Candidate's Weakness
The weaknesses observed include:
- poor expression as a result of wrong concord, poor use of punctuation marks, wrong use of tenses, poor use of prepositions and articles;
- failure to grasp the requirements and demands of the questions attempted;
- ignorance of common literary terms;
- writing below the required number of words on the essay topics;
- illegible handwriting;
- spelling errors;
- poor knowledge of the basic rules of English grammar;
- mindless lifting of portions of the passages as answers;
- use of text message abbreviations such as “u” for “you” and “d” for “the”.
Suggested Remedies
- Candidates should:
- endeavour to improve on their vocabulary and grammar in English Language through extensive reading;
- take time to understand the demands of questions before attempting to answer them.
- read through their work to correct spelling and grammatical mistakes before submitting their scripts;
- practise essay writing regularly;
- converse regularly in simple and correct English expressions;
- Teachers should:
- spend more time in teaching grammar topics and comprehension skills;
- in addition to giving their students assignments frequently, teachers should also mark such assignments in order to help students identify and correct their mistakes;
- regularly attend workshops and seminars that would keep them abreast of global best practices in the teaching of the English Language.
- Schools should ensure that:
- only qualified teachers are engaged to teach English Language;
- the library is equipped with relevant books and materials that will aid the students academically.