A Comparative Analysis of Morpho-Syntactic Error Patterns in Memoranda from Two Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria

Abstract

Appropriate language usage is a sine qua non for effective communication requisite for excellence and professionalism. In Nigeria, researchers have investigated and decried the poor communication in the English language at various levels of linguistic analysis in different professions and domains, including tertiary institutions where foci have been on students and lecturers. Findings of these researches are both exciting and insightful. However, not much attention has been given to the administrative staff, especially in their memoranda writing. It is against the backdrop of this research gap that this paper has focused on a comparative analysis of morpho-syntactic error patterns produced from Registry Departments of two Colleges of Education in Nigeria. The Interlanguage Theory (Selinker, 1972) served as the theoretical framework. The purposive sampling technique was used to select one hundred (100) internal memoranda, fifty (50) from each of the institutions, for the study. A mix of qualitative and quantitative approach design was applied in the data analysis to achieve the stated objectives of the study. Findings of the study revealed eleven (11) morpho-syntactic error patterns, namely article, capitalisation, genitive, misformation/spelling, misordering, pluralisation, punctuation, redundant/collocational/formulaic, subject-verb agreement, tense/aspect and word choice errors, and the comparative analysis indicated similarities and divergence in the morpho-syntactic errors made by the staff of the two institutions. This study has shown that the errors identified in the memoranda were not accidental slips but systematic and predictable, reflecting the influence of the writers’ first language, insufficient mastery of formal institutional writing, and heavy reliance on workplace formulaic expressions.

Keywords: Colleges of Education, Morpho-syntactic errors, Institutional writing, Internal memoranda, Registry Departments.