University of Nigeria Research Publications

EZUE, Mabel C.

Aut

hor

PG/MED/S/01/32369

Title

Errors Analysis of Oral English and Mother Tongue Interference in Secondary Schools in

Orumba South L.G.A. of Anambra State

Facu

lty

Education

Dep

artm

ent

Education

Dat

e

August, 2004

Sign

atur

e

AFPROVA L PACE

1. This project has been approved for the De:mrtrr~ent of Education,

Univ:?rrity of Nigeria, Nsukka by

IlVERN/'I.L L.;w MINER

10 Almighty God in thanksgiving and to my dear Iiuslmd Joseph U.N Anulobi

My loving children Somtoo, Chukwubuikem, Chinechmm and Cchukwunezite.

. ,

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ! . \

* For me successful obmdetion of this work, the mearcher received

inv?luabl~! asimnce and cwpemtion fm various individuals and groups of

people. While she claim responsibility for all the short omings of t l ~ e work, $he

nlsh to express her profound gratitude to all those who contr ibM in one way

or rhe other to bring the dream of this project to a reality.

Primarily, s k praises and thanks the Almighly f,~ther who inspired and '

sustawd her with His Grace and good health throug+~ac t the stressful period OF

this study, She is greatty indebted in her supe~isc~r Clr, Mrs U. U r n for her

expert advice, directives and encouragement throughotit the period of writing

:tl' , 7 d J ; : .

I i;e:d; ,.ifu people whose sohd frtendship, encotmqement, firiancial, moral , -

They iridude; the Dozies-Chief and Mrs Dozie hyaoku who lighted the

candl~ for this murse fbr her chief and ME c.& (JuBn) Fneh. Hajia Mrs h y . N .

Nwafor, Dr and Mrs M.1. Ezueh, F,C. k w h , Ezeueh GC. and Adobi Ernest 0. Tcr ;'-cn she r~ma~naeternally grateful. But then, h o ~ a.mld she have said It is

done without this solid great pillar, her husband, Joseph U,M. Anulobi behind her.

WItr? his love, encouragement, advice, m o d and financial support to see hw get

to the top.

lastly, the researcher wishsrto acknowledge. with thank the prayers and gcml

wishes gf her parents in-law who took care of her childrer~ all the wllile.

May God Mess them all.

T f 7 ~ s t u ~ l y was des~gnea t-o identify, classify ar rci analysi: mors uf Q u - ! ~ , . r ~ s #

In . . ~ ~ ~ k c n , b ~ : l English kwth a vk!u to findrng tt. 3 studw@ zreas of mrlngth~ and

WWI:~IPSWS iv OW^ to -make ~commericlal-lor .; f ~ \ r f l ~ ~ n ~ ~ r - - b r ~ c P nf tmching

anti I t .rlr ninq of ~hglrsh language.

The zudy was carried ovt in secondary schmk In Orurnba South sub-

Ed; ,< ,3Wnal 20ne d hamb bra State. The researcher subjwzb w e e 553 English

teatners 150 SS3 students. The instrument used fofo- dzta collection\ were questio~naiie and oral test :,,

The resmnses to the research questions were aanalysed tablet4 and

dial( ii*,~.t1rf. Frty11~_'n~y COIIR~ and pc?rrcntxj:-r tww ~~c;rid .r, corny~t~ t~ t h r rlurnhcr

of l l . ? y m ~ e s for each question. An iten1 with 20°h ilnd a b w wrong resportse

T?:c ir:sjor &urces of errors were identified namel),, the peculhrities of the

Ev. 'is5 iarqtc: 7e and principally interf'erence from mc~dic r tongue.

t, . ,--;,--.I : ; 'lie ! ? ; x h ~ ~ j P;-KCSS in the context of teaching English a(; a sclecr:~f

kt, : :; l q ,, I L 1 . r :rrthervore, the features of the mot1 I P ~ tongue must coi;s~ntly

be ':om i i ~ mind because they form the target elemen:!.s c ~ f the language corrrse.

v iii

CHAPTER THREE

G : * ~ j i ? ;f the Gt.dy

krca of study

Population for the study

Sample and sampling techniques

RESEARCH METHOI'3

In slrurnen tat-,~fl 2: q

VP lidation of the instrummt . !.

22

P.c rnni*ratibn of inshment 22

tr;~?!!xI of data analysis 22 '

Un OF TABLES

TA i; LE X

Nrtmkr oF S S 3 English teachers per sub-none

TA I5 LE 2.

