This paper is a six-step investigation of the written productions of Troisieme pupils in Cameroon. It applies Hendrickson (1976)’s framework of analysis in error analysis. From a Communicative standpoint, it unravels aspects of English grammar needed to improve communicative and linguistic proficiency in English.
1. International Journal of English Language Teaching Vol.8, No.6, pp.8-32, December 2020 Published by ECRTD-UK Print ISSN: 2055-0820(Print), Online ISSN: 2055-0839(Online) ASPECTS OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR TO BE REINFORCED IN THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH AS A SECOND OR FOREIGN LANGUAGE Dr. Boum Yannick Department of English, the University of Yaounde I (Cameroon) P.O.BOX:109 Yaounde/Cameroon TEL: (237)665523172 EMAIL: [email protected] ABSTRACT: This paper unravels aspects of English grammar to be reinforced in the teaching of English as a second or foreign language. The data sources for the study are the following: the broad corpus which consists of 392 BEPC exam essays (2014 and 2015), 46 class test essays (15 in 2016, 15 in 2017 and 16 in 2018) and the narrow corpus which consists of a series of ten (10) designed tests altogether intended for 100 Troisieme class pupils (administered in 2019). The framework used for this study is the Communicative Effect Taxonomy in error analysis as developed by Hendrickson (1976). Findings revealed that Troisieme pupils’ English is strewn with global errors, local errors and ambiguous errors. Actually, 20 global error types (including the choice of the wrong auxiliary), 14 local error types (including the V-ed form attached to irregular verbs) and 9 types of ambiguous errors (including the use of the preposition ‘at’ in place of ‘about’) were identified in the broad corpus and highlighted in the narrow corpus. By doing so, Troisieme pupils’ communicative proficiency as well as their linguistic proficiency was found to be low, and their communicative proficiency was found to be lower than their linguistic proficiency. From the above aspects of English grammar to be reinforced in the teaching of English as a second or foreign language were unveiled. The essence of it all is to improve communicative and linguistic proficiency in English. KEYWORDS: Aspects of English grammar; communicative and linguistic proficiency; global, local, ambiguous errors; error analysis, the teaching of English, English as a second, foreign language This paper is a six-step investigation of the written productions of Troisieme pupils in Cameroon. It applies Hendrickson (1976)’s framework of analysis in error analysis. From a Communicative standpoint, it unravels aspects of English grammar needed to improve communicative and linguistic proficiency in English. By doing so, the ongoing study extends previous works including Burt and Kiparsky (1972), Hendrickson (1976), Simo (1978), Tadjom (1993), Hamidou (2008), Fornkwa (2013), Sokeng (2014), Kouega and Sokeng (2013). This study is important because it first looks closely into the characteristic features of the grammar of Troisieme pupils’ English from a communicative effect standpoint. Secondly, it proposes a different way of categorising, analysing and explaining learners’ language errors. Thirdly, it highlights what affect communication and what affect linguistic proficiency, and finally, it proposes relevant pedagogical interventions highly needed to improve communicative and linguistic proficiency in English. 8
2. International Journal of English Language Teaching Vol.8, No.6, pp.8-32, December 2020 Published by ECRTD-UK Print ISSN: 2055-0820(Print), Online ISSN: 2055-0839(Online) REVIEW OF LITERATURE The grammar of learners of English in Cameroon has been the concern of many researchers including Kenmogne (2002), Emaleu (2004), Fornkwa (2013), Kouega & Sokeng (2013) and Sokeng (2014). Kenmogne (2002) limited his study to one specific grammar point: i.e. prepositions. As his study revealed, prepositions are actually the area where Francophone learners of English encounter serious difficulties. His focus was on high school Francophone pupils, notably from “Lycée Classique de Bafoussam” and, G.B.H.S Bamenda. The researcher’s aim was to compare Cameroon Francophone learners’ use of English with that of Cameroon Anglophone learners of English. Using Error Analysis frame for data analysis and an elicitation test for data collection, his findings go as follows: Most of the subjects have a general notion of simple prepositions Some of them cannot easily distinguish prepositions of time and place Insufficient knowledge on English preposition standard usage G.B.H.S pupils use of prepositions is much more influenced by Pidgin English than counterparts, namely pupils from “Lycee Classique de Bafoussam” Most of their errors were traceable to faulty rule of learning and overgeneralisation Due to their Anglo-Saxon environment, G.B.H.S pupils performed better than their Counterparts As opposed to Kenmogne (2002), Emaleu (2004)’s study focused on Francophone bilinguals’ written productions. She compared the written English of Form One pupils of Government Bilingual High School (G.B.H.S) Etoug-Ebe and Government Bilingual High School (G.B.H.S) Limbé. Her aim was to identify those grammatical errors which are common to primary school leavers in general and those which are specific to leavers residing in a given locality. To achieve this, an elicitation essay test was administered to pupils from both Informants, namely Francophone pupils from each school under study, were asked to write an essay on the following topic: “My first day in college.” These testees were to write the test in not more than a page and within an hour. The researcher added that pupils were told it was a class test in a bid to motivate them to write the test. The afore-mentioned topic was chosen because it was assumed every pupil will surely have something to say. In Limbé, unlike in Etoug-Ebe, Yaoundé, pupils were reluctant to write the test because they had neither beforehand learnt nor read anything about the English language. However, in the end, these pupils in question finally wrote the test after they had been warned by their new English teacher that time was a factor. The method of Error Analysis adopted was a three-step approach involving the following: - Step one: identification of errors - Step two: definition and classification of errors - Step three: explanation of rule and exemplification 9
3. International Journal of English Language Teaching Vol.8, No.6, pp.8-32, December 2020 Published by ECRTD-UK Print ISSN: 2055-0820(Print), Online ISSN: 2055-0839(Online) Common grammatical errors she found were the following: Misspelled words - “I was soppose to come.” (Instead of: supposed) “There is a large feel for football and hand ball.” (Instead of: big field) Present continuous tense in place of the present simple tense - “Each teacher is teaching one subject.” (Each teacher teaches one subject.) Wrong sequence of tenses - “I was happy because I will have a friend.” (I was happy because I was going to have a friend.) Misuse of number - “The subjects that we do are *differents…” (Instead of: different) Omission of the indefinite article - “* It was francophone and anglophone section.” (Omission of “a” and “an”) Misuse of the definite article - “ *When I entered the secondary school…” Lack of subject-verb concord - “*Everybody know…” Fornkwa (2013) on the other hand focused on a specific aspect in English grammar, notably the inflectional affixes. The aim was to analyse the use of inflectional affixes in the verbs and nouns that Francophone learners use in their English essays. Doing so provided insights into frequency in the use of inflectional affixes, the various difficulties encountered by learners and strategies employed to overcome these difficulties. As a result, the general trends in the use of the –S inflection was unravel. Data was drawn from 40 English essays: 10 from CM II (primary school), 10 from Troisieme pupils at LYCEE D’ANGUISSA (a public secondary school), 10 from Terminale at COLLEGE ADVENTISTE YAOUNDE (a religious and private secondary school) and 10 from Level III at the University of Yaounde I. The scripts collected were all read through while identifying all the instances of the use of inflectional affixes. These instances were entered into databases. Another reading was done with focus on identifying all the problematic instances of the use of inflectional affixes. They were in turn entered into databases. After a third reading of the scripts with focus on identifying the various avoidance strategies used by learners to overcome morphological difficulties, the data collected from this was also entered into databases. Finally, the following databases were analyzed: - Databases I: with instances of correct use of inflectional affixes - Databases II: Problems involving the use of inflectional affixes 10
