GASPRO International Journal of Eminent Scholars

ABSTRACT

This research set out to investigate the expository techniques in the essays of Nigerian undergraduates. The theory of applied linguistics was used as the theoretical base. The method of systematic random sampling was used to select 20 out of 101 essays of year two students of the Department of English, Akwa Ibom State University in Nigeria. The students offered the course titled: Advanced Composition I. The subjects’ (students’) performances were examined on three variables of definition, comparison and contrast, and explication and classification in addition to nine other grammatical and lexical features. It was discovered that majority of the students did well in the three techniques of exposition but not totally free from interlingual issues such as indeterminacy, wrong word form, tautology, and inappropriate prepositions. More exercises in expository essay have been recommended.