JAMB’S ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEST: A CASE OF CORRECT USAGE

 

The Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) usually conducted annually by The Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) has repeatedly shown that there is a call for concern with regard to the abysmal scores recorded in recent times in English Language. For JAMB, like any other recognized examination bodies, English Language has remained the only compulsory subject that enjoys primacy and currency. The UTME requires that a candidate registers for four subjects with English as the compulsory one, then three other subjects depending on the course such candidate intends to study. What is most alarming is the continued low scores candidates keep getting in spite of the position of the English Language in Nigeria as official language. 

 

The recently released JAMB results for 2023 have sparked quite a number of controversies ranging from forgery of results to misrepresentation of scores. However, a close look at the English Language scores of the top four candidates revealed that though they had almost hundred percent scores in other science subjects such as Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry, their English scores pulled their marks down drastically. While the top four highest scorers had a cumulative mark of 360, 355, 351 and 350 points respectively, their English Language scores: 66, 64, 60 and 62 accordingly showed that the seemingly low scores must be as a result of the issue of correct usage which both teachers and students alike are guilty of. 

 

Having thoroughly checked through the English Language test in recent years, it was discovered that areas of correctness which students are tested on are spelling, tenses, concord, collocation, antonymy and synonymy, idiomatic expressions, register, phrasal verbs, sentence interpretation, correct usage of prepositions and what have you. Similarly, candidates are tested on such areas as reading comprehension, recommended literary text and speech sounds. Regrettably, many to-be matriculants have given little or no considerable attention to these very important areas, and the result is the low scores recorded yearly.

 

Pointedly, many students, possibly out of indifference or little contact with the English vocabulary, usually make mistakes in choosing the word with the correct spelling. For instance, words like ‘privilege’, ‘separate’, ‘occasion’, ‘louvre’, ‘somersault’, ‘diarrhea’ and many other often misspelled words are what the candidates are tested on. More often than not, the candidates are equally assessed based on words that best complete a sentence. Here, a string of expression is written with a particular word which is the best match to give desired meaning to the expression that is missing. This aspect of the JAMB test usually lays emphasis on register — a variety of language used for a particular purpose, profession or setting. For example, in ‘Cosmetics are sometimes used to cover the .......... of nature’, the best word that fits in is ‘defects’. 

 

Also worthy of note is the erroneous conception of many idiomatic expressions. Many candidates who were unfortunate to have been taught by half-baked tutors who have little or no understanding of the correct expressions openly use them wrongly, thereby making their students wallow in same mistakes. For instance, such common expressions as ‘as you lay your bed, so shall you lie on it’, ‘separate the chaff or shaft from the grain’, ‘’half a loaf is better than none’, ‘... on a platter of gold’, are the nonstandard varieties of the expression, while ‘as you make your bed, so you must lie in it’, ‘separate the wheat from the chaff, ‘half a loaf is better than no bread’, ‘... on a silver platter’ are the standard forms respectively. Efforts must then be made to ensure that the standard forms of these expressions are constantly used to right the already existing wrongs.

 

Another very area of concern is that of sentence interpretation. In this part, candidates are required to supply the denotative or surface meaning of a particular expression, usually in connotation. It requires deep thought to unravel the ‘deep meaning’ of such expressions. In the sentence: ‘Everyone agreed that his account of the incident was a tall story’ denotes that the story was unbelievable. Similarly, in ‘the new policy of the government has come under fire’, the meaning of the expression has nothing to do with the policy being set ablaze, rather, it means the policy is being criticized.

 

To sum it up, the right step to be taken in order to forestall recurrent low scores in English Language test is to jettison the act of putting a square peg in a round hole. First, teachers must be ready to keep themselves up-to-date with the trends in their various areas of specialization. Though teaching might not be very lucrative, teachers must develop passion and be intentional in their efforts to make their learners achieve a near native-like competence in the English language. Students, and by extension, candidates, must be ready to take the bull by its horns by intensifying efforts to attain excellence in English as it is not only useful to them as a medium of communication, but also as a language of wider acceptance.

 

 

Wasiu Oluwasegun, ALLI (Mr.)

Department of Language, Arts and Social Science Education,

Lagos State University, Ojo.

Email: [email protected]