NI rrntw OF SS3 students per subzone

LIST OF APPENDIXES

A W E NDIX V

English consonants

*

APPENDIX V I

Ig30 phonemes- and sour~d

WPEPIUZX VII

English vrwels aed sountls

e~j-~ri fnr Lc~ernirn~ng when standards of education ale rrsiny and falling. English p.

en;;vs tire prmier position of being cmpulsory in t f ~ West African S c h s d

Cv??l;c7;te/GCE Examination. Rom, (1971 ...... 18 1) rtght!v ~ k e i r . ~ ! t!!;jt:

Fur t j 7 ~ Ah4rdn, Eng/i& is not jst unta i-L;$W jp7 the Crimrukn:~,

mt a hngusge doow ISwn ir n u r n : ~ ' avabbk, no.- j'r~:: j< as a

backgmur'id, a orMtC"vl mc!) tc_=' 1 ~ 7 que L ~ F P I a ! :J . '2 cd I?'.

i s a vrta need.

Two tmwrtant factors about the situation of English languaw in Nigeria \

have prompted the reseamher to inved@ate into #e ways and means of

improving the standard of its &ching and ieaming, performance and usage. On

one hznd, we have the indispensable rohi of English in the private and public,

wral and offkial life of Nigenans. On the other hand, there is the alam~irg eyer

mcreasing deterioration in t he standard performance in English language hy our

C :- i rx4~,~~i r rLz , t i~~ was gpne,mh!y w, a1 10' iu t-esw .T 0 f' r- !!,:, YCT - ~-i~1:94?ate;, b?e skwdm? h , ~ ' .smk ti a IE?~ y dtd?~arte.ving /.EYW'. , -

' t tn : : , L x k , the WAEC C h i d Examiners in their 1979 reports alkd f o r

~~a~~~~~fi b; *h*- .; disbrking rate qf hilure t17q wrote:

t-3o-y year for the past ten years, tfie ,,r-w @nnai~ce h s &IN,' h7

k WE tfian Sfre prevkous YEWS, but Z% pa4 there has been a

,,oDceable decline in genera/ ajid mrre is cer&inw cause for

tv tf:err s with cnntmpt, English language stilk tends to pasc proMrms

k , dwe iL l . ~ w n ~ n ~ t a b ~ ~ and speaking are quite difi t m n t frwn thm! wh%% w C"

far + *:vf::?i we learn our first language. The stah~s oT E~iglrsh bnqeim~ and MP

neij.dive attlh~de towards our tnothw tongue (Igkm) channeled a wry sharp

tevdency towards the study of English b the detriment !IF Icho fangrage or any

incqenous language. Irl support of xhe status c j i E ! ~ ? I s ~ : 171;q~i~y-1 in Niqrrtrt,

A r l ? ~ h { 19P 7.25) G p ; ,

when we Begin, the thc hrinpont and d&fck,tt k tfPe tsk. .

Eased c-? this, it means the learner has to think in one lanquage and

exprience his thoughts in another. He naturally tendl; ta transfer the elements

from the :mtfier tongue to the second language. T h i s ~lttstr Its in expression which

may k ungrammatical in English tholxjh correct in tbe first hnguage. The

solution as suqgestFKf by Pkrisson quoted.above is to teach fiom known to

unknown,

The first, s t e ~ rn this d ~ r e d ~ o n advocated by littguistic sclwlars rs to

exzvioe rn details the q6t-emi oi; structur~r of Engl~sh and mother tonq~te tn

e5ti3hlrk;b !heir similarities and differences. Ihis in thth vvl~rds of Olu :;pe (1978)

will help nutiiws "p'npmt the major learnmg pmblen?"' This ixercise of

linqlis;~c mtnpcteicce is what the researcher propoaes b do wttl seco~ldaty

sch:a~iv kt Orr~rnba South Lociil Government Area of A~rarrlbra State.

S h l ' e r w r ~ t of Broblena

7,~s,-l;ir:, , ftuilies have r ev~ la i that in the ccrlteKt of seco:d lan3~1agc

acqriisitisn, ri;-. pbcr!menon of mother tongue mnsfer is a significant hctor that

inhibit r m e usage and good perfomanre in the second language. Wmr

factxs rdentified by the 1985 WAEC Committee on En{dish language include;

"Inadmuate teaches and faci!Cies, insuficient n u r n l w r:.f perids, lack oq inters

and &dividuals. For example, the Crms Riwr State i ivernment one 6me gave

at~tmat ic: employment to all Enyirsh teaches and prclv deci facilities for schoo!s. It. is observed that there is very !We attention grlrer to the issue of mother

with s p F c reference tu Orr~rnba South ,E;econdav %?09 Students in Igbo ad

Englisfi languages. L

A s a classroom teacher for many years noH, ecpenence therefcre has

shown %at deficiency in spken and written Eng! !it, !anguage poses a great

pr(~f?!err~ 10 Phe students r r i ~_xarnin~l~ons. The rcs-I uh :r w r s h ~ , to address one

whtd-~ can he$ texhers of Eng!ish !mguage teaching l'gko speakers to recognize

language.

