The Role of Teachers in Correcting Learners’ Syntactic Errors among Secondary School Students at GS St. Isidore Gitwa in Ngororero District

This study investigated the role of teachers in correcting learners’ syntactic errors among secondary school students in Ngororero District, at G.S. Saint Isidore Gitwa. The study has been conducted to identify the most common types of syntactic errors made by students, to examine the teaching methods and strategies used by English teachers, to address syntax and strategies for correcting students’ errors, and to assess how teachers’ instructional practices influence the reduction or persistence of syntactic errors. The target population of 780 consisted of students, English teachers, and school leaders at GS Saint Isidore Gitwa, with a sample size of 264 respondents. The findings revealed that 85.2% of students frequently made sentence structure errors, 83% struggled with tense use, and 73.5% faced challenges with subject-verb agreement. Teachers consistently reported using grammar drills and sentence correction activities, and 100% claimed to always integrate grammar instruction with speaking and writing. Feedback strategies such as immediate correction (reported by 58.3% of students). While 95.8% of students found teacher feedback very helpful in improving their syntactic accuracy, teachers identified significant challenges, including large class sizes, time constraints, and a lack of instructional resources. Moreover, students expressed a strong preference for more examples and exercises (98.9%), individual feedback (80.7%), and additional writing tasks (72.3%). The study concluded that teachers play a pivotal role in shaping students’ syntactic development through instructional choices and feedback practices. However, the persistence of syntactic errors suggests a need for improved instructional methods, better resource allocation, and targeted professional development.