THE PROBLEM OF CONCORD AND STUDENTS PERFORMANCE IN SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page
Certification
Approval Page
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Table of Contents
List of Tables
List of Appendices
Abstract
CHAPTER ONE:
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
1.2 Statement of the Problem
1.3 Purpose of the Study
1.4 Research Questions
1.5 Hypotheses
1.6 Significance of the Study
1.7 Scope of the Study
1.8 Definition of Terms
CHAPTER TWO:
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
2.1 Theoretical Framework
2.2 Conceptual Review
2.3 Review of Empirical Studies
2.4 Summary of Literature Review
CHAPTER THREE:
RESEARCH METHOD
3.1 Research Design
3.2 Area of the Study
3.3 Population of the Study
3.4 Sample and Sampling Technique
3.5 Instrumentation
3.5.1 Validation of the Instrument
3.5.2 Reliability of the Instrument
3.6 Procedure for Data Collection
3.7 Method of Data Analysis
CHAPTER FOUR:
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
4.1 Answering the Research Questions
4.2 Testing the Hypotheses
4.3 Summary of Findings
4.4 Discussion of Findings
CHAPTER FIVE:
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Summary
5.2 Educational Implications of the Findings
5.3 Conclusion
5.4 Recommendations
5.5 Limitations of the Study
5.6 Suggestions for further Study
References
Appendices
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Education has always served as the pivot of every developed society. The main essence of school is the acquisition of knowledge, skills and abilities which in turn, would cater for the needs of citizens in the society. This implies that a child, representing his/her society, would have to learn effectively at school despite challenges.
Learning as defined by Denga (2022) is a change in behaviour or performance which is a result of experience and practice, and which makes an individual face later situations differently. In line with the aforementioned, the behaviourist states that learning is a series of stimulus and response situations. Thus, learning takes place when there is constant practice and re-enforcement (Ekah 2015).
According to Ekah (2015) language is as powerful and influential as learning especially to second language learner who will face difficulties if he attempts to understand the system or rules guiding the target language. This normally happens when the child encounters strict and confusing rules in contrast to how his first language is spoken. When this happens, the child would not be able to learn the language effectively. The source further states that language hearing is a process of acquiring a tool of communication by human beings.
THE PROBLEM OF CONCORD AND STUDENTS PERFORMANCE IN SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING
The language so learned could be a mother tongue, that is, the first language as it is with English and French language. A child of Ibibio tribe speaks Ibibio as the first language or the mother tongue, then he learns English formally in the classroom as a second language because of its importance to the nation.
Whereas, the former is easier to acquire, since it is done mainly through exposure, but the later is not. A second language learner puts in more effort to be proficient in the language (p.32).
In justification of the view above, Foertsh (2018) describes second language learning as an important factor that influences how children learn. The ways in which children communicate in their homes are critical to the development of written language models of reading and writing.
The home language of students provides the foundation for emergence of reading and writing behaviour. If there is a mismatch between the structures, values and second language, children may be at a disadvantage and thus spend their entire school careers attempting to catch up (p.30).
Furthermore, Williams (2019) observes that English as a second language is learned primarily in formal setting in the classroom. In addition, the source adds that it is the quality of teaching in the classroom which determines the performance of the learners (p. 42).
Thus, this implies that the success of any educational system largely depends on the quality of teachers that impart expected knowledge and skills to the learners.
However, a critical look at the standard of education in Nigeria proves that the quality of English and the kind of sentences spoken or constructed by Nigerians of this generation is on the decline. This is why Essien (2023) note that the English used by many Nigerians of younger generations may have English words and expressions but lack English grammar and meaning (p. 34).
The emphasis in the foregoing views is on grammar. Ekah (2015) asserts that grammar is not all about performing language – like behaviours but it is concerned with the development of ability to the extent that the speaker engages in the unconscious application of the grammatical rules of the language and arrives at meaningful communication (p.27).
Grammar, as most linguist would say, is a set of rules which is descriptive in nature. It describes knowledge of the rules of English and the use of language in appropriate situations.
According to the source the majority of students score low marks under mechanical accuracy because of their ignorance of the basic rules of grammar which results in the inability to spell words correctly, punctuate sentences correctly and handle grammatical structures of concord with a reasonable degree of competence. This explains why a learner say, for instance, “Our club help people a lot” instead of “Our club helps people a lot (p. 43). This, according to the source is attributed to mother tongue interference and the process of learning a new language. The problem of concord and students performance in second language learning.
