LANGUAGE FORUM
A JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE ^ LITERATURE
Vol. 34, No.2, Jul-Dec. 2008
Founder Editor
Ujjai Singh Bahri
Editors
Harpreet Kaur Bahri
Deepinder Singh Bahri
Bahri Publication
Contents
Language and Education : Motion without Progress
Bukoye Arowolo
127-136
Language and Education: Motion without Progress
BUKOYE AROWOLO
University qfllorin, Ilorin
ABSTRACT
This paper attempts to highlight the problems in Nigeria's educational system.
Using some studies to buttress the assertion that educational standards are
falling, we lay the blame on badly thought-out and haphazardly implemented
policy of language in education. After looking at some classifications and
studies in language of education, reversion to the use of Mother tongue as
language of basic education is recommended. The policies which make some
major Nigerian languages compulsory in the Junior Secondary Class need be
reviewed and French made available to only those who feel the need. These
steps would restore an adequate cognitive development in the child, and
eventually help his/her learning of English as the official language.
INTRODUCTION
The Nigerian educational system is bedeviled with so many banes
that have been summed up by both experts and novices in the
phrase "Fallen standard in education." This so-called fallen
standard (which seems to be continuous) is identified in the
performance of graduates at various levels of the system. We
make bold to say that the genesis of the travails of the Nigeria
educational system resides in the haphazard language policy in
education. This assertion may sound too brazen and ill-considered
to a cursory observer who sees no relationship between the
language of education and pupils' performance. Such observers
noted to be reminded of the importance of language not only for
communication but more importantly for concept formation.
However, the current chaos in the Nigeria's policy on language
education, and by extension the unnecessary confusion with
regard to language in education can be considered as the root of
her educational problems. We need to remember that testing for
quality or for deficiency can mainly be done through language.
The role of language in education is so important especially in
the tertiary system that the level of proficiency and
competence of the student determines his eventual output either
at school examinations or employment interviews and tests.
Even in vocational education, for skills to be adequately learnt,
language is the vehicle of instruction. Nonetheless, to borrow
the biblical expression "when the foundation is destroyed..." what
can the tertiary education system do?
Recent studies and observations have proved that the problem
of Language in Education is a serious one. For example, in a
literacy assessment study by Afolayan (cited in Oiatunji 2005), in
some tertiary institutions including Universities, school products
are found to be "educated illiterates" who can not communicate
fluently in English. The former governor of Ondo State of
Nigeria, Chief Adebayo Adefarati was reported to have described
school products* command of English (Language) as "porous"
and University students as unable to speak simple sentences in
English, Akintoye and Shofuyi (2005) (cited in Oiatunji (2005)
also found out in her study that about 76.7% of students in tertiary
institutions including universities, can not read competently and
coherently. It is pertinent to recount here our experience as an
examination invigilator. Often students ask teachers
(invigilators) to read well-written and legible, typewritten
questions to them in examinations! Here is a big proof of
incompetence in the reading skills. With regard to the writing skill,
Aboderin (1986), Olaofe (1983) and Oiatunji (2003) (all cited in
Oiatunji 2005) in their various surveys have found out that most
students in tertiary institutions are not capable of writing in good
English, !n Olatunji's survey (2005), 85% of these students
cannot write a coherent paragraph (sentence?) in English. As for
speaking, recent studies have found out that most students fall
very far below expectations in this very important skill. In fact
Olatunji's study (2005) found that 77% of them fall far below the
pass mark. But the question is how have students sunk to this
level of "illiteracy" in Nigeria?
NIGERIA'S LINGUISTIC MAP
The geographical expression called Nigeria is a multilingual
country that can be defined as another Babel with so many
languages. Up till now the debate on the number is yet to abate
as there are no official records. Researchers and policy-makers
have to depend on individuals and extra-territorial organizations'
research findings. Such findings include that of Grimes (1974)
(cited in Barr.gbose 1952} which identified 513 languages in
Nigeria, Subsequent ressaich reported by Bamgbose (1992) put
the number at about 400. UNESCO sources cObanya 2002) were
more definite and gave a number of 415 languages in Nigeria.