Error: - It i ~ , ~ a deviant, clne is not conscious of

Error analysis:- A technique of m s ' l i l i ~ ~ g ~ m ~ r e r ; c +y rcrnr++~~~, classifying

1. Mother torque inkrkwnce

2. Error Analysis

3. Some kctars responsible fbr pow performance in English

4. The teachiq of English language in Nigeria. C

grammatical m a s IS the only necessary thing they nmd, to write and sg~"lr. 3.7,

se7';ctrlccs. In fad', stress arid intonmon:nii:s! I?? prey+!' ~ s e ? fw r? (;pe;rl;er of

English if his s,xxzh is to be understood by M e r users ij'tk Iz?qf9rl~,

' English, therefore, distinguishes ktwewt g r e s d anlr! uns!ress&

sy!!ables, but wclh distinction is not made in most Nigerian languages includinc

Igbs language " f ie Nigerian languages are cafM sylhh!e- timd languqw *

whereas English language is a stressed-timed languag~. This great difkrenc~

creates some diRcuky for Nigerian learners of English pronunciatiov. .

There are fortyfour sound segments in English comprising twenty vowel^.

and twenty-fot~r ronsonants. The vowels in English are classifid ir* two rrrain

groups, pure vowels (also called mono-thonas) and diph-thoryc; The purp

symbwls i m l i ~ l t e the initial and final vowels represmtcl iu :ill- ;~rticulaf.;fi

(Appendix ZTI) s h : m the of diphthmgs).

The cur-sunants which are twenty four i~ n u n ~ t ~ l :nw-I b-0 hewn ~ n r

learnt tm. ThrL 1% t of the consonants wRh examples of K & T I ~ l+q: *IP met-

can k seer! ill a l . p m l i x iv. I n phwnokq which the ~ ! r ~ ~ ~ ~ I - ; :,';.).' - C T ~ - - ~ : . . wtth according to Clause eta!, 'the spaker may tmnsf~_r ;. s~utlrl + -2 his r\+ -

language to th? srxond language or target language. .,npW ant? T a b k ' r - to different, lir-I~LI stic families, tfiere is bound to k high inci4enc~ qf language

evidence of arir)vincialism and translatian of seveal uernacu:ar mp~ssions i r h z

Ers$ish. This oRen leads to tmndations s ~ q h ' a s ;

[ am stlort ot words

si~nals rneai~irq wiii!e in English it does not. This creates confusbr! fcr tire iiindr

l~arngr of English which lelds him to the rnispnunciat?m of cer@in words like

African langu,itgc:r don't have consonant clrrsters. Some r l ~ mt ~.trsd 'rvord:, ;

' i.

*. It.

iil.

iv.

v.

tack oi dlldication from teachers mmt of who h a w rm,c to regam

teachin 3 n ~erely as a job not as a profession.

Gross inadlquacy of teachers of English rcsrrltinq in:

a. f l m y schools not having qualified teackrs

b. Deployment of non-English Ianquaqe swcialist ( I S ~ I F I V I I Y wrth rmrt

t ommand of English languaa~ to fill the gam.

c. Inackquate practkai work and lessons on Engttsh

Imposition of school fees and special levis in many -15 a res1~1!- cC

.Y 1ro3 which many parents temporarily withdrew their chi!r?ren m r ! wordp

schools.

Tnranct iri schools as e~ermplifitjd in the p~Mish-d notmln lr. EPr -k~cb

show ir hgm.

Lack of bm)ks and teachivg facilities in many ;c:-* -I-.

4. "Ic Tenc'6-y or Fnc!;sPI Ln~~pui~o,e in N-lhz+~+a

t t is irl!er3thg 93 n9t.e +??at as !~!c!c as ear{\ sht.l,?s' to ei5ties', \VAEC

WE!% bvcrr??? eqcqy? a5c~d: ??e %k~ z% ,;f >-it?;% :? i:%s~ E jg t5e

s~!!E*F?ws aw' mF_.t?rds of English teaci l iq, D.W. Griwe was corn~iss'oneb in

F52/63 to !nve.igate into :be counc2's s y W x ! s iv Fin! :it;b. Pe rrx~vmenc!&

arrrc.nT t ? ! ~ r ?-!lnq~ !bat me dirm? mec;fior' 5e USEY m d t?e C O ~ F % s ! ~ : J V

ref'frl: t3c ptrp"s backrrm~x! ~ i t d ex,xrience. LJerc w,l? ar? mare %an %rhr yexs

afix?~ Grier:.;j's r-%on?mendatl:ons, S?IV f z c d ~ $ 5 i l q h IBl!ure rates. Oluik*,