4. International Journal of English Language Teaching Vol.8, No.6, pp.8-32, December 2020 Published by ECRTD-UK Print ISSN: 2055-0820(Print), Online ISSN: 2055-0839(Online) - Databases III: Avoidance strategies in the use of inflectional affixes After analyzing these databases, the general trends revealed French interference in the morphological parameter settings for the use of inflectional affixes, omission of inflectional affixes where it is necessary and overgeneralization in the use of inflectional affixes. Findings revealed a high frequency of instances of incorrect use of inflectional affixes in Troisieme classes. Fornkwa (2013) explained that what can account for this is the fact that, at this level of secondary school education, learners have been introduced to many inflectional affixes and they do not yet master their use very well. According to him, that is why learners end up in confusion using one inflectional affix when another one is required. Kouega and Sokeng (2013) shifted the paradigm in the study of Francophone English grammar. They looked into the written English performance of Francophone secondary school leavers. The aim of the study was to ascertain the written English performance and mastery of English grammar. They adopted Error Analysis as a frame. Informants were some 430 francophone pupils who came from different schools in the ten regions of the country and had just obtained the Baccalauréat, the certificate required for admission into tertiary education. These pupils were the best that year, as their classmates had failed. They were 16-23 years old female and male pupils. Some were science-oriented while others were arts-oriented. To measure their written English performance, these pupils were given a TOEFL-like test. Before being tendered to Francophone secondary school leavers, this TOEFL-like test was taken by English-medium secondary school pupils. They were Form Two pupils from Yaounde (a Francophone town) and Limbe (an Anglophone town). By doing so, the validity and reliability of such a test was checked. Thereafter, to facilitate comparison, results were divided into three categories, labeled 1 to 3: Category 1: scores between 0-19 out of 40 (less than 50%) Category 2: scores between 20-29 out of 40 (between 50% and 75%) Category 3: scores between 30-40 out of 40 (above 75%) Results disclosed that Francophone secondary school leavers did not attain college level English and the English test they took at the ‘Baccalaureat’ did not seem to effectively assess knowledge of English grammar. The “Baccalaureat” English test was reported to have been just as “a rag bag of exercises that do not follow any internationally recognized pattern.” Taking into consideration their findings above, Kouega and Sokeng (2013) pointed out that there is a need to re-orient the English syllabus and to use the time allotted to the English subject (3 hours a week for seven years) to teach Francophone learners of English the substance of the English-medium primary education content. These researchers concluded that, when this is done, these pupils will be able to take the First School Leaving Certificate examination before they complete French-medium secondary education. Sokeng (2014) further buttressed what was done by Kouega and Sokeng (2013). She investigated the written English of Francophone students majoring in the French-English 11
5. International Journal of English Language Teaching Vol.8, No.6, pp.8-32, December 2020 Published by ECRTD-UK Print ISSN: 2055-0820(Print), Online ISSN: 2055-0839(Online) bilingual degree programme. The aim of the study was to identify and quantify the grammatical errors made by these students, classify such errors into types and propose ways to minimize their occurrence. The frame adopted for the study was Error Analysis. Her study follows six steps in the description of errors. These are: o Step 1: Selection of a corpus of language o Step 2: Identification of errors o Step 3: Errors are counted and rated in percentage of frequency o Step 4: Errors are classified according to type of error (e.g. Subject-verb agreement, o Step 5: Grammatical analysis of each error is carried out o Step 6: The different types of errors are explained The informants were some 250 Level One university students majoring in English and French. 147 were female and 103 were male. They were 16-20 years old and had been studying English as a school subject in primary and secondary school for more than 7 years. French is their first official language and English their second official language. These students were randomly selected among Level One students who enrolled for the French-English bilingual programme in the 2013-2014 academy year. These informants were asked to write an essay on the following general topic: How did you spend your Christmas holiday? This elicitation test was given for 2 hours. Each script that was collected was awarded a mark later on. Frequency of error occurrence was calculated and errors at the level of verb tense and form (23%) were the most frequent followed by errors at the levels of subject/verb concord (22%), prepositions (18%), word order (13%), number (9%), articles (5%), passive voice (5%), auxiliaries (3%) and double negation (2%) respectively. It was inferred from the above findings that the teaching and learning of written English in Francophone primary and secondary schools need more reinforcement and development. These researchers, reviewed above, have arrived at the same findings as outlined below: - Subject/verb concord (lack of subject-verb concord) 1) e.g. My father like Achu and Yellow soup. (Likes) 2) e.g. Everybody know (Knows) - Number concord (lack of number concord) 1) e.g. “My holidays was very nice.” (My holidays were very nice.) 2) e.g. “These is a warning from the Ministry of Public Health: illegal drugs can kill!” (This is a warning from the Ministry of Public Health: illegal drugs can kill!) - Plurality (Omission) 1) e.g. “You can have more job opportunity if you are bilingual.” (You can have more job opportunities if you are bilingual.) 2) e.g. *I saw many new thing. (Instead of: many new things) 3) e.g. “I bought two new shoe.” (I bought two new pairs of shoes.) 12
6. International Journal of English Language Teaching Vol.8, No.6, pp.8-32, December 2020 Published by ECRTD-UK Print ISSN: 2055-0820(Print), Online ISSN: 2055-0839(Online) 3) e.g. “Many body… many of our language. - Tenses (Misuse) 1) e.g. “It is a long time I has not received any letter; I only receive and send electronic mails.” (It is a long time I have not received any letter; I only received and sent electronic 2) e.g. “When strangers come, my brother go to buy drinks for everybody.” (When strangers come, my brother is sent to buy drinks for everybody.) 3) *They didn’t thought us anything. (They didn’t teach us anything.) *I never knew where they are called mile two. (I never knew where people called Mile Two.). 4) When I ask something from him he will give. (When I ask something from him he - Definite articles (Misuse) 1) e.g. “I have worked hard all the day.” (I worked hard all day.) 2) *When I entered the secondary school… (When I entered secondary school…) - Prepositions 1) Misuse: e.g. “The main characters are clearly delineated between the first chapter of the book.” (The main characters are clearly delineated in the first chapter of the book.) 2) Omission: e.g. “During Christmas, I prefer to go the village to see my grand-mother.” (During Christmas, I prefer to go to the village to see my grand-mother) - Wh-pronouns (misuse) 1) e.g. “The project who…” (The project which…) 2) e.g. *I saw my friend which came from the same school. (Instead of: who) In a nutshell, researches on the English grammar of Francophone learners of English have identified the following categories of errors: Misspelled words, misspelled proper nouns, present perfective in place of the past simple tense, present progressive in place of the present simple tense, wrong sequence of tense, omission of the Ed-participle, misuse of pronouns, omission of pronouns, misuse of number, omission of the indefinite article (simplification), omission of the definite article (simplification), misuse of the definite article (overgeneralization), misordering of attributive adjectives (native language transfer) and lack of subject verb concord (regularisation). These categories are illustrated below. Misspelled words 1° “I *worn you not to put on *warn clothes. (Instead of: I warn you not to put on worn clothes.) (Abessougue, 1982) 2° I am *louque Jean *de *Marquet. (I saw Jean at the market.) (Tadjom, 1993) 3° I was soppose to come. (Instead of: supposed). There is a large feel for foot ball and hand ball. (Instead of: big field) (Emaleu, 2004) 4° *I have a *blacke ruler. (Instead of: black) (Tadjom, 1993) Misspelled proper nouns 5° Peter will arrive *monday. (Abessougue, 1982) 6° “*he was playing the sax so marvellously. Mbia is a young *cameroonian.”(Tadjom, 1993) 13