Obanya still quoting UNESCO sources, classifies thirty-six of
the languages as "community languages." In this category of
languages of wider communication are:
Abua, Anang, Angas, Beroun. Bura, Chamba-Daka, Duka, Ebira,
Edo, Efik, Ekpoye, Esan, Fulfude, Gwari, Hausa, Ibibio,
Idoma, Igala, Igede, Izon, Kalahari, Kamuzu, Kamwe, Kanuri,
Lela, Mlumuye, Nupe. Pidgin, Reshe, Tiv, Urhobo, Yerkhee,
Yoruba and Zarma.
It is interesting to note that Pidgin, which is fast becoming an
informal national vehicle for communication has been included
even as a community language.
There are other classifications of languages in the Nigerian
multilingual context. Apart from Obanya's, Bamgbose s ranking
the Nigerian languages, based on factors as number of speakers,
status in education, acquisition as a second language and availability
of written materials, identifies three major languages: Hausa,
Yoruba and Igbo.
Some others because of their role and the recognition given to
them by virtue of population are labeled as "main languages." These
are Edo, Kanuri, Tiv, Efik, Urhobo, Fulfude, Nupe, Igala and Izon.
All others are called "small group languages".
Some other linguists make their categorization in relation to
the role/use of language in education. For our purpose we
collapse
the
various
categorizations
into
Mother
tongue/Community/area language, Official language(s) and
Foreign languages.
NIGF-RIAN LANGUAGE POLICY IN EDUCATION
The Nigerian language policy in education is characterized by a
form of "babelism" in its formulation, and confusion in its
execution. The language curriculum is loaded even during basic
education such that the best of teachers would find it difficult to
implement. And since government policies are generally .paper
works, left for nobody in particular to implement or to ensure
implementation, every teacher is doing his/her best the way
he/she understands it. The current policy makes available at the
basic education level at least five languages: Mother tongue,
Official language (English) and another major Nigerian language
other than the Mother tongue and one of two foreign languages
(Arabic or French). To complicate matters, several private primary
schools take French in contravention of the policy that makes
French a Junior Secondary School subject. They also teach pupils
in English language at the stage when children are expected to be
taught in their mother tongue/Community Language. The
language of education is that approved for teaching in the school
system. The language policy prescribes that the first three years of
primary education be conducted in the child's mother tongue or
the community/area language. The official language, English is
to be taught at this level ss a subject. However, from the fourth
year of primary education, teaching is expected to be done in
English; i.e. the official language. From then the mother
tongue/area language is to be taught as a subject. The two
foreign languages are to be taught as subjects at the junior
secondary level of basic education.
Considering the role of language in education and in the
cognitive development of the child, it is important to note that the
language of instruction during basic education goes a long way in
helping to achieve the fundamental aims of education. Language
also has been described by Obanya(2002)as a
... major enculturation and communication skill and as a tool of discipline i.e. as a
key for the mastering of other curriculum domains (p. 166).
In view of the above, insufficient mastery of the language makes
the learner deficient ever in other subjects. And at a higher
level, this hinders him/her in the discipline of specialization
whether the vocational, technical, scientific or technological.
Language being a too! for reasoning, and logical presentation of
thought, it is a life-long skill or an essential element of it
(Obanya 2002: 173). It is therefore necessary to choose the right
language as a medium of instruction at the basic education level.
All insufficiencies and deficiencies at this level will affect the life
skills of the pupils. This we have shown sufficiently \vith the
studies and remarks cited earlier in this paper.
WHICH LANGUAGE FOR BASIC EDUCATION?
As noted earlier on, mother tongue is the prescribed language
of education during the first three years in the Nigerian school
system. Apart from the insufficiency of the number of years to
make any impact, many schools, especially private ones, break
this rule and start the child off with English, the official language.
