CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

When the word ‘grammar’ is mentioned, many people, laity and scholars, raise their eyebrows, questioning its place and role in the language classroom. Such a negative attitude has existed for quite a long time. For instance, Webbe questioned the place of grammar instruction as early as 1622 by maintaining that “grammar could be picked up through simply communicating” (Webbe cited in Thornbury, 2005:14). In contrast to Webbe, other scholars have put grammar in the driver's seat of the language development wagon. For example, Ur (1988:4) asserts that “there is no doubt that a knowledge – implicit or explicit – of grammatical rules is essential for mastery of a language: you cannot use words unless you know how they should be put together.” Whereas some scholars, such as Ur (1988), advocate grammar instruction and a number of students have been awarded academic scholarships for grammar studies, there are still many people who are in awe of grammar as it might be found to be difficult and boring (Greenbaum, 1996:192; Yule, 2010:190).

        English is the current, highly recognized international lingua franca. As the world unites into a global community commonly engaged by modern technology, the need to use the English language has become more and more apparent. Today more than any episode in history, people from different regions of the world are able to communicate fast because of the favors of technology. Adjacent with a person’s competent use of technology, it has likewise become essential to hone the skills of speaking or writing effectively in English if one were to partake in global commerce, especially that English is widely used in business industries and in education. Moreover, English is learned and studied in the modern world for its obvious practical importance, i.e. as a means to communicate in the international level and as a means to optimize one’s access to opportunities in the employment market (Estanislao, 2013).

        English Grammar presupposes eight parts of speech namely: noun, pronoun, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunctions, interjections and verbs. Students are taught to be competent in the fictional use of these grammatical names and functions. However, the researcher who has relatively spent years in the English language teaching career has noted that one of the main problems of the students is their functional grasp of subject-verb agreement. ESL students’ problematic difficulties in their use of subject-verb agreement are becoming more obvious and rampant, and it cuts across the different grade levels where students belong. From the primary school towards the university level, many students are noted in their speech and writing as not being able to abide with the rules of subject-verb agreement. Errors on subject-verb agreement were found not only in students’ essays but even in writings of colleagues in universities. The more worrisome dimension of this problem is that such fiasco extends even to professionals who use English in their lectures or those among the honorable members of state and national assemblies or those engaged in varied media outfits.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Errors in subject-verb agreement are becoming wide spread and it seems as if many people are either no longer aware of the rules or they simply undermine the importance of grammar rules, for as long as they are able to convey their message (Tafida & Okunade, 2016). Although the rules on subject-verb agreement have been introduced to students as early as their primary education, they still face problems in acquiring the linguistic competence in their communicative command or use of English. Nayan (2009) also concurs with this that despite being instructed of the grammatical rules at younger age, ESL (English as a second language) learners are not adept in deploying their knowledge of rules in their actual communicative use of English. This is more so since English is the medium through which all the other subjects are taught. Worse still is the fact that Nigerian indigenous languages are taught through English as a medium. Therefore, failure in English is assumed to be a failure in all the other subject areas. Inspite of the utilitarian dimension of the English language as noted above, poor performance is always recorded in School Certificate English over the years. This poor performance is attributed to either the teachers, students, teaching methods, learning environment, societal factors and poor attention to aspects of the language among others. This paper therefore focuses on grammar, an aspect of the SSCE which is often neglected. According to Okoye (online):

many students fail JAMB and School Certificate English, not because they are dull, but mostly because they do not know the rules of grammar which will enable them to make correct choices in the objective tests or help them present their written answer in simple standard English (emphasis mine)

However, our emphasis in this essay is not on the Objective Test but on "Grammatical Names and Functions", an aspect of the comprehension question in Senior School Certificate English. This choice stems from the perceived poor attitude of most teachers and students to the understanding of some basic grammatical structures in English which this question tends to test. Our investigations reveal that teachers and students either depend on guesswork to answer the question, or abandon it altogether. Our aim therefore is to undertake a grammatical description and analysis of past questions on grammatical names and functions to elucidate what actually is required when such questions are asked.

1.3 AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The study seeks to examine teaching and learning of grammatical names and functions as a correlate of academic achievement in English language examinations in secondary schools. The objectives of the study are:

1. To examine the relationship between teaching and learning of grammatical names and functions and students’ academic achievement in English language external examinations
2. To evaluate the level of understanding of grammatical names and functions among English language students in secondary schools
3. To identify the factors affecting teaching and learning of grammatical names and functions and academic achievement in English language examinations in secondary schools
4. To recommend ways to improve the teaching and learning of grammatical names and functions and students’ academic achievement in English language external examinations

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The research questions are:

1. What is the relationship between teaching and learning of grammatical names and functions and students’ academic achievement in English language external examinations?
2. What is the level of understanding of grammatical names and functions among English language students in secondary schools?
3. What are the factors affecting teaching and learning of grammatical names and functions and academic achievement in English language examinations in secondary schools?
4. What are the ways to improve the teaching and learning of grammatical names and functions and students’ academic achievement in English language external examinations?

1.5 STATEMENT OF THE HYPOTHESIS

H0: there is no significant relationship between teaching and learning of grammatical names and functions and students’ academic achievement in English language external examinations

H1: there is significant relationship between teaching and learning of grammatical names and functions and students’ academic achievement in English language external examinations

1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The following are the significance of this study:

1.     The outcome of this research will create awareness to both the general public and students about the teaching and learning of grammatical names and functions as a correlate of academic achievement in English language examinations in secondary schools.

2.     This research will be a contribution to the body of literature in the area of the teaching and learning of grammatical names and functions as a correlate of academic achievement in English language examinations in secondary schools, thereby constituting the empirical literature for future research in the subject area.

1.7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The study covers on teaching and learning of grammatical names and functions as a correlate of academic achievement in English language examinations in secondary schools

1.8 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

Financial constraint- Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

Time constraint- The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.

1.9 DEFINITION OF TERMS

GRAMMATICAL NAMES: Grammatical name is the name giving to a word or group of words in a sentence

GRAMMATICAL FUNCTIONS: Grammatical functions are the roles that different constituents (strings of words acting as units) play in clauses

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT: Academic achievement describes academic outcomes that indicate the extent to which a student has achieved their learning goals. Academic achievement may refer to completing educational benchmarks such as a bachelor's degree. Academic achievement is often measured through examinations or continuous assessments.