Statistics show that the level of performance of secondary and post-secondary
school students in English has been deteriorating over the years. The decline in
their performance in English is attested to by the alarming rate at which students
fail English language in public examinations such as the West African Senior
School Certificate Examination (WASSCE). Moreover, the quality of English,
which many of our students speak and write is so substandard that one begins to
doubt the fact that they ever sat for and passed the English language in the
Senior School Certificate Examination and similar examinations by themselves.
This poor performance is not a recent trend. In fact, as far back as 1979 the
Chief Examiner’s Report in English Language (Paper One) for the West African
School Certificate (WASC) said this much for the examination of that year.