As a matter of fact, private Nursery schools prefer to teach even
the infant in English. This is to worsen matters, against the
background of inadequate knowledge on the part of mostly halfbaked teachers, who rather than speak, murder the language. Hence
the child is taught to murder the language as his/her teacher. We
should not also forget that the mother tongue has been set aside
even before the child has become sufficiently proficient in it for
ideation (formation of ideas). He ends up not being able to
perform cognitive tasks either in mother tongue or in English and
before the child gets out of this shock, has curriculum loaded again
with other languages.
Obanya (2002) aptly captures what happens in these
classrooms where English prematurely becomes the medium of
instruction in what he calls "Language of telling," because the real
teaching is done in the mother tongue or the community
language. This may be one of the reasons why they cannot
reproduce the knowledge imparted later in the "'language of
telling"
Several reasons have been advanced to justify the adoption
of English as the language of basic education in Nigeria. An
important cause is the hang-over from colonial rule which makes
English the only "'vehicular" language and our national languages
"vernacular." Obanya (2002) observes and we quole:
The socio-lingiiislic realities are, however, different in that English is really a
restricted code in the Nigerian setting, even in school premises which arc
expected to operate in the official language (p,! 70)
It is then obvious that insisting on English as a language of
education at that ievel is self-deceit.
Another factor canvassed in favor of English is the absence of
orthography in several Nigerian languages, and where there is, a lack
of textbooks written in those languages. Furthermore, it is
believed that since English is a language of science and technology,
we should adopt it line, hook and sinker. Hence all of us should
become English from birth.
STUDIES ON MOTHER TONGUE IN EDUCATION
Overwhelming proofs abound through scientific research that
the mother tongue is the best medium for basic education. It has
been established that a pupil leams better through the language
he knows best and for most Nigerian children, it is the mother
tongue. The Ife experiment, in which Yoruba pupils are taught in
the mother tongue during the six years of primary education,
shows that the more a child is instructed in his mother tongue
the better he is able to acquire knowledge. (Obanya 2002).
In another experiment carried out in the Cameroon by
PROPELCA, children taught in the mother tongue lost nothing
in relation to the
control group were found to be better in reading and
comprehension (of the official language) and it performed
generally better than those taught in the official language
(Tadadjeu and Ngueffo 1992).
Research has also shown that the extent of the learners'
command of the mother tongue will affect his progress in a second
language (see D. Larson-Freeman et al. 1994.) Apart from the
mother tongue, a pupil's knowledge of other languages will have an
effect on his/Tier learning of a new language. Amuzu (2003), in his
research on role for the mother tongue in building competency
skills by learners of French conducted in Ghana, found out that the
knowledge of mother tongue would be tapped to help the
development of the second foreign language.
Many more research findings have shown that the child can
realize his full potentials only through the mother tongue
(Pomevor 2003). According to Thornton (1974: 39), cited in
(Pomevor 2003)
Unless the school tries to close the gap bv accepting the child for what he is and
for what he knows and h\ working him with an environment which w i l l enable
him to capitalize on the resources he brings with him into school then, as a pupil,
he start his school career at a disadvantage.
IMPLICATIONS FOR BASIC EDUCATION
It is obvious from the above that the appropriate language for
basic education is the mother tongue. It is the language through
which the objectives of education could be fully attained. It is also
capable of facilitating the learning of the official language as a
subject during education and later when it becomes the language
of education. What we mean to say is that the first nine years of
the child's education (i.e. Basic Education) should be in the mother
tongue. He can then transit to English in the tenth year (Senior
Secondary School Class 1). Going by our earlier submission and
with good handling, he would have developed sufficient skills
to build on in English. Also his maturation and a better capacity
for reasoning inculcated through the mother tongue, a language
he has been exposed to both at home and at school, would be an
asset to him during the transition.
