Errors in the Use of English: A Case of Primary School Pupils in Meme Division, with Focus on Morpheme and Word

Abstract

This study describes the performance of pupils in the First School Leaving Certificate (FSLC) examination English language composition paper in Kumba and neighbouring localities. It was reported by previous researchers that the performance of students in the GCE English paper was falling steadily. However, it was unfortunate that no research has checked what obtains at the level of the FSLC, which is the concern of the present study. To effectively tackle any problem it must begin from the roots. So, this study set out to analyze the grammatical features in the written production of Class Six pupils in the FSLC English language paper in Meme Division in the Southwest Region of Cameroon. This study was conducted to answer the question “what specific grammar features are observed in the written production?” The study had as main objective to identify specific grammar features in the writings of pupils in the basic schools around Meme Division. A descriptive survey design was adopted for this study, and it was carried out within the theoretical framework of error analysis propounded by S.P Corder (1974). The material for this study is the past FSLC English language composition scripts for the 2014, 2015, and 2016 academic year. A total of 168 scripts were collected for this study, that is, 56 scripts for each of the three academic year were collected. Errors were identified and classified under morphemic and word errors. The findings for the study revealed that, word error recorded 70.7% of 942 cases identified, while morphemic error recorded 29.2% of 942 errors identified. The researcher recommended that the government should ensure all teaching materials are available at the beginning of each academic year and to make sure that pedagogic inspectors do their job as they should.