_Dr. William Eyinmosan
Some students are not interested in reading. Instead they look for any means to get a good result, which has made examination malpractices, bribery, corruption, female students enticing lecturers for marks or lecturers intimidating female students for sex, influential personalities bribing lecturers for high marks etc, common occurrence in Nigeria, that has led to the society producing half baked graduates and teachers in some cases
[dropcap]A[/dropcap] serial author, seasoned consultant on English Language and Chief Executive Officer of Skypoint International, Dr William Otonoritse Omoroghene Eyinmosan recently revealed why students and candidates fail English Language examinations in Nigeria, during an exclusive interview with Alltimepost.com.English Language, he said “is our major means of communication, but we also discover that this subject candidate often fails during examinations because students or candidates don’t study English as a subject.
“They study mathematics and other subjects but they don’t study English, because of the above, majority of English spoken is either misused or not English words. The problem is that people don’t take pain to study English’’
Eyinmosan, who is also a renowned television English Language lecturer and examiner posited that people often make blunders daily in their spoken English without knowing.
“Most people often speak that ‘ten minutes more’ during examination sessions instead of saying correctly that ‘ten minutes left’, or ‘open to page 20’, instead of saying correctly that ‘turn to page 20’ or ‘my watch is ten minutes late’ instead of saying correctly that ‘my watch is ten minutes slow’’
The one time school principal and English Language guest instructor/facilitator at conferences and workshops lamented the fact that most English Language teachers don’t really teach the English Language the way the subject ought to be taught, stressing that they misused English words and at times use words that are not English words and unfortunately teachers are mentors of students, while students often take after their teachers.
“When the teachers give them wrong things, the students absorb them which translate into mass failures in English Language examinations. Another reason many students fail English is due to the fact that some aspects of English you solve the way you solve mathematics. You solve it to derive the answer.
“Most teachers talk about the topic and the answers without letting the candidates or students to know how they got the answer. That is why when they see such questions next time they won’t know how to solve it, because there was no demonstration of how the answer was obtained in the first place…English has rules and there is practical aspect of English whereby you use objects, people and other materials to demonstrate. This aspect makes students not to forget whatever they are being taught, but unfortunately most teachers don’t do that’’.
Dr. Eyinmosan, a PHD holder in English Language who is an unrepentant advocate of compulsory assessment test for teachers in the educational system noted that such necessary bench mark will go a long way to sanitize the educational sector in Nigeria and passionately urged that teachers within the system as a priority must engage themselves in self academic development, even outside the normal curriculum obtainable within the schools like reading of books, magazines and browsing of internet etc.
He advised the various strata of governments in Nigeria to take the welfare of teachers as a topmost priority that they should be paid as and when due in order for them to be dedicated to their students, and up to date infrastructural facilities should be provided to ensure conducive atmosphere and environment for pupils, students and teachers.
The lead educator in English Language at williamenglishprofessorgroup who has penned English Language Professor Book, Perfect Use of English, Standard Everyday English & Communication etc, regretted that too much emphasis is being placed on paper qualification in Nigeria rather than knowledge itself, and advised the authorities to look out for a way to address this problem, as he put it: ‘Some students are not interested in reading. Instead they look for any means to get a good result, which has made examination malpractices, bribery, corruption, female students enticing lecturers for marks or lecturers intimidating female students for sex, influential personalities bribing lecturers for high marks etc, common occurrence in Nigeria, that has led to the society producing half baked graduates and teachers in some cases’’
