The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has attributed the decline in candidates’ performance in English Language in the 2026 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) partly to persistent weaknesses in grammar, poor reading habits and the influence of informal language.
Head of Public Affairs at WAEC Ghana, John Kapi, disclosed that the pass rate in English Language dropped from 69% in 2025 to 62.40% in 2026.
Speaking on the Joy FM Super Morning Show on Monday, September 7, during a discussion on the provisional 2026 WASSCE results, Mr Kapi said the Chief Examiner’s report identified several weaknesses among candidates.
According to him, the challenges included poor control of grammar, weak expression, concord errors and spelling mistakes.
“When you look at the Chief Examiner’s report, it talks about the candidates’ poor control of grammar. They also have an issue with expression,” he said.
“The concord is always a problem, and their spelling, simple spelling errors occur in a lot of their writing,” he added.
Poor comprehension and declining reading culture
Mr Kapi also identified poor comprehension and analysis of texts as another major challenge affecting candidates’ performance.
He said many students struggled to properly understand and analyse passages they were required to read during the examination.
“I think then also the texts that they are supposed to read and analyse, most of them do not have a grasp of the texts and so they are unable to do a proper analysis of the text that they are supposed to have read,” he said.
Mr Kapi linked the challenge partly to what he described as a declining reading culture, stressing that regular reading plays an important role in developing students’ vocabulary, sentence construction and comprehension skills.
“There’s also this lack of reading culture. See, reading is one of the major areas where you can pick up language, whether you like it or not,” he said.
He added that reading enables students to expand their vocabulary, improve sentence structure and acquire knowledge that strengthens their overall language skills.
Social media and Pidgin influence
Although Mr Kapi stopped short of directly blaming social media for the decline in English Language performance, he acknowledged that examiners had observed informal expressions associated with social media appearing in candidates’ examination scripts.
“I don’t have evidence to support that,” he said when asked whether social media was responsible for the decline.
He, however, noted that language commonly used on platforms such as WhatsApp and SMS sometimes finds its way into formal examination writing.
“What I’m saying is that these things that we find in the social media space also find their way into the candidates’ writings,” he said.
Mr Kapi also identified the widespread use of Pidgin English as another challenge, particularly among students who have limited exposure to Standard English in their daily interactions.
“Generally, English Language has been a problem over the years, and one of the things that we’ve had a problem with is the use of Pidgin,” he said.
He stressed that consistent practice was essential to improving proficiency in any language.
“One thing about language is the use of it. The more you use it, the more proficient you become in it,” he added.
Shared responsibility for improving English proficiency
Mr Kapi said improving students’ proficiency in English requires a collective effort from teachers, students and the wider learning environment.
While teachers have a responsibility to provide effective instruction, he said students must also consistently practise and use Standard English to strengthen their communication skills.
He encouraged greater emphasis on reading, writing and regular use of formal English both inside and outside the classroom to help address the persistent weaknesses identified by examiners.