7. International Journal of English Language Teaching Vol.8, No.6, pp.8-32, December 2020 Published by ECRTD-UK Print ISSN: 2055-0820(Print), Online ISSN: 2055-0839(Online) 7° I have always like English and *mathematics. (Abilamekou, 2007) Present perfective in place of the past simple tense 8° *Yesterday, I have eaten rice.” (Yesterday, I ate rice.) (Tadjom, 1993) Present progressive in place of the present simple tense 9° “Each teacher is teaching one subject.” (Each teacher teaches one subject.) (Emaleu, 2004) Wrong sequence of tense 10° “I was happy because I will have a friend.” (I was happy because I was going to have a friend.) (Emaleu, 2004) 11° “We knew Canon will have won the match.” (We knew Canon was going to win the match.) (Ekani, 2007) 12° “When I ask something from him he will give.” (Still mostly from “CM2” pupils) (When I ask something from him he gives) (Fornkwa, 2013) 13° My holidays had begun well and ended bad. This is because of my grand-mother. (My holidays began well but did not end well. This was caused by my grand-mother.) (Sokeng, Omission of the Ed-participle 14° Last holidays I enjoy myself very well. I eat a lot. It was very good. (Instead of: enjoyed) (Sokeng, 2014) Misuse of pronouns 15° His for her and vice versa: A mother sent his son. (her son) The man is sitting near her house. (his) (Simo, 1978) 16° Which for who: *I have a professor which communicates very well. (Instead of: who) “The men who beat his wife.” (Instead of: their) (Abilamekou, 2007) 17° He for it: *Religion is important for our life because he determined… (Instead of: it) (Fornkwa, 2013) 18° Nobody for anybody: My father does not want to see nobody in the parlour as from 10pm neither me neither my brother even during holidays. (Instead of: anybody) (Sokeng, 2014) Omission of pronouns 19° *I asked the boy to show the classroom. (Omission of: him) (Emaleu, 2004) 20° *It is the only I could find. (Omission of: one) (Tadjom, 1993) Misuse of number 21° “Mary and John are very *intelligents.” (Instead of: intelligent) “They had *sharps knives.” (Instead of: sharp) (Tadjom, 1993) 22° “The subjects that we do are *differents…” (Instead of: different) (Emaleu, 2004) Omission of the indefinite article 23° *My father is teacher. (“a” is omitted) (Tadjom, 1993) 24° * It was francophone and anglophone section. (Omission of “a” and “an”) (Emaleu, 14
8. International Journal of English Language Teaching Vol.8, No.6, pp.8-32, December 2020 Published by ECRTD-UK Print ISSN: 2055-0820(Print), Online ISSN: 2055-0839(Online) 25° *I have got pig. (“a” is omitted) (Ngallassum, 2007) Omission of the definite article 26° *Christmas tree is in the parlour. (the Christmas tree: omission of “the”) (Sokeng, 2014) Misuse of the definite article 27° *The bravery is a great virtue. (Tadjom, 1993) 28° *When I entered the secondary school…(Emaleu, 2004) 29° I danced all the night with my friends. (Sokeng, 2014) Misordering of attributive adjectives 30° Was the well enough deep? (deep enough) (Tadjom, 1993) 31° We are requested very much in the labour market international. (instead of: the international labour market) (Abilamekou, 2007) 32° On the 1st of January, I visited my friends old from secondary school. (instead of: old friends) (Sokeng, 2014) Lack of subject-verb concord “Agreement or concord shows syntactic links that exist between words” (Tadjom, 1993). Extent of bond and linkage between words are uncovered through concord. Thus, a verb agrees with its subject and the subject agrees or collocates with its verb form. The same goes for the verb and its complement (s). Concord might differ from one language to another. Some cases of subject-verb disagreement can be comprehensible in the learners’ first or dominant language but incomprehensible in the target language. In French, for instance, existential forms such as “Il y’a” (meaning: “there is”) remain invariable whether words that follow it are in plural or singular. But, this is not the case with the equivalent existential form in English. It is worth noting that some subject-verb disagreement may not only occur as a result of interference but they can also result from intralingual factors. This is discernible in these examples from literature. 33° *Everybody know… (Emaleu, 2004) 34° The teaching is a job which require the knowledge and many time. (Teaching is a job which requires knowledge and much time.) (Abilamekou, 2007) 35° *He work in the bush. (He works in the bush.) (Fornkwa, 2013) 36° *There is two men. (There are two men.) (Simo, 1978) 37° “My holidays was very nice.” (My holidays were very nice.) (Sokeng, 2014) 38° *The news are on TV at 19:30. (The news is on TV at 19:30.) (Tadjom, 1993) To improve his students’ proficiency in English, Hendrickson (1976) sought to find out whether two direct methods to error correction can improve his subject’s proficiency in English. He found that these methods failed to improve his students’ proficiency in English. The latter just contributed to increasing the total number of words in each student’s composition. One of his suggestions was that a great deal more empirical research is needed to determine the communicative effect of students’ written errors and to find out effective ways of improving language learners’ proficiency in English. 15
9. International Journal of English Language Teaching Vol.8, No.6, pp.8-32, December 2020 Published by ECRTD-UK Print ISSN: 2055-0820(Print), Online ISSN: 2055-0839(Online) The ongoing study is an extension of the studies reviewed above. It will be limited to syntax, morphology and orthography. Other levels of language study, namely lexis and phonology, will be considered in further studies. This work uses Error Analysis (EA) following Hendrickson (1976). The study follows six STEP 1. Collect data Troisieme pupils were asked to write an essay in section D of the English paper in the 2014 BEPC examination in Cameroon. The essay in question was to be written, between 150-200 words, on one of the following three topics: 1) Which do you prefer, modern or traditional medicine. Give your reasons. 2) Imagine that you have just returned from a foreign country of your choice where you spent your Easter holiday. Tell your classmates how you felt while there, the things you did, what you liked and did not like, the places you visited and your general impressions. 3) You have discovered that many of your classmates are HIV positive. Write a speech in which you advise them on the preventive methods and cure. Your name is Esua John, and your school is GBSS Betangmbeng. Since there was no essay on the second topic and very few essays were found on the third topic, such essays were excluded from the study. As many pupils chose the first topic, we collected essays only on the first topic. In the 2015 BEPC examination in Cameroon, another batch of Troisieme pupils was asked to write an essay between 150-200 words. Candidates were to choose only one essay topic from the following: 1° You just had your birthday party which you liked very much. Write an essay on how the party took place. 2° Describe a person you admire most. 3° Imagine you are a journalist. Write out a dialogue in which you interview Samuel Eto’o on the brilliant performance of his team in a football match. A substantial majority of essays were on the second topic. The first essay topic was not tackled. A small number of pupils’ essays were on the third topic. Thus, only essays on the second topic were considered for this study. The 2014 BEPC essays were coded CA while those of 2015 were coded TT. Unintelligible or illegible and plagiarized essays were discarded from the study. Essays that were deemed plagiarised essays were those essays in which pupils reproduced integrally or copied out either the essay topic or some sentences found in the text from the section entitled, Reading Comprehension. In the 2014 BEPC scripts, out of the 172 essays collected, 78 were excluded from scrutiny (i.e. 12 were unintelligible, 27 were both plagiarised and unintelligible while 39 were just plagiarised). Thus, in the 2014 BEPC scripts, out of the 172 essays collected, only 94 essays 16
