ANALYSIS OF PRAGMATIC ERRORS ON ESSAY WRITING PERFORMANCE OF SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ IN NASARAWA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study investigated Analysis of Pragmatic Errors on Essay Writing Performance of Senior Secondary School Students’ in Nasarawa State, Nigeria. Three research questions and three null hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. Population comprises of all 12,333 students offering English Language from 17 public senior secondary school in Nasarawa State, Nigeria and 384 students offering English Language were used as sample size. English Language Essay Performance Writing Test (ELEPWT) was used as an instrument, it was validated and pilot tested which yielded the of 0.71 validity index and of 0.72 reliability index. Descriptive statistics was to answer research questions while t-test of independent samples was used for testing the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significant. The findings reveals significant differences in the types and rank order of pragmatic errors committed by SSII students in essay writing tests in Nasarawa State, Nigeria. However, no significant difference was found between male and female students, suggesting that gender does not influence the occurrence of these errors. This suggests that the nature and frequency of these errors are not influenced by gender. It recommended that, English language teachers should prioritize teaching pragmatic competence, including appropriate language use, context understanding, and writing application. Schools should provide workshops and specialized training to enhance teaching effectiveness. Contextual writing exercises and peer-review sessions can help students understand and apply pragmatic norms accurately. This approach encourages active learning and critical writing skills.