep05ilional phrd'>C 'of fame' and the senten« IS in the emphatic tense. 6 fanales and ) males could nol ans"ef this question in the WASS VIA el&$5. In the: Action class. no female gal it wronH hut 11 males out of 30 (37%) got: it wrona. The: performance in thiS question IS bener tbantt.1 inquestkm 8 perhaps because the verb is in the infiniti\'cand as noted above. students enjoy usins the infinitwe. yet may oot nccesiOU"ily understand the emphatic: University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 75 Qn.lO. Beauty contests (hiw~) boosted (he IOUrlSrn S«1or Thl5 ... a 1implc noun phrase with one modifier. 'Beauly' and a plural head\\ord. 'conleslS' , 6 femal" in.he WASS VIA class could not: answer the question. \\hile 12 uuI ur 19 mah:s (6)~.) could 001 answer the question. III the: Aclion d~. only one km:ll~got it Yorong. "lule IS (SO%) of the 30 males got it wrong Qn.ll. This town with such Iwd "orkins cj'izem (ha\leIbIV done ~II. The .. ubjttt here is a noun phrtieconsislingofa headword (IOwn) and a prepo'iltional phrJ.'c quahfier (undC'rlined). In WASS VIA class, 9 females and 13 males, conslituling 58~. (If the 1\'lal class got it wrong . In the AC1ion class. 3 females oflile 5 got it wrong and 16 Dul of 30 m.les got it wrong. This gi\'e5 a 101.11 of 19 or 54 % or the chass thai got ilwrong Qn.12.ThcclcctoraicoftcnmilkepoliticlanS(3dcmigodf~. H~. candidates were required 10 pick the right object complcmem (demigods) In the WASS VIA class, 8 rem.lrs and 7 males could nOI answer it In the Action class. 2 fc:malc:s.md9malesCOLlldnot.nswerit QIl.IJ. WhIt we are supposed to do as students (areli!) what ~ have done. Thisquesllon has a noun clause as its subject and must carry a singular verb In the WASS V,A class, all the females got it right and only two male~ gol il \Hong. In the Acl1(ln elMS. one fem.le .nd five males also gol it wrong. Qn.14 ThaI. people !OOmellme~ \\ork without honnty (affectl~ the nation Thisqueslionalso has a noun claw>c:as its subject and mustcarry.sinKu. ... verb In the WASS VIA class, 8 females and 5 males couJd nol answer II and In the Actiun class. 2 femalcsand ~ maleseoukinotam.. ...- crthisqueJlion University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh It must be noted that in the Pre.mtervention Test One and the Post·lnten-cnuon lc"l. most of these students could not identify the subjec:tsofsentcnces which were noun Qn.IS. Thc:()IJMunanJ/~Scu(:U'e/~)lIninlCR'Slin8slory . Acoordin:slcdlitlei s considcn:dasingularunit; th(rcfore, itcarrieslsinguIJr\erb. Q~lion!upportcr ~&Vwcre) present at the part) rally Expressions hr..c'mUlcth.tnone'.nd 'oneormore ' have to do with proximity concord bttau~ it is the headword (always close to the main verb) that determines the fonn of the main verb; therefore 'was' is the appropriate verb, In the WASS VIA class JOout of 19 female~ (53 %) and 12 out of 19 males (63 o/e) could not Dm"'cr the question. In lhe Action class 3 out of the 5 females answered it correclly while unl~ 8 out of 30 males (27V.)answercditcorreclly Qn. 23. One or more buses ~ was) used for the rail) Similar 10 question 22. 'more' is doser Itl the headword; therefore, the headword must be plural and the mam wrb must abo be plutal, which in thiS case is 'wcre'. In the WASS V "' d". ... only 1 out of 19 femab could oot answer thiS qUC'!>tion. while only 4 malc the fa\'ourile meal orman), Ghanaian students Thisquc,li(M'i. as in qucstion 2S. has. compound subjecl that is Ireated U a singular unil; therefore, it must selec:c the singulu verb. ·is'. In the WASS VIA class" females ... nd (IIlC rnakeould not an"werthil question. while In the Action school alllhc the IcmJIc, ;lm",cred it c:orrcctly and 24 otJ: of the 30 males also had it corrttt University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 79 Q •. 