10. International Journal of English Language Teaching Vol.8, No.6, pp.8-32, December 2020 Published by ECRTD-UK Print ISSN: 2055-0820(Print), Online ISSN: 2055-0839(Online) were analysed for the current study. In the 2015 BEPC scripts, out of the 349 essays collected, 51 were excluded from scrutiny for plagiarism and unintelligibility. Thus 521 essays were extracted from the 2014 and 2015 BEPC scripts, 129 essays were excluded from scrutiny and only 392 essays were included in the broad corpus for this study which also contained 46 class test essays. We collected, from two secondary school English teachers, a total of 46 class test essays: 15 in 2016, 15 in 2017 and 16 in 2018. These essays were written by Troisieme pupils from Lycee de Biyem-Assi (a French-speaking secondary school in Yaounde where English is taught and learned as a second official language). These essays disclosed the same types of faulty constructions as was found in the BEPC essays in 2014 and 2015 respectively. The afore-mentioned constituted the broad corpus (i.e. BEPC and class test essays) for this paper. What comes next constituted the narrow corpus (i.e. a series of ten designed tests intended for Troisieme pupils schooling in the following secondary schools: College Adventiste de Yaounde (an urban area), Lycee D’Elig-Essono (an urban area), Lycee de Kol-Afamba (a rural area) and College Saint Joseph de Messa Mvelle (a rural area). STEP 2. Identify errors Recurrent and common errors in the broad corpus were identified. They included the 1. Use of the present perfective in place of the simple past tense: “We have giveing some reasons.” (gave) 2. Use of the singular form in place of the plural form: “She has got moving song.” (moving songs) 3. Use of a personal pronoun in place of a possessive adjective: “He is my best friend, he name is Kenedy.” (his) It is worth bearing in mind that comparison across the various Troisieme classes and secondary schools under consideration is excluded from this study because the recurrent and common errors identified were of the same type irrespective of the Troisieme class, the school or the area involved; and the same language difficulties and needs, as disclosed in this research work, run across the board from one Troisieme class to another, from one secondary school to another as well as from rural to urban areas. STEP 3. Classify errors After identifying all the recurrent and common errors in the broad corpus, the researcher grouped them into ten types and designed ten tests (see Appendix) to quantify them. These are the following: TEST 1, intended for 10 pupils randomly selected, checked the use of tense, aspect and TEST 2, intended for 10 pupils randomly selected, checked the use of number in English TEST 3, intended for 10 pupils randomly selected, checked the use of pronouns TEST 4, intended for 10 pupils randomly selected, checked the use of articles TEST 5, intended for 10 pupils randomly selected, checked the use of attributive 17
11. International Journal of English Language Teaching Vol.8, No.6, pp.8-32, December 2020 Published by ECRTD-UK Print ISSN: 2055-0820(Print), Online ISSN: 2055-0839(Online) TEST 6, intended for 10 pupils randomly selected, checked orthography TEST 7, intended for 10 pupils randomly selected, checked subject-verb concord TEST 8, intended for 10 pupils randomly selected, checked the use of the various verb forms in English TEST 9, intended for 10 pupils randomly selected, checked the use of derivational TEST 10, intended for 10 pupils randomly selected, checked the use of prepositions Each test contained 10 sentences. Each test was taken in 2019 by 10 Troisieme class pupils randomly selected. In all, a total of 100 pupils took part in the testing of recurrent and common errors that were identified in the broad corpus outlined above. As a result a narrow corpus was built. Some sentences were found to contain three or more errors of different types. To solve this difficulty, the researcher picked out recurrent and common faulty constructions (words or structure), proposed a correction leaving out only one recurrent and common error in each of the sentences as shown in TEST 1 (cf. Appendix I). STEP 4. Quantify errors Then 10 randomly selected pupils were asked to choose the right answer for each sentence. Results for each of the ten tests were quantified and recorded. STEP 5. Analyse source of errors Using Hendrickson (1976), some recurrent and common error types were analysed as global while some were analysed as local and others were deemed ambiguous. From this analysis, aspects of grammar to be reinforced in the teaching of English as a second or foreign language were disclosed. STEP 6. Remediate To improve low communicative proficiency in English some recommendations were given including a revision of the syllabus. Definitions of some terms This paper uses some terms worth defining: global and local errors, communicative and linguistic proficiency, Troisieme pupils and BEPC examination. They are defined in turn 3.1 Global and local errors A global error is defined as “a communicative error that causes a native speaker of English either to misinterpret a written message or to consider the message incomprehensive within the total context of the error” (Hendrickson, 1976, p. 2). In other words, a communicative/global error is a grammatical error in which the addresser’s intended meaning impairs understanding or intelligibility. e.g. “When the woman watch this he is scare and cried” (cf. “she”). e.g “They go out and bring something to make the holds” (cf. “hole”).” 18
12. International Journal of English Language Teaching Vol.8, No.6, pp.8-32, December 2020 Published by ECRTD-UK Print ISSN: 2055-0820(Print), Online ISSN: 2055-0839(Online) A local error, on the other hand, is identified as a “linguistic error that makes a sentence appear ungrammatical or unidiomatical but, nevertheless, causes a native speaker of English little or no difficulty in understanding the intended meaning of a sentence, given its contextual framework” (Hendrickson, ibid). It means that, inspite of the ungrammaticality of a linguistic error, the latter still communicates the addresser’s intended meaning. e.g. “The little brother look at his sisters who play badminton.” (cf. “looks”) e.g. “They enjoy highly the cooking.” (cf. “highly enjoy”) 3.2 Communicative and linguistic proficiency According to Hendrickson (1976), learners’ linguistic and communicative proficiency is considered low whenever global and local errors are frequently identified in their language productions. And learners’ linguistic and communicative proficiency is considered high whenever global and local errors are not frequently identified in their language productions. If the proportion or types of global errors outnumbers the proportion or types of local errors, communicative proficiency is lower than linguistic proficiency. If on the contrary, the proportion or types of local errors outnumbers the proportion or types of global errors, linguistic proficiency is lower than communicative proficiency. If the proportion or types of global errors does not outnumber the proportion or types of local errors, communicative proficiency is higher than linguistic proficiency. If on the contrary, the proportion or types of local errors does not outnumber the proportion or types of global errors, linguistic proficiency is higher than communicative proficiency. 3.3 Troisieme pupils Aged between 13-18 years, these pupils are Cameroon Francophone secondary school learners of English as a second official language. They are male and female French-speaking pupils from different mother tongue backgrounds including Ewondo populaire, Duala, Bulu and Fulfulde. French is their first official language and English their second official language. 3.4 BEPC examination At the end of each school year, Troisieme pupils are to write an official examination held across the country and referred to as “BEPC” or “Brevet D’ etudes du Premier Cycle du Second Degré.” It is said to be the equivalent to the Anglo-Saxon GCE Ordinary Level which is written after five years of secondary school education. 1. DATA PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION Three research questions guided the study. These questions are reproduced below and findings of the study outlined and discussed thereafter. 1.1 Research question 1: What are the characteristic features of Troisieme pupils’ These characteristic features of the English productions of Troisieme pupils were found to fall under three broad categories, namely global [communicative] errors, local [linguistic] errors and ambiguous errors. 19
13. International Journal of English Language Teaching Vol.8, No.6, pp.8-32, December 2020 Published by ECRTD-UK Print ISSN: 2055-0820(Print), Online ISSN: 2055-0839(Online) Global errors were observed at the level of morphology, syntax and orthography. They included the following: Misuse of tense, aspect and auxiliary: (Morphology) 4. Use of the present perfective in place of the simple past tense: “We have giveing some reasons.” (gave) 5. Use of the past perfective in place of the simple present tense: “I had admired this girl most because she has a good heart.” (admire) 6. The progressive form of the verb in place of the simple present tense form: “Every day you go going for modern medicine.” (go) 7. The choice of the wrong auxiliary: “They can going to some countries.” (are) Misuse of number: (Morphology) 8. Use of the singular form in place of the plural form: “She has got moving song.” (moving songs) 9. The –S morpheme attached to noun premodifiers: “Russian guns had caused the death of thousands people over many decades.” (thousands of people) 10. The –S morpheme attached to premodifying adjectives: “In Cameroon, the two officials languages are English and French.” (official) 11. The singular “this” used for plurality: “But this tests are complicated.” (these) Misuse of pronouns: (Syntax) 12. Use of a personal pronoun in place of a possessive adjective: “He is my best friend, he name is Kenedy.” (his) 13. The use of a possessive adjective in place of a wh-pronoun: “HIV is a human immunodeficiency virus their preventive methods and cure are abstinence, fidelity and screening tests.” (its) 14. Use of a personal pronoun in place of a wh-pronoun: “I love my father she is a role model to women.” (who) 15. The choice of the wrong personal pronoun: “This person, it is my beloved friend.” 16. Use of “that” in place of “them” (a personal pronoun): “The rebels and the government recruit children to train that.” (them) Omission of the definite article: (Syntax) 17. The omission of the definite article where it is expected: “I prefer way it is.” Misuse of the definite article: (Syntax) 18. The insertion of “the” where it is not needed: “The bilingualism is important for me because it enables me to express my thought in French and English.” 19. The use of “the” in place of “a” (an indefinite article): “It is a problem that we could tackle with the sense of responsibility.” Misuse of the indefinite article: (Syntax) 20. The insertion of “a” where it is not needed: “A preventive methods are abstinence, fidelity and the use of condom.” 20
