Study of concord in the examination scripts of students of Ghana Technology University College

Abstract

This paper investigates grammatical concord in undergraduate students’ examination scripts in Ghana Technology University College (GTUC), a private university college in Ghana. Purposeful and critical discourse analytical methods are employed to analyse thirty (30) Communication Skills scripts of level 200 students of GTUC, to ascertain their knowledge of concord in English Language (EL). The paper argues that although there are many factors such as poor infrastructure, insufficient contact hours, amongst others, which continue to account for students’ inadequate  knowledge in English grammar, the problem of concord continues to linger on in English in Ghanaian schools, colleges and even universities, because of the poor pedagogical approaches to teaching the language. More so, the paper observes that concord still bothers students, because some teachers of EL in Ghanaian schools, do not possess the requisite qualifications such as, B.A, B.ED, M.A. or M.phil in English Language, before teaching the subject; hence, they exhibit poor teaching skills, thereby compounding the problem for students. The paper; therefore, recommends that in order to enhance students’ knowledge in ESL, stakeholders and heads of  institutions should ensure that teachers, who teach EL at all levels of education in Ghana, are professional certificated teachers in the discipline. In conclusion, as a recommendation, the paper posits that more exciting pedagogical methods such as teaching grammar in context, using substitution tables, constant practice, amongst others, should be employed by teachers to whet students’ appetite in the discipline.

Key Words: Grammar, concord, antecedent, critical discourse and pedagogy.