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THE PROCESSING OF SYNTACTIC AMBIGUITY IN ENGLISH: A STUDY OF FEDERAL COLLEGES OF EDUCATION, ZARIA AND KANO STUDENTS.
(2000-12) ABDULRASHEED, RASHIDA .S.
ABSTRACT This study was designed to investigate the processing of syntactic ambiguity in students' writing. The sample of 100 respondents were randomly selected from Federal Colleges of Education, Zaria and Kano. Elicitation experiment is used as a technique for data gathering and within the technique used, various questions were asked. These test questions were divided into four (4) sections: Section A, B, C, and D. The data analysis was based on seventy (70) questions spread across four different sections. This will be done in percentage. The result of the analysis revealed that majority of the students were poorly sensitive to ambiguity. Below is the summary of the information computed from the data analysis. The result showed that majority of the students failed the test which in turn points to the fact that detecting ambiguity in written form poses a great challenge to both students and teachers of English. Ambiguity or double meaning is a student's worst enemy when they write. This is so because it prevents a reader from understanding students intended meaning. Students more often than not know what their intended messages are, but because of haste or inattention or for lack of knowledge they express them in such a way that the reader receives more than one meaning.