LEXICO-GRAMMATICAL ERRORS IN NIGERIAN ENGLISH: IMPLICATIONS FOR NIGERIAN TEACHERS AND LEARNERS OF ENGLISH

Abstract

This study recognises the status and importance of the English language in Nigeria. It specifically reiterates the place of English as a medium of instruction at all levels of the nation’s educational system and the role it performs in learners’ communicative repertoire. The study however, examined the issue of the Nigerian English to determine and explain the extent of its differences at the grammatical and lexical levels from the standard English and how these deviations have affected the English language pedagogy and academic performance of Nigerian students. The data used for the study were drawn from three secondary schools in Epe division of Lagos state. Sixty (60) students were used; 20 from each school. The data were collected through close observation of the students’ interactions with their colleagues, by their teachers over a period of four weeks paying particular attention to their grammatical and lexical errors. Two hundred and twenty seven (227) errors were identified and analysed, out of which 184(81.06%) were grammatical while 43 (18.94%) were lexical. The position held in this study is that to achieve performance oriented English teaching and learning in ESL classroom and a high degree of proficiency in English; teachers of English at all levels of education, particularly secondary school level need to teach the standard variety of English. This, is thus believed, could minimize mass failure in English being observed year after year in Nigerian senior secondary school examinations.