27. E\C:~ 'hldent (hopc/bQW) for a brighter fulure TIle usc of (he determmers 'cary' and 'each' requun 1M. the main verb must be in the thud pc,..."n 'Irl~ul:u fonn: h..-ncc. the appropnoh: \I:rh hc=re IS 'hopes', In the W,\SS VIA class IS out ofw 19 females and 14 males out of 19 BOt II ri~hl In the Acllon clus40fthe iemaks and 200fthc males also got it right Qn.28. The Cosl of my pcnlOlclher with the: cxt:rcise book {oqual/mYl11l twt:nry thousand cedis When cxprc~l>lIms such IS 'together with' and 'as well as' are used. the main verb thai follows mUSI bt in the third person singular fonn: hence. the proper verb here is 'equals' Only one fcm::.k .mil" mille! 1:01 it wronS in the WASS VIA class, while in the Ac;tlon class 3 females and 10 main got il \..,ong Qn. 29. Twent) -thousand CediS (aretll) whAt I paid for that new book. An amounl of money is considered as a single unit; therefore, the subject in this question must carry a singular vcrb. 'is', A female in WASS VIA class got I! correct and only one: male gO! it wrong. In the action class all the females got it correct but two QnJO lamoncofthcsludc:ntswho~represcnt5)theschool inconteSlS. ThiS question bas to do with proximily concord. The pronoun "I' will not determine the (onn of the Yttb. but rather the noun phrase 'the siudenl$', which con18ins a plural head word. C~uently, the right verb is the plural verb, 'rt'prcscnt'. In the WASS VIA cia.». 12 females out of 19 (6JY.) sot il \\Tong and 10 main out of 19 ( SJ%) also 101 il wrong In lhe Action class only one female g0111 rigtll7 out of)O males (51 °4) (EOllt University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 80 Qu. 31 F if'i"n miles (are 1..iJ. ) the distance \\1: will cover on the joume') A mea\uremenl of distance is treated as a sinate unit and carries a singular verb. Hence, the verb 'is' is the approprituc verb hne. In the WASS VIA class, onl)' one female and J malc..; I?ClT it wmne. while in the A(',inn dIllS no t~III.I(' gut it wrong but 10 miles ~I it Qn.32 Aunlll! Vlar~ is OM' oflhe sevaallxnc\olent peorlt'"OO (helps I ~ need) " .. In queslton )0. it is the noun phrase that is clos.er to the Intin verb lhal delermlllcs the fonn of the main verb. Since 'the several benevolent p('op~' is plural. the verb is 'help' In the WASS VIA class 17 remales out or 19 (89''10) golll wrong and 8 malc!>out of 19 (42%) also got it wrong. In the Aclion class, 2 females (out of 5) got it wrong and 20 males out 0(30 (67 %) gOl it W1'011@. Q33 . Many younginduslries(rcquires!~proteclion The subject here is a noun phase wilh a plural headword (industries); therefore. the plural verb. 'require' is the right verb. In WASS VIA class 9 females out of 19 (47"/.) got it wrong and 7 males oul of 19 (l,./.) also gol it wro~. In the Aclion class. 2 out of S female! (rot It wrong whHe 14 outof30 males (47%) got it wrong. Qa.34,lboughlsomebananasyeslerday;(ltwasl~)nice. This quc~tlon te5ts the andilUtes' knowledge of pronoun antecedent -concord. The object. 'some bananas' must go with 1M pronoun, ·Ihe)· and the \~rb 'were' In the WASS VIA class, .. fcmaJn and 6 males gol it "rong In the Al:tlon class, all the- f~mates got itCOCTCCtbull2~out of 30(40%) got it wrong. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Qn.J~.Allhoughlhe) v.ttC ntce my friend did nol enjoy (il I l!mDl Ihls question also has 10 do with pronoun-antecedenl concord . file anlccedenl, 'the y' must go with the objcct case, ·them' In Wr\SS VIA class, S females and 5 males got It wrong, but In the Action class.. one fcm&le and 18 males <60%) ~ il \Hong On. Jb, Heatnce and Ben like As-nu local because at that restaurant (ymJ! Ibu) are Thi'li queqinn ",1"(1 hAs 10 do with pronoon'.1Olecedenl concord. rile sullJ\:\.t, 'Sulflce IU1d Ben' mlal go with the pronoun, 'they' , In the WASS VIA class 7 temales and 6 males gOI it wrona. In the Action class 2 fcmales OUI ofS sot il wrong "hile 18 male' ,'lIt orJO(6O'Yo)got it wrong Qn, 37, Neither orille ladies ( play I ill!n) (their ' ~ sound equipm~nt a' the hostel lhc proper \erbls 'plays' and the correct pronoun is 'her' , Alternatlvcly,where thertis a male and I female. the pronoun 'their' could be used instead of 'his or her' , In the WASS VIA class 12 out of 19 females (63 ~.)could not picli.the right verb norlhe right pronoun . Of'hemales,14(74~_)couldll(ltplcktherighlverband 1J(68~o)couldnot pic.kthe right pronoun. lnthc Aclton clus, ooc female could not pick the right verb, J (emales out of 5 (60 %) c:ou.Id nol pick the right pronoun; 21 males oul of 30 (70 %) could not pick the righl wrb and 24 males oul of 30 (80"/_) could nol piek the right QL 38, Akua {wa.h/~ the clothes and K"""ku (uon rmunl irunlng) them fhlsquc..,,,on h,ls to do withteqUenCe oflensc_ The two verbs, 'wa~hes' and 'irons', hoth in the third penon lin~uJ:lr make 1M- sc=ntence COrrett, In lhe WASS V /,\ dl\~ 5 Icmale .. out o( 19 (26%) J1 frequency mark was S 10 which was obtained by 14 students who we~ 26.9% of the lotal populatiou. The number thai obtained SOO/. and above was 41 out of 52 students, \\, ho were78.8orN-/,ofthcpopulstion InSccltonB. 13 people had '/fowhichis 1.9 or 2% of the total population bUI again 10 studentsseomJ 50"/• •n dabove,con'1Itutm,S7.69% or SSO/" of the population Lndcr Section C. which "as marked over 5, nobody scored zero or one and a~ man} .I'> 24 studt:nb. ,on~lilU1ing 4b 2% of the populatton scored "', Here. 47 stuienh. making q()'I/lofthc population KOrCd) lOS marks University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Under Section D. the performance of (he class was again encouraging. Those: who oblau)Cd SO'Y. and above wen: 31 OUI of 52 sludenb and the highest frequency mark was SECTION A fs~CTION B Table 8: Post·inler\lention Tesl ( SS2 Agric; WASS) The second class in West Africa Secondary School did not take part in the pte_ intervention tests bcause it was close to Ihccxperimenl class It was decided thai. since therwoclasseshadal~adybeentaughtconcord.thisclassshouldal§Opartkipateinthe posIlOteOCn1ion test to observe its perfonnance in relation to lhe experiment class Ninclttn o;1\l,il,'"nl\ panlcipaled in the test. In Section A. one candidate OM31nW 8/10 And the hl!'!:l'q hC... ~ answen in obj«ti vc tests t'lul mll~ nol bl: .tble 10 apply the CI'I'kq)I'S in their onn ).Cnlencc:s Consrqut1llly. in both the npcnmc:nlal clau (Tables J. Md lh) Md the olh!..', dau (Tables SalUkl 5b) candidates \\(,IC able lu pick some oflhe COITC'CI vtr~ that \\ould complc~ ttlc sentence's for quotion 6 under Section 8 no candidate In the expenmental c13~s was .ble to give an approprlllte rising studmu Qn. 7) Islam as \Me1J as Christianity (~~.~ ) (condemns! condemn) Indecency Only 8 males in the expc:runent cla.. ... "ere able to answer qUC:5tion 7. Also, only 7 male ciln(hdales could anllwcr question 10. \\hich has a noun phrase subJecl and a plural Qn.10. BeaUl) conteslS (haslhave) boosted IhetulJusm scclor. Also. fifty pcrc~nl oflhe males in the Action class could not answer question 10 and il was about 47% ( 14) of the male candidates in this class woo could an\wcr queslion 11. 00·11. This to"fl with such hard working cilizens (havclbla) done well. It "as obser.