Abstract

This study set out to examine if students of the Department of Curriculum Studies and Teaching use prepositions appropriately. The main assumption was that since the Department of Curriculum Studies and Teaching, students are trained to be specialists in the English language, they should use prepositions better as they will subsequently function in the future as English language teachers and other related professions.

Our hypothesis was that these students basically face the same problems in the use of prepositions as any other students who have not spent extra years studying English language. To verify this hypothesis,s a test was administered.

This test was a multiple choice question test. The results confirmed our hypothesis that all the students faced similar problems in the use of prepositions as the areas of difficulty were basically the same.

The findings also showed that the institutional background (school attended), sex, and age had a crucial impact on the respondents’ mastery of prepositions. We strongly recommend that the English language should be introduced in high school at least for those students who would subsequently specialize in the English language at the university.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.0 Introduction

This piece of work is centered on preposition usage by second language learners of English at the tertiary level. Students of the University of Buea are used as a case study.

1.1 Background of the study

The history of the English Language in Cameroon dates to the pre-colonial period. Ngoh (1996) notes that English people were among the first to establish commercial ties with pre-colonial Cameroon and though they could not annex the territory, their interest in Cameroon stretched into the colonial period.

Amvela (1996-97) asserts that “up to the annexation of Cameroon by Germany on the 12th July 1884, British were undoubtedly the most predominant European influence along the Cameroon coast”.

After the First World War, Cameroon was partitioned between Britain and France to administer as mandates of the League of Nations. This arrangement was maintained after the Second World War as a trust territory of the United Nations Organization. British Cameroon however constitutes only a fifth of the territory and English had a status of a minority language when the two sectors eventually attained independence as a federation.

In Cameroon, English is spoken in the north and southwest regions, and there is a single Anglo-Saxon state university; this is the University of Buea. Since studies are in English at the University of Buea, students need to work hard to master the language. But there has been declining proficiency in the language.

On paper, the language policy ensures that both languages had equal status as official languages but in practice, French-dominated every area of administration. However, English had been growing in importance all over the world and this has encouraged many Cameroonians East of the Mungo to pursue an Anglophone education. In spite of the importance of English, English language teaching in Cameroon has been ridden with problems. First of all, Cameroon stands out in its linguistic complexity as English co-exists with French as the official language, in addition to more than 247 indigenous languages (Semegue and Sadembouo, 1991).

This co-existence together with Pidgin English, and the indigenous languages influenced English language proficiency and pidgin English seriously affects Anglophones’ English (Alobwede, 1998).

Moreover, many researchers have observed that the standard of the English language in Cameroon is rapidly falling. Ndongmanji (2005) for example claims that the decline is due to linguistic and social pedagogic factors. Others like Tanda and Mumambang (2006) have blamed this on mobile telecommunication and the internet among other factors. This focuses on the problems faced by level 400 students of the Department of Curriculum Studies and Teaching in pedagogic teaching in preposition usage.

1.2 Statement of Problems

In spite of the important role played by the English language in the world, there had been declining Anglophone proficiency, which has been pointed out by a number of authors indicated above. It is therefore important to examine the areas of difficulties for learners so that instruction and pedagogic materials shall handle this in detail.

The situation becomes compounded when students of the department of English, especially final year students, who are expected to have gone through training in the university and who would-be teachers of the language still exhibit a poor mastery of the language. It is, therefore, necessary to examine the mastery of English, by students, especially of the English department.

1.3 Objectives of the Study

Given the importance of this research three main objectives have been put in place to help the researcher get some qualitative and quantitative facts that will help to give this research the quality it deserves. There are;

1. To find out how frequently the level 400 students in the University of Buea use prepositions in speech and writing.
2. Which prepositions do level 400 students in the University of Buea used more often?
3. Do level 400 students in the university of Buea at all moments used prepositions correctly