An Ibibio speaker of English would say the same sentence as “Nka nyin anwam mme owo eti-eti” even though the sentence would change to “Our clubs help people a lot”. To that learner, the idea of singular and plural is in application in such a case.
Concord in broad term means agreement between the subject and verb, as well as other elements of the clause structure (Babajide, 2014). The idea of the concord in the grammar suggests that for an English sentence to be correct and meaningful, its constituent parts must be in perfect agreement. However, there are cases when the basic rules do not account for some constructions, and if that is the case, the learner would have to adjust to context of usage.
Specifically, the problem of concord relates to a type of constraint encountered by second language learners on the form of words occurring together. Thus, the word in which its occurrence is dictated by the other is said to agree with it. This is the case of selection restriction on lexical items which differ among languages (Stockwell, 2017). In brief, this implies that concord is an aspect of grammar that demands strict adherence to rules and avoidance of elements in the sentence.
A singular noun agrees with a singular verb and a plural noun agrees with a plural verb except on cases which the rule of concord adjusts to certain contexts of usage like concord of proximity, concord of intervening phrases and concord related to collective nouns. Any attempt to deviate from these rules amounts to a breakdown in communication and poor performance in second language learning. Therefore, this study is carried out in order to examine the problem of concord and students performance in second language learning.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Undeniably, concord is always a difficult area of grammar that impedes good performance in second language learning. Researchers in second language learning believe that the tendency is very clear that an adult learning a second language does so with the knowledge of the first language. Thus, the problem of interference of grammatical structures in the first language is likely to affect the learning of a second language, since the L1 speaker would have to meet strange rules. The problem of concord and students performance in second language learning.
Inability of students to master the rules of concord and to perform well in argument and related structures due to the complexities in the learning of concord is a problem of this research work.
It is on this note that the researcher attempts to investigate grammatical problems that affect students’ performance in second language learning. This study therefore seeks to examine and identify the problem of concord and students performance in second language learning.
1.3 Purpose of the Study
The main purpose of this study was to examine the problem of concord and students performance in second language learning. Specifically, the study aims at:
- Determining how the use of antecedent affects the general performance of students in the learning of a second language.
- Assessing how the use of tenses influences the general performance of students in the learning of a second language.
- Examining how the use of subject to agree with the verb in a sentence affects general performance of students in the learning of a second language.
1.4 Significance of the Study
This study shall be of immense benefits to the students, teachers, parents and school administrators in the following ways:
- Firstly, it shall create awareness on the discrepancy existing between L1 and L2 and the need for teachers to adopt appropriate methods of teaching subject-verb agreement for proficiency in the L2.
- Secondly, it shall stress the need for students to employ seriousness in the study of concord. The problem of concord and students performance in second language learning.
- It shall also help parents to develop a positive attitude towards the education of their children.
- Lastly, it shall make school administrators more responsible to the needs of providing quality learning materials like reliable grammar textbooks to students.
1.5 Research Questions
The following research questions were formulated for the study:
- How do students who use antecedent correctly differ from their counterparts who do not in their learning of a second language?
- To what extent do students who use tenses correctly differ from their counterparts who do not in their learning of a second language?
- How do students who use subjects that agree with the verb in a sentence correctly differ from their counterparts who do not in the learning of a second language?
Definition of Operational/Technical Terms
Concord: This could be defined as the grammatical agreement existing between subject and other elements.
Performance: In brief, this could be defined as the attitude and behaviour of a learner in the learning of any activity.
Second Language Learning: This is the development of knowledge in the acquisition and usage of a language by children and adults who already know at least one other language.
Mother Tongue: This could be defined as one’s native language or in most cases the language first spoken by an individual.
Conclusion
Problems of concord have always been a major concern to teachers, parents and those who take interest in quality education. The poor performance of students in English is partly attributed to their inability to handle concord in their spoken and written English.
Most students fail to use proper concord, tense, aspect and grammar due to the influence of L1 inherent in the learning of a second language. The problem of concord and students performance in second language learning.
When a language leaves its original home to assume nativization in another country, there are evidences that the features and structures of the new language would pose problems to the foreign speakers due to complexities and discrepancies in the structures and features of the second language. Therefore, English is a second language to Nigerians and there is no doubt that Nigerian students are faced with problems of concord.
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