J. Oladejo, THE ACQUISITION OF ENGLISH POLAR (YES NO) QUESTIONS BY NIGERIAN LEARNERS, IRAL. International review of applied linguistics in language teaching, 31(4), 1993, pp. 315-322
Citations number
18
Categorie Soggetti
Language & Linguistics","Education & Educational Research
This paper reports a study which investigated the acquisition of the E
nglish polar question, otherwise known as the Yes/No question type, by
Nigerian secondary school learners of the language. It is noted that
this category of questions often constitutes a considerable amount of
problems for Nigerian learners. The developmental stages the learners
pass through before the mastery of a target-like form of English polar
questions are identified, thus showing that a systematic order underl
ies their acquisition of this category of questions. The study notes t
hat learners' first languages do not seem to influence their learning
and use of the English polar question, while their use of the Yes/No q
uestion type in the written mode is better than in the spoken mode due
possibly to the higher chances of motoring in the former. The paper s
uggests that in teaching this category of questions to Nigerian learne
rs the natural order of acquistion should be followed, and efforts sho
uld be made to teach it through communicative language activites.