ABSTRACT
This work highlights the nature of the English irregular verbs by
identifying what makes them irregular in nature, how this affects or causes
problems to second language learners in Nigeria and proffering solutions on how
to alleviate the problems. Both library and field researches are used to get
the facts needed for the analysis. Descriptive design requiring respondents to supply
answers to objective and subjective tests is used. A total of two hundred
undergraduates from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka and Nwafor Orizu College of
Education, Nsugbe serve as respondents. The students are randomly selected from
the institutions mentioned above. Six research questions guided the research
which aimed at discovering the extent to which the English irregular verbs
cause problems to second language learners. Fifty questions were administered
to the respondents to test the research questions. In analyzing the result the
researcher observed that majority of the undergraduate students do not have the
required knowledge of the use of English irregular verbs. Based on the
findings, some recommendations which aimed at improving the learning of English
in an ESL situation were made.
Chapter One
Introduction
1.0 Preamble
Language is a complex and a dynamic human possession. Its
role as a veritable instrument of social cohesion has been recognized through
ages and in all cultures. The possession of this concrete medium of
communication among human beings distinguishes man from other animals. Many
languages exist in the world. These languages are either spoken or written or
both. Language is a treasure, a mark of identity, a human trait manifesting
strengths and weaknesses of thought. It is therefore a social phenomenon
capable of bringing people from different locale together. This unifying force
is exemplified by the English Language in Nigeria.
It was introduced in Nigeria by the early Europeans for
business transactions and subsequent colonization. Through the agency of the
church, some Nigerians learned the language, which qualified them for positions
as clerks, interpreters and messengers to the whites. They constituted what one
may call the first elite class whose existence spurred other people to compete
for learning and speaking the English Language.
The acceptance of the English Language in Nigeria as a medium
of instruction makes it a second language and its importance in the Nigerian
situation is overwhelming, and according to Baldeh, (1) "it is the most
important legacy of the British colonial masters in Nigeria", as our
political, social, economic and cultural engagements are suffused with English.
1.1 Background to the Study
English is a second language in Nigeria. A second language is
a language which is not indigenous to a country but is used in official
settings. Scholars aver that learning English or any other language as a second
or foreign language implies several difficulties. Not only would the L2 learner
master the sounds of the target language (the phonemes) and understand the
arrangement of words to make meaningful utterances (syntax), he should also
strive to master the vocabulary of the target language and its orthography (the
way words are written). Although some languages most nearly are written in the
same way as they are pronounced, English has minimal written and spoken
relationship.
Learners of English in Nigeria encounter two major problems:
the problem of language interference where L1 of the learner
interferes with his L2 and
the developmental problem arising from the structure of the particular language they
being learned. Interference problems occur because no two languages posses the same rules. The situation always results in
transferring the rules of the first language to that of the learner’s
second language, thus creating misnomer and confusion in usage.
Throwing light on this Guttegno asserts:
The experience we all have in using our language for the
possession of our thoughts, feelings, emotions and perceptions is that words
come by themselves. As soon as we leave our own language and concentrate on
acquiring a new one, however, we find that we are engaged in struggles that our
memory becomes so important (1).
However, students learning a second language face not only the problem of language interference, but also the
problems emanating solely from their target language. These
intra-lingual problems have been widely researched and listed. According to Richards, “a number of errors occur in English as a result of
such problems from the following expressions: Did he cried? He
coming from Israel. Make him to do it. I can to speak French”. He
further explains:
Errors of this nature are frequent regardless of the
learner's language background. They may be called intra-lingual and
developmental errors and reflect the learners competence at a particular stage.
Their origin is found within the structure of the English itself (173).
From the above explanation, one can see that the problems facing second language learners are two folds: one emanating from interference of their L1 with L2, and another
from the target language itself.
The complex nature of the English language makes its second language learners face the above problems in mastering
its grammar and vocabulary. Grammar implies patterns, patterns of word endings, function words and word/morpheme order. Kies
(2) asserts: "patterns are crucial in helping us discover the constituents of language, recognizing patterns in
distribution and meaning becomes the process through which human beings discover the grammatical
structures of their
languages”. The English language is sentence structured or patterned and can
be easily analyzed on the basis of sentence constituents known
as parts of speech or word classes.....
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Item Type: Project Material | Size: 66 pages | Chapters: 1-5
Format: MS Word | Delivery: Within 30Mins.
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