An Analysis of English Pronunciation Errors among Senior Secondary School Students in Kwara State Nigeria

English language pronunciation errors among students in Senior Secondary Schools in Nigeria demand an intensive study because of the importance of good spoken English language for academic progress of these students. This study therefore analyzed the common English pronunciation errors committed by Senior Secondary School Students in Kara State. The descriptive survey design was utilized. This involved the random sampling of twelve (12) schools from the Senior Secondary Schools in the state. Systematic sampling  technique was used to select one hundred and twenty (120) sampled cases and students’ performance in a Test of Orals (TO) was analyzed along with the demographic features using chi-square inferential statistics at 0.05 significance level. Classification of students based on teachers’ gender, students’ gender, types of schools, parents’ educational qualification and school location provided the various parameters upon which the analysis was done. The major findings of the study revealed that most of the students {78 (65.0%)} committed segmental errors and a significant difference existed between students’ pronunciation errors based on teacher’s gender while students ‘gender, school type, parents’ educational qualification and school location have no significant difference. This implies that the teachers’ gender should be an important consideration when effective teaching and learning of oral English in Secondary Schools is the main concern. It was therefore recommended that segmental aspect of English Language pronunciation must be given priority in the school syllabus. Government and private school stakeholders should employ trained female oral English teachers more than male in the public and private secondary schools.

Keywords: Oral English, pronunciation errors, segmental and supra– segmental sounds