-cd that where the noun phra'>C "as short, c:andidates wcreable to guess thc: ans""C'rbut"hc~itwaslonglhc-ycouJdnoI.Forinstancc. 18 males of the experimenl class could &OS""" question 18. white only 13 could .lm\\"Cr question 19. and 10 male\ University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh ()1I1t)rhebo)'sinm}clIlSS~/Sludicslhard Qn l ~ V!an~ ~('Jung Industries ( rcquirn I ~' prut«lIon. Int~Actloncla.. . ' question33\\1lSans"er'Cd\\ellb) 16 malcs(SJ%). I'ro:entcncc .The hitchcst rrt!qucncy m.1rl: In lhi~ ,..-caion \\ib thc c=C:O> In replacing nuunswilhappropriatepronoull, However, thl\3pproachappcarsto ghe;lnIIl.k1c4ualc InulkiAllnn fiu the underslandinc uftbe function...; nf a prOI\OWl. At Ied~1 at Ihl' "Ater the nuun phrase mu~t be laughs and students must be ab&e to replace noun phra~5 with The SS2 syllabus. Seclion 2 URlt 5 1\ dc\oted to tl-ll.' 1I.',I~hm!! of !\ioun Clauses ,mJ SlUdenls arc exptttcd to "Idcntify and state the function'> of noun clauses in give n lotalcmems." Again al 11-11' J)Oint. students may be a.. . keclto replace (he noun clausn \\ Ilh the nght pronouns or llOuns to link Ihclr prtvious knowlcd!.'(' 10 the ncwknowle dge. thai IS, mO\"lRg from the known to the unkno. ... n. Apparently, the topics arc: not properly hnked fora syslematic: acquisillOn of gramma li cal kno\\ ledgeand this appears to bea major cause of the prevalent prohlems of concord in Ghanaian schools. Mort so, tlvee types of sentences may be taught in SSSI namely, the simple !>Cfllc:ncc:, cOOlpouncl sentence, and complex sentence so that the Compound Complex could be lr"eIIlCd In SSS 2 and it revision done IR SS3 . 1r'ICldentaHy. the SSS syllabus does not mmlion the Compound Compte" I~ pc of -.entcnu· at all It may be observed thai the performance of candidates in Pre- Intervention Tesa One whtc:h required some uritina was ~ encouragin~ but the performance , .. ,,' hc:ner in the Prc_lnIC'ncntion Test r\too whtc:h "~ maml) objective: hence tnc U'>C {II lIo.-e tests mustbrenc:otr.Jged University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 5.2. srr.r;v.o;iiTIOSS .\~D RECOl\l:\IEND,\TIONS Though this siralegy Or m.tO\\~ rilE SrNTr~Cp., nJ:' I \1"IriI"l; Tin l''inrKLI'iU) CI ApSES 8Y REPLACiNG TIlE ('NOERLINEU CL\lSES Willi APPROPRIATE PRONOUNS AND CHOOSING THE PHOPER Vf.RR IS EACH BRACKET. Whot holds un the taking of a decision by the pmfoundly democmtlc (lcmrDls oftbe lOlfD&-Ralion and add_t..!2JbrirJ.I.ITIJdiU'.cioV\\3. got back 10 m)' compound, ~_ily (was/were) waiting for mc:. ~ (heldlhold) me lightly in their arms, panlcularl~ ~. as if she was waiting secretly 10 proclaim that I (was/were) still ~. that my second binh (hadIhas) done nolhing 10 alter the fact that I was Slill her son ~ watched us for. moment "From now on. Ihi!!. i~~. my SOIl. ,-", 0T. .O . University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh I. SEX MALE [,,] FEMALE I I 2. AGE ' . r""'< ).CLASS 2. .~.~!~."l- Ea KG. Primary One etc ~,_ W your perfonnancc In English',' 6. a) Do you speak English al home'.' Yo : ~() [ 1 b, If yes. how often',' Always [ I Occa"lonally("J 7,a) Do you sludyGrammaron your own'.' yc.,j.'j ~ol ; I. Wluch hook do yuu U"'C ",-h.;rl studYing grammm? Siale II .. · lille illltilhe author Tille ~.~Jt~. .~y. .y .~.c.~. . :?,:.~.1 .~~ .. _Yr.'v t,'cal O.~~~) Au:hor t. Do ~O\l h.I' __ ~ III: 10 1c ad MOt) books? YC!i IOWnkd , ''',j 'nc.'aulhorsoflhc l.h'lu" I b) Title W~·t t·) ~1,A.~,\.ft University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh ~ SAMPI.[ 01 ESTIONS rOSEI> Dl HIi"iG INfORMAL Pl-:H:SON,\l. '''TERVI[\\S I. Are)'ouam~mhcrof!itam J How long have you b«nteaching hen:') 4. How do you tind the performance or your students in English? 