14. International Journal of English Language Teaching Vol.8, No.6, pp.8-32, December 2020 Published by ECRTD-UK Print ISSN: 2055-0820(Print), Online ISSN: 2055-0839(Online) Omission of the indefinite article: (Syntax) 21. Omission of “a” in non-copular relationship: “She has got good hairstyle.” 22. Misordering of attributive adjectives (Syntax): “People can have job good.” (good 23. Seriously misspelled verbs (Orthography): “This is the person I went to describe.” Thus, as shown above, 20 global error types were identified in the broad corpus and were highlighted in the narrow corpus for this study. 14 Local error types were also observed at the level of morphology, syntax and orthography as shown below: Lack of subject-verb concord: (Morphology) 1. The subject-verb plural concord in place of the subject-verb singular concord: “Modern medicine is an innovative type of cure that give satisfaction.” (gives) 2. The subject-verb V-ING concord in place of the subject-verb V-s concord: “I can see one girl who usually sitting in front.” (sits) Inappropriate verb forms: (Morphology) 3. The use of the past form in place of the ED participle: “We have just gave some of the reasons.” (given) 4. The V- ed form attached to irregular verbs: “The lionesses of Cameroon have wined the match.” (won) 5. Use of the V-ed form in place of the base form: I will described a person I admire most.” (will describe) 6. Use of the V-s form in place of the V-ING form: “You are speaks French and English.” (are speaking) 7. Use of BE+V in place of V: “You are makes me happy.” (make) 8. Use of the V-ING form in place of V: “You would notice the presence of many boys who can carrying guns.” 9. Use of the base form in place of the V-ed form: “In the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo), soldiers are use to carry out what we call “coup d’état.” 10. The V-s form in place of the V-ed form: “We drinks juice.” (drank) Avoidance and substitution of adverbs: (Syntax) 11. An adjective in place of a derivational adverb - Usual is used in place of usually: “He usual looked forward to holidays.” - Final is used in place of finally: “They final got it.” - Strong is used in place of strongly: “My uncle strong believes he is the best.” - Hasty is used in place of hastily: “They hasty put on their clothes.” - Serious is used in place of seriously: “Laura was serious wounded.” - Rare is used in place of rarely: “My English teacher rare corrects my homework.” - Fluent is used in place of fluently: “Mum and dad speak English and French fluent.” - Week is used in place of weekly: “A traditional healer week provides long-lasting treatments for his patients.” 21
15. International Journal of English Language Teaching Vol.8, No.6, pp.8-32, December 2020 Published by ECRTD-UK Print ISSN: 2055-0820(Print), Online ISSN: 2055-0839(Online) 12. Avoidance of adverbs (Syntax): “Paul and David were complete discouraged by the sad news.” 13. Omission of the indefinite article in copular relationship (Syntax): “My mother is very simple woman.” (omission of “a”) 14. Slightly misspelled nouns (Orthography): “holydays” in place of “holidays” as in “That is how I spent my Christmas holydays.” “medecin” instead of “medicine” “In modern medecin, medical appliances are used to provide care to patients.” As for the use of prepositions in English, it was found to fall into another category, i.e. ambiguous errors. These errors are at the same time global and local errors depending on the context of the error. Hendrickson (1976) characterised them as errors that often make meaning ambiguous (i.e. “They worked and at last they found their sheeps without frozen. =They worked and at last they found their sheep were not frozen.” “He is listening the talk of the man. =listening to”. “They are going a brizde. =They are going to a bridge”). Hendrickson’s findings show that omitted propositions often confused meaning. That is why here we referred to them as ambiguous errors. Omitted as well as misused propositions were deemed ambiguous errors. They were observed only at the level of syntax. They included the Misused prepositions: 1. “into” in place of “to”: “My uncle is good into everybody.” 2. “in” in place of “to”: “They can talk in great people.” 3. “at” in place of “about”: “Dear people, I was informed at the deadly virus.” 4. “at” in place of “from”: “My friend is a pupil at the Bilingual High School at 5. “about” in place of “for”: “I love my dad who is, about my mum, a role model.” 6. “about” in place of “to”: “About all the youth, Lami is a model young person.” Omitted prepositions: 7. Omission of “to” placed after the verb “came”: “Greg and Mike came our country.” 8. Omission of “in” after the verb “translate”: “You can translate your exercise book.” 9. Omission of “about” placed after “especially: “Let’s talk about you, especially the brilliant performance of your team in the pitch.” Thus, 9 types of ambiguous errors were identified in the broad corpus and highlighted in the narrow corpus. These characteristic features outlined above were found to affect proficiency in English. Global errors were found to lead to communication breakdown. Local errors were found to lead to ungrammaticality. Ambiguous errors were found to lead to ungrammaticality as well as communication breakdown. The afore-mentioned show that characteristic features of the English of Troisieme pupils in Cameroon have got little to do with first language interference. Characteristic features of communication breakdown that were found can be summarised as follows: misuse of pronouns, misuse of number, misuse of the definite article, omission of the 22
16. International Journal of English Language Teaching Vol.8, No.6, pp.8-32, December 2020 Published by ECRTD-UK Print ISSN: 2055-0820(Print), Online ISSN: 2055-0839(Online) definite article, misuse of the indefinite article, omission of the indefinite article in non- copular relationship, misuse of tense, aspect and auxiliary, misordering of attributive adjectives and seriously misspelled verbs. Characteristic features of ungrammaticality that were identified can be recapped as follows: slightly misspelled nouns, lack of subject-verb concord, inappropriate verb forms, avoidance and substitution of adverbs, and omission of the indefinite article in copular relationship. Features of ungrammaticality as well as communication breakdown are found to be omitted prepositions and misused prepositions. The characteristic features of Troisieme pupils’ grammar that are global (communicative) originated in (i) word order (e.g. attributive adjectives), (ii) serious misspelling (e.g.verbs), and (iii) knowledge and use of tense, aspect, auxiliaries, pronouns, number, the definite article and the indefinite article in non-copular relationship. Those that are local (linguistic) originated in slight misspelling (e.g. nouns), subject-verb concord, verb forms, knowledge and use of derivational adverbs and the indefinite article in copular relationship. And those that were ambiguous (i.e. deemed at the same time local and global) originated in the knowledge and use of prepositions precisely. From the above, the following grammatical aspects were unraveled: - Aspects of communicative proficiency: Tenses, aspects, auxiliaries, number, pronouns, the definite article, the indefinite article in non-copular relationship, adjectives and - Aspects of linguistic proficiency: Subject-verb concord, verb forms, adverbs and the indefinite article in copular relationship. - Aspects of linguistic as well as communicative proficiency: Prepositions. This study reveals that high communicative proficiency heavily depends on the following grammatical aspects: an adequate use of tenses, aspects, auxiliaries, pronouns, the definite article, the indefinite article in non-copular relationship, number, adjectives and nouns. High linguistic proficiency on the other hand heavily depends on making subjects and verbs agree, on an adequate use of verb forms, adequate use of derivational adverbs as well as the indefinite article in copular relationship. High linguistic as well as communicative proficiency heavily depends on an adequate knowledge of prepositions and skill in using prepositions Misused and omitted prepositions were found to only involve low communicative as well as low linguistic proficiency. Yet, misuse of tense, aspect including auxiliary, misuse of pronouns, misuse of the definite article, omission of the definite article, misuse of the indefinite article, omission of the indefinite article in non-copular relationship, misuse of number, misordering of attributive adjectives and seriously misspelled verbs were found to only involve low communicative proficiency. As for low linguistic proficiency, it was found to only involve slightly misspelled nouns, lack of subject-verb concord, inappropriate verb forms, avoidance and substitution of adverbs, and the omission of the indefinite article in copular relationship. 23
