Qualitative Study on Comparative Analysis of Syntactic Features of Verbs and Nouns Used in English and Ika Languages among Learners in Delta State, Nigeria

Abstract

The aim of the study is to investigate through comparative analysis, areas of difficulties which Ika native speakers who learn English as a second language would face in learning the English nouns and verbs. It is discovered that Ika learners of English language as a second language face challenges because of difficulties from the evidence of differences between the structures of the English and Ika nouns and verbs. These challenges have prompted the researcher into investigating the differences between the structures using the theory of comparative analysis. This paper adopted methodological content analysis using secondary sources. Comparative analysis has led to the discovery of areas of difficulties such as differences in the position of nouns and modifiers, formation of plurals, various ways of representing gender in English and changing active to passive sentences for nouns. For verbs, there are problems in the presentation of the perfective marker in both languages, tenses and also passivation. It is, therefore, recommended that the curriculum planners take cognizance of these challenges so as to proffer solution on how the difficulties can be tackled for effective teaching and learning, Ika language should be studied independently of English looking at the vast differences between the two. The teacher should concentrate on these difficulties, while students become serious with learning ability.