(I?:'?! '? ciirrC"f at the smrrce ~V::hr, nrr?Ycn ~y!v?n he W@P "a major

wp;c'.:n%s in 9-7 tpar3ina cf '=,rtp!is!! in k+,yia is ;hst V!P c'? net_ p ~ r h \ ~ i m aim 0:'

sa'*fing t%! ! m ? v ? ! y QC ? T O ~ ' . F I . ~ ~ ~ S wq!li?r tn fIno~~is':;c c o ~ ~ t ! n i e s ir, 5~

C~!.::?k-y " (?:5\. Cener-rr!y, %tie rci? of tbe ir!Puen::e ciC r x f : W :nry!~ k!r!

necFW?!r av! msi?:ive'v, or! +Flp i?r lcwki f '~n or a PZCI.?$ !argmqe 92s not '?wen

$ r w duc s+F.~!liion in the conkp2 of t e z c h i o ~ lo shtckrl?l- i v i t4 eiyerm-rt V i ~ m ~ n

Revi-w of Watt+ ?koerica! Sta+;ez

AY~onwu cons5tut-f 4ngtish !mguage test. ht?m;vru's study in N w k b

writing).

Table 1 : Xurnkr of 55.3 Eq!!sh teachers per zone

F~%!!r~,rtE e,r "X:,?.rt !l.n;ktysa

T 1 7 ~ ; ~ ? ! f ~ n t i q ~ and m w n siztis%t! ; n p r ? ijsctrl r :I ;?n~j'vr,r? :hi7 33% 3 ~ 5

vr.: \..,;,.'p ?tl*;f~; ?T '.p +'lp r05p,3y-!! ptlpsfinr,

''r-,-,. ,,.: ;.. 0,- icpp,- . . ..'. .. .... ..,. , , \ t 2 :'I? I.fj.~'"."-,'. , !:"c r7'; ;!I,{ ! ':;?!p ~ t ' 5 : ~ ' : y j ; !

(5: j , .,.yr8?,! :&' ,' 7j&?,f-frr-y . (r:) , ;?r!!+ !;t ! ! : , ~ j g ..':;,,qi,?<~: ;.;[: ', :j, ,u<? i,zjlle5 ,): -:' I - ?.!)(::

X r:rispec;Wl; yie1ri;ng a sum of 10 and r11~1zr1 CI? 2.:; IO: 7e.Y r J i ~ i < r $ l3:/ 4.

- * ' I J:L:LI:L illy y, tne!e?sr-e, a rut, C? $:;i:+: cf 2.':'11 w,?'~s pq?5!i~'7& 7 s +c3

accc~l:?Ye rr~wn. 73i5 in PT& mems that anv i t ~ m ,::! the c lust~r vlt$ a mean

of 2.50 me! a l m e was deerrred as apprcved by thtr wspmden? and any item

wit'] a mzan blelclw 2.50 wx m t d not appvavi:x! bv tiw :esmmden&.

I.. - ,.. ,,.,-vr *.. ng

Today, t k re is mor? !vor?s going O ~ I if: Y~glrsh r>m;rrrla'fi than in any other

branch of language s!:udy. Every l i :~ months !:lrir:? .h-& evidence, new -- ideas a d P T ~ I ; S I'&I!!Ic~~ ~WUSS~O~JS. :+:$we, seminars ;17)f)d

workshop should b~! munter! 5c!n Wp ti.1-t.2 to e.m>k s ~ w i n u .,

Students shot!Id be d~scoi !m~e: ! ir: t l ~ uus, s;.t j.;id:;i!! Eng!ish both tn the rn

school aod oct_side the sc5ml e~viruiment

Eol?q teachers anc! parents should ircukate an,:! ctneourage t3e haSit of

cr!rnmit;5iori sho~dd set it!-) comrnittt?? to rnastc): ; -276 th;? ry.Ce\r! or t5e

in c!mr and simple Enq;!if;h i6 t!!e sIu(ief~B wol !Y re?? 2nd com~rp$end

The ministry of ducz!Wn, state education !:~r:imi~~iun, parents an6

and fcarninq @f 0.81 Cnq!isc1. .A'! these 1,w-e discc.tr!~+ to ip?,~pr?crjd