17. International Journal of English Language Teaching Vol.8, No.6, pp.8-32, December 2020 Published by ECRTD-UK Print ISSN: 2055-0820(Print), Online ISSN: 2055-0839(Online) 1.2 Research question 2: What is the level of Troisieme pupils’ communicative/linguistic Recurrent and common errors were identified in the broad corpus and highlighted in the narrow corpus. The overall number of error types examined in this study is displayed below. As global error types (20 types) outnumbered local error types (14 types), it was inferred that the communicative proficiency of Troisieme pupils is lower than their linguistic proficiency. To put it in simple terms, these learners of English cannot communicate in English. This substantiated Troisieme pupils’ low communicative proficiency as well as their low linguistic proficiency in English. Thus, Troisieme pupils face English language difficulties and needs at the level of linguistic and communication. The above findings show that the written productions of Troisieme pupils have been suffering, for the most part, from communication failure. Communicative error types (20 types) outnumbered linguistic error types (13 types) in the broad and narrow corpora for this study. This is a proof that Troisieme pupils’ communicative proficiency is lower than their linguistic proficiency in English. 1.3 Research question 3: What are the relevant pedagogical interventions? This study shows that a number of pedagogical interventions are highly needed so as to improve the English language proficiency of Troisieme pupils in Cameroon. This research work has found grammatical aspects that need to be reinforced in the teaching of English as a second or foreign language. In so doing, the current study attempts to improve communicative and linguistic proficiency in English used as a second or foreign language. These grammatical aspects are the following: tense, aspects, auxiliaries, number, pronouns, articles, attributive adjectives, subject-verb concord, verb forms in English, derivational adverbs, prepositions and orthography. These aspects need to be taught thoroughly with practical exercises. TESTS 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 (see Appendix I) should be used to find out whether the vast majority of learners of English have actually got the lessons on the afore-mentioned grammatical aspects. It is worth pointing out that each test is meant to check specific grammatical aspects as shown below. - TEST 1 would check the learning/mastery of tense, aspect and auxiliary usage - TEST 2 would check the learning/mastery of the use of number in English - TEST 3 would check the learning/mastery assimilation of the use of pronouns - TEST 4 would check learning/mastery the assimilation of the use of articles - TEST 5 would check the learning/mastery of the use of attributive adjectives - TEST 6 would check the learning/mastery of orthography - TEST 7 would check the learning/mastery of subject-verb concord - TEST 8 would check the learning/mastery of the use of the various verb forms in - TEST 9 would check the learning/mastery of the use of derivational adverbs - TEST 10 would check the learning/mastery of the use of prepositions 24
18. International Journal of English Language Teaching Vol.8, No.6, pp.8-32, December 2020 Published by ECRTD-UK Print ISSN: 2055-0820(Print), Online ISSN: 2055-0839(Online) In case a given TEST above shows that a particular aspect of English grammar is not yet assimilated, further teaching and practical exercises on this aspect in question would be considered and so on until all these grammatical aspects are all mastered by the vast majority of learners of English as a second or foreign language. Following the Communicative Effect Taxonomy in Error Analysis as developed by Hendrickson (1976), the current paper has unraveled aspects of grammar to be reinforced in the teaching and learning of English in a bid to improve communicative and linguistic proficiency in English used as a second or foreign language. The data for the study were collected from two sources i.e. a broad corpus and a narrow corpus. Recurrent and common errors were identified in the broad corpus and highlighted in the narrow corpus. These errors were classified, analysed, quantified and remediated. Results disclosed aspects of English grammar (to be reinforced in the teaching of English as a second or foreign language), which go as follows: Morphology - Use of the present perfective in place of the simple past tense: “We have giveing some reasons.” (gave) - Use of the past perfective in place of the simple present tense: “I had admired this girl most because she has a good heart.” (admire) - The progressive form of the verb in place of the simple present tense form: “Every day you go going for modern medicine.” (go) - The choice of the wrong auxiliary: “They can going to some countries.” (are) - Use of the singular form in place of the plural form: “She has got moving song.” (moving songs) - The –S morpheme attached to noun premodifiers: “Russian guns had caused the death of thousands people over many decades.” (thousands of people) - The –S morpheme attached to premodifying adjectives: “In Cameroon, the two officials languages are English and French.” (official) - The singular “this” used for plurality: “But this tests are complicated.” (these) Syntax - Use of a personal pronoun in place of a possessive adjective: “He is my best friend, he name is Kenedy.” (his) - The use of a possessive adjective in place of a wh-pronoun: “HIV is a human immunodeficiency virus their preventive methods and cure are abstinence, fidelity and screening tests.” (its) - Use of a personal pronoun in place of a wh-pronoun: “I love my father she is a role model to women.” (who) - The choice of the wrong personal pronoun: “This person, it is my beloved friend.” - Use of “that” in place of “them” (a personal pronoun): “The rebels and the government recruit children to train that.” (them) - The omission of the definite article where it is expected: “I prefer way it is.” - The insertion of “the” where it is not needed: “The bilingualism is important for 25
19. International Journal of English Language Teaching Vol.8, No.6, pp.8-32, December 2020 Published by ECRTD-UK Print ISSN: 2055-0820(Print), Online ISSN: 2055-0839(Online) me because it enables me to express my thought in French and English.” - The use of “the” in place of “a” (an indefinite article): “It is a problem that we could tackle with the sense of responsibility.” - The insertion of “a” where it is not needed: “A preventive methods are abstinence, fidelity and the use of condom.” - Omission of “a” in non-copular relationship: “She has got good hairstyle.” - Misordering of attributive adjectives: “People can have job good.” (good jobs) - Seriously misspelled verbs: “This is the person I went to describe.” (want). The above aspects were analysed as global error types. They were 20 types. Other aspects were found. They were analysed as local error types. They were 14 and were also found at the level of morphology, syntax and orthography as shown below: - The subject-verb plural concord in place of the subject-verb singular concord: “Modern medicine is an innovative type of cure that give satisfaction.” (gives) - The subject-verb V-ING concord in place of the subject-verb V-s concord: “I can see one girl who usually sitting in front.” (sits) - The use of the past form in place of the ED participle: “We have just gave some of the reasons.” (given) - The V- ed form attached to irregular verbs: “The lionesses of Cameroon have wined the match.” (won) - Use of the V-ed form in place of the base form: I will described a person I admire most.” (will describe) - Use of the V-s form in place of the V-ING form: “You are speaks French and English.” (are speaking) - Use of BE+V in place of V: “You are makes me happy.” (make) - Use of the V-ING form in place of V: “You would notice the presence of many boys who can carrying guns.” - Use of the base form in place of the V-ed form: “In the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo), soldiers are use to carry out what we call “coup d’état.” - The V-s form in place of the V-ed form: “We drinks juice.” (drank) - An adjective in place of a derivational adverb: “He usual looked forward to holidays.” - Avoidance of adverbs (Syntax): “Paul and David were complete discouraged by the sad - Omission of the indefinite article in copular relationship: “My mother is very simple woman.” (omission of “a”) - Slightly misspelled nouns: “holydays” in place of “holidays” as in “That is how I spent my Christmas holydays.” “medecin” instead of “medicine” “In modern medecin, medical appliances are used to provide care to patients.” Other aspects were deemed ambiguous errors. They were 9 types. They were identified only at the level of syntax. They are the following: 26
