Grammatical Errors in Written Composition of Junior Secondary School Students in Owan West Local Government Area of EDO State

Abstract

The abysmal performance of students in English Language over the years is a major concern to this researcher. Thus, the study is geared towards investigating the grammatical errors in written composition in selected secondary schools in Owan west Local government Area of Edo State. One research question was raised to give a direction to the problem under study. The descriptive (survey design) was used for the study. The population for the study was the 2196 Public and private Junior Secondary school students in Owan West Local Government Area. Simple random sampling technique was used to select 180 students who were given an essay on the topic “How I spent my Christmas holiday”. The written compositions were marked based on content, organization, mechanical accuracy and expression. Based on the data, simple percentage was used to analyze students’ performance. The result of the analysis revealed that students were unable to develop essential topic; most of the students were unable to organize their essay; most of the time students could not differentiate between the use of present tense from past tense. Based on the findings it was recommended amongst others that qualified English teachers should be employed in the teaching of English Language in Junior secondary schools.