Herbert Igboanusi

Mother Tongue-Based Bilingual Education in Nigeria: Attitudes and Practice

Abstract Although Nigerias National Policy on Education provides for a multilingual policy involving the learning of a childs L1 or language of the immediate community (LIC), one of the three major or national languages (i.e. Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba) and English, this policy has not been effectively implemented. This paper reviews the problems and challenges of bilingual education in Nigeria and suggests ways in which bilingual programmes may be implemented successfully in the country to the maximum benefit of the students and the entire nation. To determine the attitude of students, teachers, parents and administrators towards bilingual education, the study solicited the responses of 1000 participants from five different states. The results show that the respondents preferred education in both English and the mother tongue (MT) and were not positively disposed to the use of only one of them. It is also interesting that a majority of the respondents wanted the use of the MT beyond the first three years of primary education.

Oppressing the oppressed: the threats of Hausa and English to Nigeria's minority languages

Abstract In Nigeria, English is generally perceived as a dominant language. The dream of “one north” makes Hausa a lingua franca in northern Nigeria, with the potential of annihilating the over 200 indigenous languages spoken in that region. However, the increasing wave of ethnic consciousness as well as the ongoing agitations for the rights of minority languages have raised questions on the continued domination of minority languages by Hausa and English. Using data from a language-use questionnaire among northern and southern minority language speakers, the study shows that Hausa and English are fast replacing minority mother tongues in informal domains and situational contexts which are expected to be dominated by mother tongues.

The English-only language education policy in The Gambia and low literacy rates

The education policies of 1988–2003 and 2004–2015 in The Gambia make provisions for the use of the L1 or area languages to serve as the media of instruction from Grades 1 to 3 and as school subjects from Grade 4 onwards. However, the policy on the use of L1 for teaching has not been implemented and what is practised instead is the use of English as a means of teaching from pre-primary to the tertiary level education. Since English is the weakest language of the pupils, schools witness high drop-out rates, limited access to education, inability to read with understanding in the early grades, a lack of understanding of the content of the subject taught, and more seriously, high rate of illiteracy. The present paper reviews the English-only education policy in The Gambia and proposes a reform of the education policy in that country.

The Future of French in Nigeria's Language Policies

Abstract In a surprise announcement in December 1996 in a speech at the Nigerian Institute for International Affairs, the late Nigerian Head of State, General Sani Abacha said ‘Nigeria is resolutely launching a programme of national language training that will in a short order, permit our country to become thoroughly bilingual’.1 General Abachas pronouncements and decisions finally led to the recognition of French as a second official language and made it compulsory in schools (see section 1, No. 10 of the National Policy on Education 1998). Following the officialisation of French in the country, several developments have taken place with regard to the promotion of the language. The present study undertakes a quantitative investigation of the attitudes of 300 educated Nigerians towards the policy. It measures their level of awareness about this policy and critically examines the implications of the policy for some language planning issues in the country. It also assesses the extent of the impact of the policy on the French language promotion in Nigeria and goes ahead to predict the future of the language in the country. Results of the questionnaire survey show that the respondents are favourably disposed towards the policy on French and have positive attitudes towards the language.

The language-in-education politics in Nigeria

Against the backdrop of the rejection of mother tongue-based bilingual education in Southern Nigeria and in Northern linguistic minority areas, this study investigates the micropolitics of language education by interrogating everyday language practices of education stakeholders which are at variance with language-in-education policy. It relied on a wide range of data collected through carefully documented observations of classrooms and school community language practices, semi-structured interviews with publishing managers, informal interviews with teachers as well as a questionnaire survey (covering a comprehensive cross-section of stakeholders across the country). Findings suggest that only a uniformly implemented education policy in all schools across the country can restore the use of Nigeria’s indigenous languages as media of instruction in primary schools. The study recommends a combination of advocacy and research findings to get the policy-makers and education stakeholders to accept first language-based (or L1 based) educational reform.

The role of language policy in poverty alleviation in West Africa

Abstract In spite of being home to many treasured raw materials and natural resources, West Africa harbors some of the poorest countries in the world. In fact, about half of the poorest countries in Africa are located in West Africa, and most of her citizens are afflicted by poverty, hunger, disease and illiteracy. Several economic intervention schemes by international financial institutions (such as the World Bank, IMF, ADB) have failed because of a lack of understanding and interpreting of such schemes by a majority of West Africans. Although indigenous West African languages have been central to the processes of production and distribution in the informal sector of the economy, they are excluded in the formal economy. Even more fundamentally problematic is that knowledge and skills are almost exclusively imparted in European languages. The continued use of the ex-colonial languages (namely, English, French and Portuguese in the formal economy, which are understood by less than 20 percent of the population), amounts to economic exclusion for the majority of the people. Since language capital itself is an economic resource that can be harnessed to provide employment opportunities particularly for translators, interpreters, teachers and publishers, there is a need for the development of the indigenous language capital in order to spread resources beyond the few West Africans who are literate in the ex-colonial languages. The present study highlights the role of micro language planning in poverty alleviation within the West African sub-region through the development of the indigenous language capital and the reduction of illiteracy and disease. It does this against the backdrop of the Millennium Development Goals.

The sociolinguistics of development in Africa

The sociolinguistics of development in Africa, P.G. Djite, Clevedon, Multilingual Matters, 2008, xvi + 227pp., US

Empowering Nigerian Pidgin: a challenge for status planning?

139.95 (hbk), ISBN 13: 978-1-84769-046-3, US

Knowledge, Use, and Attitudes Towards Americanisms in Nigerian English

54.95 (pbk), ISBN 13: 978-1-84769-045...