20. International Journal of English Language Teaching Vol.8, No.6, pp.8-32, December 2020 Published by ECRTD-UK Print ISSN: 2055-0820(Print), Online ISSN: 2055-0839(Online) - “into” in place of “to”: “My uncle is good into everybody.” - “in” in place of “to”: “They can talk in great people.” - “at” in place of “about”: “Dear people, I was informed at the deadly virus.” - “at” in place of “from”: “My friend is a pupil at the Bilingual High School at - “about” in place of “for”: “I love my dad who is, about my mum, a role model.” - “about” in place of “to”: “About all the youth, Lami is a model young person.” - Omission of “to” placed after the verb “came”: “Greg and Mike came our country.” - Omission of “in” after the verb “translate”: “You can translate your exercise book.” - Omission of “about” placed after “especially: “Let’s talk about you, especially the brilliant performance of your team in the pitch.” Aspects of English grammar disclosed above were found to affect communicative and linguistic proficiency in English. Global errors were found to lead to communication breakdown. Local errors were found to lead to ungrammaticality. Ambiguous errors were found to lead to ungrammaticality as well as communication breakdown. From the above, learners of English as a second or foreign language were found to face English language difficulties and needs at the level of linguistic and communication. This was a proof that aspects of English grammar as disclosed above should be reinforced in the teaching and learning of English as a second or foreign language. In so doing communicative and linguistic proficiency in English used a second or foreign language will be successfully The proposed relevant remedy to such a non-standard English is to revise the syllabus by reinforcing in the teaching of English these grammatical aspects: aspects of communicative proficiency (tenses, aspects, auxiliaries, number, pronouns, the definite article, the indefinite article in non-copular relationship, adjectives and verbs), aspects of linguistic proficiency (subject-verb concord, verb forms, adverbs and the indefinite article in copular relationship) and aspects of linguistic as well as communicative proficiency (Prepositions). 5.2 Significance of the study This paper is important for a number of reasons: (i) it unravels aspects of English grammar to be reinforced in teaching of English in a bid to improve communicative and linguistic proficiency in English used as a second or foreign language, (ii) and shows grammatical aspects that affect linguistic and communicative proficiency in English. Abessougue, J. B. (1982). Graphological errors in the written English of some French- 27
21. International Journal of English Language Teaching Vol.8, No.6, pp.8-32, December 2020 Published by ECRTD-UK Print ISSN: 2055-0820(Print), Online ISSN: 2055-0839(Online) speaking learners of English. Unpublished masteral thesis, The University of Yaounde I, Cameroon. Abilamekou, B. T. (2007). The use of English by final year francophone students in GHS Biyem-Assi and College VogtYaoundé. Unpublished masteral thesis, The University of Yaounde I, Cameroon. Burt, M. K. & Kiparsky, C. (1972). The gooficon: A repair manual for English. Rowley, Massachussetts: Newbury House. Ekani, N. C. F. (2007). Difficulties encountered by French-speaking learners of English in the use of futurity in English: The case of students of The University of Yaounde I. Unpublished masteral thesis, The University of Yaoundé I, Cameroon. Emaleu, C. S. T. (2004). An assessment of the written English of primary school leavers: A case study of Form One pupils in Government Bilingual High School Etoug-Ebe and Government Bilingual High School Limbé. Unpublished postgraduate thesis, The University of Yaoundé I, Cameroon. Fornkwa, J. M. (2013). Aspects of francophone Cameroon English inflectional morphology: The case of the –s inflection. Macrothink Institute: International Journal of English Language Education, 1(1), 15-39. Hamidou, B. (2008). The performance of Premiere and Terminale learners of English in using some speech acts: A case study of Lycee Bilingue de Ngaoundere and Lycee Cite Verte. Unpublished postgraduate thesis, The University of Yaounde I, Cameroon. Hendrickson, J. M. (1976). Error analysis and selective correction in the adult ESL classroom: An experiment. ERIC: Center for Applied Linguistics, Arlington, Virginia, EDRS: ED 135 260, 1-21. Kenmogne, A. (2002). Misuse of some English prepositions by French-speaking learners of English. Unpublished postgraduate thesis, The University of Yaounde I, Cameroon. Kouega, J. P. & Sokeng, P. S. C. (2013). Performance of francophone secondary school leavers in English structure and written expression. English Linguistics Research, 2(1), 223-231. Ngallassum, S. M. (2007). The teaching of English: A study of the influence of French on the English language spoken by Cycle 3 pupils. Unpublished postgraduate thesis, The University of Yaounde I, Cameroon. Simo, B. A. (1978). The oral and written English production of final year students in francophone secondary schools: An error analysis. Unpublished postgraduate thesis, The University of Yaounde I, Cameroon. Sokeng, P. S. C. (2014). Grammatical errors of bilingual 1 francophone learners of English in the University of Yaoundé I. Theory and Practice in Language: Academic Publisher, 4(9), 1778-1785. Tadjom, J. H. (1993). The source language as an obstruction in second language learning: A case of francophone learners of English. Unpublished postgraduate thesis, The University of Yaounde I, Cameroon. I hereby certify that this paper is approved by my institutions and was not used in a conference before. It is original and not consider in another journal. Special thanks are therefore extended to Professor Jean Paul Kouega from The University of Yaounde I, 28
22. International Journal of English Language Teaching Vol.8, No.6, pp.8-32, December 2020 Published by ECRTD-UK Print ISSN: 2055-0820(Print), Online ISSN: 2055-0839(Online) TEST 1: Tense, aspect and auxiliaries Fill in the gap in each of the ten sentences below with the correct words or structure in the 1) We ------------- some reasons. (have giveing, gave, have giving, have givening) 2) They------------ to some countries. (can gone, can going, can go, have going) 3) Dear people, I ------------ about the problem of HIV. (have informed, have been informing, was informed, have informing) 4) Every day you ----------for modern medicine. ( going, gone, go going, go) 5) I prefer modern medicine because I ---------- a doctor. (go going to see, seen, go seeing, see) 6) I prefer modern medicine because I --------- it. (am admired, had admired, have been admired, admire) 7) We arrived when the train --------- (left, was left, had left, had been left) 8) If I were you, I -------- modern medicine (go chosening, go going to choose, go choosing, would have chosen) 9) I was doing the dishes when my mother ----------- (have returned, returned, had returned, had been returned) 10) I ----------- this girl most because she has a good heart. (am admired, had admired, have been admired, admire) TEST 2: Number in English Fill in the gap in each of the ten sentences below with the correct words or structure in the 11) My ------------- are based on the usefulness of traditional medicine. (reasons, reason, reasones, reasonings) 12) The presidents from ------------ can visit us. (others countries, other countrie, other countries, other country) 13) Russian guns had caused the death of ------------ over many decades. (thousands people, a thousands people, thousands of people, thousands peoples) 14) Lami is a role model for ---------- of today. (youths, gang of youth, gangs of youth, 15) My aunt likes to go and visit ----------. (animale, animal, animals, animales) 16) But --------- are complicated. (these test, this tests, these tests, these testes) 17) I prefer ----------- medicine because my family prefers it. (traditions, traditione, traditionale, traditional) 18) She has got ---------- (movings songs, movings song, moving songs, moving song). 19) In Cameroon, the two ----------- are English and French. (officials languages, official languages, officiales languages, official language) 20) With short-----, her face looks long. (legs, leges, leg, lege) TEST 3: Pronouns Fill in the gap in each of the ten sentences below with the correct words or structure in the 41) I love my father -------- is a role model to women. (he, she, whom, who) 42) I admire Sophie ---------- loves children very much. (she, that, whose, who). 29