5. What do you think can be dOM to JOI~ the problem of students' poor University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh BIBUOGR.\PHY Al:or, IT, (2003). Im'Cs"galing FJtglill, l ,IIkWJ Prvbl~1fU il1 ,h. . JVrilin~.f vf TtNl h.·, · rr."" ...· , 4 r .ut' St,,,' , ,./ h ~nl Tru",,,,,: CDllt'J,:(' SIIIc/ent,'f. M.I'hil. lbesis. Univel \ ltyofGll3lloi Allen, J,P.B.( 1980). A T1trw LewJ ( '11"11'''/11'" Mrtdrl/Dr S«onJ Lcrnf{IKIK" F.cJ",.:ulmn Mimeo' Modem langualZc Centre, Ontario Inscitutc for Studic: .. In Educalion lJIale , J. W. (1942). F.uropeans", iV('st Africa J-I50-1560.London: The Iluluyt Society Cobb. David, Alloysiu.~ Denkabe,Oli ... ia A. Sosu. and llellen Annatey-Quarcoo (2001) Eng/i.flr "IT Senior ,~condory Schools T('oc/wrs ' Books / Ghana: Unimu Macmillan _ (2000) £"gl;JhfDr&"'(lI',~('ontlun ."",·h'!f'/'S,ude",.s Boob 1.! .&J.Ghana : Ummv. Macmillan Criptr. Lindsay (1971). ' A Classification of I )JJCs of English in Ghana' , JOlll'nuf .., AfrkmoL"'P"P1. 10.3: 6-17 Crysul. ()a. .. id (1988) . R~cI;scovrrGrQlffmo, with DavidCryslai, Es~x . LonBmln GroupUK Ltd Dako. Kari. AUoysiU5 Denkabe, and Benjamin E h,l""!IOn (1997). 'The Ghanaian Um"cr!">'I) SuKienls' Kn.]v." 3nd WOllin L Oliu (2003). Wnlmgfrom.f 10 Z New York' MacGro\\· Hill. I du.BUlIndoh. Dura." . (1996). 'A Prelimina,.) Remn on lhe Sludy or Fffllf P.t('m~ in lhe Wrinen EssaY~ nfSmior Sccondar) Schools' In M E. Kropp Oakubu (ed.) Eff1lIuh iff Ghaffd (pp. 195-210). Accra: Ghana EngJiloh Srudies A\!>o("lalion Ellis. Rod (1984). (/nJ~"SlanJ;ng Second Language ACYUls/IIon. Oxford: (hronJ UnivcrsilyPress. fonler. F. J. (1965). Educ"r,onand ....· oc;a/ Chanl(r m GhanQ. l.ondon Roulledge and KeganPaul LJd (;harul.ducOlJlon ServIce (1993). Republic vJ (Jh.mu .la-m()l' &umdory .''':houl Eng/uh (lJrg{t) Syllabw f-Icllcrm01n, J.A. W and John E. Lincoln (1986) 11"""111: A Co/J"l(r Handbool. . New Yor'lt: W W Norton and Co. Inc I..ancn-Flftman. Diane (2000).T«hmquesond Pri",·,plr.t in LOf'f/{uugl.' Teaching. O",rord: Oxford UniversilY Press. (2001). "Grammar". In Ronald Carlcrand David Nunan (cds ), 1M ('umhrid~~ (,ulck 10 Teaching EngliJh to .\'pea1crrs of 0,11,,. L",,~~ Camhndgc: l.lmhruJ!.oelJnlvcrsityPress '!.,d,.·" II.lmld S. (19831. Tuhntque.s In T~slmR . Oxrord Odord I ni\"ersiCy Press. ""kl.au~hllR, Uarry (1917). Tlwonr$ o/SrronJ ' /4nJ(IID1lP Uorn'''1{ London: I' dwvd Arnold. ,t. \\ ll l'.lm . 11 () A ~nd M.A. kv.amcna'pj)hll";~' f ly Drw/""",c-n/ul Edwcatiun In University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 107 t rIf! l,nrjll(1 1,1 gman \-lImlr fl duwllon ( 1)07) """ePu!'crll theRepnrtojtheEducalionRelorm na Buba Hyde,Dannabang Kuwabong, Secondary School English Booksl.2.& , ond Language Research M(!thods. acmillan. f language Teach ing, London: Oxford r 1196, Un ,'s Choice: Grammar and Composilion. ~_~_=="_fii.darySChoolat60YcarsOld . The University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 108 (Jltultaiolf TifMS flXsdI)'. Mareh 27. 2007. p.9. Wesl African ExamiOilion Council (2003). Chj~1 Exam;~rs' Reports/or Srnw,. \'",,,nJor)'ScItooJ Ct'rllfi,alt' £.,om,nulwn . April. Al:ua : \\ 'A[C _ (2005). Chh:! £mnmh:rs' &por($/OI' 1M 8o.Jic Ed'l('tlliun ('em/inrl'> Exom",atton, Apnl. Accra: WAEC. WLI~,,,, [) A. (1976) . Notiunal Syllabuses. Oxford: Oxlilrd University Press WItI:Ju, John f-' (lqQq). Orxonised English Grammar. Acero: Acodcmic ruhlll:lltions Yank '>On. Koli ,. ( 1I}IJ4) Brlter English through Concord/or Wesl A/ricanStmh'nl,r ·\cera: Commercial Associates LId \\,~\\ r"ll'~ ~ri~cr.com/prunouns_phn (14.12-07)