01/09/2025
Why is English Language Becoming the Most Difficult Subject?
It’s something I’ve observed again and again: students who score A’s in WAEC often have their results dented by English. In JAMB too, English is usually the subject that drops otherwise excellent scores. Why is this so?
A major reason is the influence of social media. Online, American English dominates. Students pick up spellings, expressions, and sentence structures from what they see daily. But here’s the problem: in Nigeria and most West African countries, students are examined strictly in British English. This means the very language they consume every day conflicts with the one they are required to use in exams. Confusion is almost inevitable.
Another issue is the way English is taught. Too often, classrooms rely on Prescriptive Grammar; a model that tells students what to say without showing them why. The danger here is twofold: students merely memorize rules they don’t understand, and if the teacher happens to be wrong, the entire class flies with the error.
This is why I keep recommending Descriptive Grammar. Students need to be taught how English actually works, with reasoning and explanations. That way, they can confidently navigate the gap between what they see online and what they are expected to reproduce in exams.
Until then, English will remain the stumbling block; an unavoidable subject that keeps denting otherwise brilliant performances.
Chukwuebuka Akwaaja