23. International Journal of English Language Teaching Vol.8, No.6, pp.8-32, December 2020 Published by ECRTD-UK Print ISSN: 2055-0820(Print), Online ISSN: 2055-0839(Online) 43) Bilingualism can develop gendarmeries ---------- can improve the country’s security measures. (what, it, its, which) 44) He is my best friend, ------- name is Kenedy. (its, his, he, who) 45) The rebels and the government recruit children to train ------------. (he, his, that, them) 46) My aunt likes ----------. (he, I , it, we) 47) We would like to tell him our secrets because, in return, he will give -----------advice. (it, her, its, his) 48) I prefer modern medicine because --------- is the best for one’s health. (she, he, it, that) 49) HIV is a human immunodeficiency virus ------- preventive methods and cure are abstinence, fidelity and screening tests. (their, whose, it, its) 50) This person, ----------- is my beloved friend. (its, it, he, his) TEST 4: Articles Fill in the gap in each of the ten sentences below with the correct words or structure in the 51) ------------- are abstinence, fidelity and the use of condom. (a preventive methods, a preventive method, preventive methods, the method, the preventive) 52) I prefer ---------- because it is sure and advantageous. (the modern medicine, modern medicine, a modern medicine, an modern medicine). 53) ---------- is important for me because it enables me to express my thought in French and English. (the bilingualism, an bilingualism, a bilingualism, bilingualism) 54) I prefer ------- it is. (way, a way, the way, the ways) 55) They have ------------. (a moving songs, an moving song, moving songs, the movings 56) The recruitment of child soldiers continued in --------- a long-lasting civil conflict in poverty-stricken regions (the periods of, a period of, an period of, period of). 57) It is a problem that we could tackle with ---------- responsibility. (the sense of, a sense of, a senses of, an sense of) 58) My mother is --------- simple woman. (very, an very, a very, the very) 59) If I have -----------, he helps me. (a problems, a problem, the problem, the problems) 60) She has got ----------- hairstyle. (good, the good, a good, an good) TEST 5: Attributive adjectives Fill in the gap in each of the ten sentences below with the correct words or structure in the 61) People prefer -------------. (medicine traditional, traditional medicine, traditional medicinal, medicinal traditional) 62) The best ---------- is purely traditional. (medicine curative, medicinal curative, curative medicinal, curative medicine) 63) People can have ----------. (jobs good, good job, good jobs, job good) 64) I prefer -------------. (medicinal modern, modern medicinal, modern medicine, medicine modern) 65) They use all ------------. (resources well-known available, available resources well- known, well-known resources available, well-known available resources) 66) ---------- are abstinence, fidelity and the use of condom. (methods preventive, preventives methods, method preventives, preventive methods) 30
24. International Journal of English Language Teaching Vol.8, No.6, pp.8-32, December 2020 Published by ECRTD-UK Print ISSN: 2055-0820(Print), Online ISSN: 2055-0839(Online) 67) A ---------- is safer but expensive. (treatment medical modern, medical treatment modern, modern medical treatment, medical modern treatment) 68) My father is a ---------. (person very quiet, quiet very person, very quiet person, very person quiet) 69) I will present the -----------. (interesting aspects physical, aspects physical interesting, physical aspects interesting, interesting physical aspects) 70) My Aunt is a -----------. (woman friendly hospitable, woman hospitable friendly, hospitable friendly woman, friendly woman hospitable) TEST 6: Orthography Fill in the gap in each of the ten sentences below with the correct words or structure in the 91) She is a beautiful --------. (gear, gluer, girl, gears) 92) He likes ------. (banane, benema, benana, banana). 93) My aunt has got long ------. (hare, hahre, hair, here) 94) In modern ----------, medical appliances are used to provide care to patients. (medecin, medicin, medicine, medecine) 95) That is how I spent my Christmas ----------. (holydays, holiday, holidays, hollidays) 96) This is the person I --------- to describe. (went, won’t, want, wand) 97) I can see one girl who --------- in front. (seat, seats, sit, sits) 98) It is good to be -----------. (bilinguale, bilinguals, bilinguales, bilingual) 99) I love my father who is a role model to ----------. (wouman, woumen, wumen women) 100) I prefer ----------medical treatments. (mother, moder, modern, model) TEST 7: Subject-verb concord Fill in the gap in each of the ten sentences below with the correct words or structure in the 21) It ------------- speaking and writing in many languages. (ease, eases, easing, easeing) 22) He ------------ traditional medicine. (preferring, prefere, prefer, prefers) 23) Modern medicine is an innovative type of cure that ------------ satisfaction. (giveing, giving, gives, give) 24) I can see one girl who usually ---------- in front. (sit, sits, sitting, siting) 25) This girl ---------- a small head. (having, haveing, has, have) 26) Her body --------- like that of Miss Cameroon. (look, lookes, looks, looke) 27) When she -----------, I am enthralled. (speaking, speak, speaks, speakes) 28) He told me what he ---------- in the house. (doing, doeing, do, does). 29) She ----------- English to secondary school children. (teaching, teaches, teachs, teach) 30) A medical doctor ----------- patients. (examin, examine, examines, examineing) TEST 8: The various verb forms in English Fill in the gap in each of the ten sentences below with the correct words or structure in the 31) I --------- a person I admire most. (will described, was described, was being described, am going to describe)I have just ------------- a person I admire most. 32) In the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo), soldiers are ------------ to carry out what we call “coup d’état.” (useing, use, uses, used) 31
25. International Journal of English Language Teaching Vol.8, No.6, pp.8-32, December 2020 Published by ECRTD-UK Print ISSN: 2055-0820(Print), Online ISSN: 2055-0839(Online) 33) We ------------ juice. (drinking, drinks, drank, drinked) 34) The lionesses of Cameroon have ---------- the match. (wined, winning, wins, won) 35) We have just ---------- some of the reasons. (giveing, giving, given, gave) 36) She has just --------- the money. (provide, provides, providing, provided) 37) You would notice the presence of many boys who can ----------- guns. (carrying, carried, carries, carry) 38) You ---------- me happy. (are makes, are make, makes, make). 39) You are ----------- French and English. (speak, speaks, speaked, speaking) 40) For example, in Soudan, rebels ----------- people in villages. (kill, kiled, killed, kills) TEST 9: Derivational adverbs Fill in the gap in each of the ten sentences below with the correct words or structure in the 71) He ------------- looked forward to holidays. (habitual, usual, unusual, usually) 72) They------------ got it. (final, definite, finite, finally) to some countries. 73) My uncle ------------ believes he is the best. (strong, gracious, strongly, sad) 74) They ---------- put on their clothes. (hasty, hastily, rapid, frequent) 75) Laura was ---------- wounded. (serious, seriously, grave, bad) 76) My English teacher --------- corrects my homework. (rare, rarely, scarce, kind) 77) His speech was --------- welcomed. (kind, rapid, swift, warmly) 78) Paul and David were ----------discouraged by the sad news. (utterly, complete, blunt, 79) Mum and dad speak English and French ----------- (fluent, fluency, fluently, swift) 80) A traditional healer ----------- provides long-lasting treatments for his patients. (week, day, rough, weekly) TEST 10: Prepositions Fill in the gap in each of the ten sentences below with the correct words or structure in the 81) Let’s talk about you, ----- the brilliant performance of your team in the pitch. (especially to, especially, specially, especially about) 82) You can ------ your exercise book. (translate, translate on, translate in, translate into). 83) They can ------- great people. (talk, talk in, talk at, talk to) 84) Dear people, I was ------ the deadly virus. (informed at, informed in, informed about, 85) We can ------ some countries. (go, go in, go on, go to) 86) Greg and Mike ----- our country. (came in, came, came to, came into) 87) ------ all the youth, Lami is a model young person. (at, about, in ,to) 88) My friend is a pupil ------ the Bilingual High School at Mendong. (into, from, on, at) 89) I love my dad who is, ----- my mum, a role model. (of, in, for, about) 90) My uncle is good ------ everybody. (to, into, on, in) 32
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