English in Tertiary Institutions and the Issues of Falling Standards: Expectations, Lessons and Challenges

Abstract

This paper dwells on the mounting problem of English language incompetence among a significant number of graduates in Ghana. This is an issue that has received and continues to attract wide discussion in academic and media circles. It is incontrovertible that many prominent people, most of them products of our institutions of higher learning, are unable to use English - spoken and written - in a contextually, socially and technically approved and desirable manner. This communication problem calls for concern because of the developmental role of information and communication in the economic, political, technological, and social challenges of today’s global existence. The way English language - both as a school subject or discipline and as a competency to be mastered— is taught and treated with indifference at the pre tertiary and tertiary levels accounts for this unfortunate state of affairs. This paper, therefore, argues that the nation, tertiary institutions, and lecturers perceive this problem as a “crisis ” and take definite steps that will strengthen the English language ability of graduates, irrespective of their specific courses of study.