The question may be put concerning non-indigenes in
metropolitan areas: can they be taught in the mother tongue? Since
they live in a community, they may be taught along side other
children in the community language. Research has shown that
such children pick up the local language within a few month of
arrival. Oyesakin (1999) discovered that non-Yoruba children in
Lagos public schools do well in lessons given them in Yoruba
language.
On the so-called lack of textbooks in the community
languages, it is certain that textbooks will be produced if there is
the need for it. The l i e project that used Yoruba as language of
instruction in the primary school was able !o design adequate
textbooks in the subjects and the pupils were even better when
they had to join their colleagues to be taught in English. As for
languages that have not been reduced to writing and those that
need to be standardized and modernized, policy makers would, on
accepting mother tongue as language of education uike
necessary steps. In addition, we suggest the establishment of a
National Language Research and Development Centre where
svstematic research would be carried out. State Governments
should stop paying lip-service to the devebpment of the culture of
their states and do something about the language which is the
expression of the culture they talk so much about.
The peddlers of the argument, that our languages cannot express
contemporary scientific and technological realities forget that a
language is dynamic and is capable of absorbing any new
development. English and French that Nigerians love more than
their own languages also evolve with happenings around them.
Nigerian languages cannot evolve if they are abandoned. They
would rather die. The evolution of a language is in its constant
use. 1 appreciate the role currently being played by the radio
stations in the South-West of Nigeria in their bid to domesticate
and translate new terms in science and technology. They could do
a lot better though with the assistance of experts in linguistics It is
important at this point that education policy makers, parents and
teachers appreciate the major role that the mother tongue can play
in education and in the learning of other languages, especially
English, which they want their children to learn so desperately.
Many parents, out of ignorance, would not as much as hear of
their children taking the Mother tongue as a subject, not to talk of it
as the language of instruction. Unfortunately, the policy-making
bodies in the country are manned by this kind of parents. This
attitude must change if the rot that has set into the educational
system is to be arrested. As shown above, the virtual illiteracy at all
levels of education is a fruit of this selective ignorance.
WHAT To Do
I. We recommend an overhaul of the educational system so
that instruction in the basic education segment (primaiy one to
junior secondary school certificate) would be in the mother
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
tongue and, in a situation where there are several languages,
the community language should be used:
Government should publicise widely and educate the people
on the new policy harping on the advantages of the use of
the mother tongue for teaching. The mass media,
especially the electronic, should be used. The public
should be made to know why the standard of education is
still falling;
Teachers at the basic education level should be given a
new orientation and trained in the use of mother tongue
for their teaching;
Teachers of English at the level should be specially trained to
equip them for teaching their pupils the official language.
They should learn to teach the basic skills of speaking,
reading and writing effectively. The orientation of those
specialist teachers of English should be to make their pupils
master the language as a tool for reasoning and
communication;
Translation of books in various subjects into the various
languages should be commissioned lo experts in the
languages. While authors of science, technology and social
sciences books should be encouraged to write in the
local languages. Glossary books and specialized dictionaries
should be encouraged in local languages.
The curriculum for English at the basic level should be
reviewed in a way to lay a solid foundation for the child.
All schools should be made to comply with this policy.
OTHER LANGUAGES
It is to be reiterated that teaching at this level in the mother tongue
does not imply an abandonment of English. This will be
foolhardy in view of its status as the official language and a
language of science and technology. What is being done is to
allow for a more effective learning of the language as a tool for
communication by experts trained both in the subject and the
method of teaching. At the beginning, the child is taught as a
total beginner using a play-way method, and intensively. By the
time he would be taught in that language, he/she would have
gathered sufficient knowledge through his/her mother tongue.
Concerning other languages introduced during basic
education, we agree with Obanya (2002) that the policy imposing
a second Nigerian language be looked into in view of the present
confusion and overload of curriculum. As for French,
subsequent governments have been paying lip-service to its
importance and the need to teach it in our schools. The former
Nigerian president, General Ibrahim Babangida at the
ECOWAS Summit in Abuja July 1987 mouthed the need for
bilingual education (English and French) in all ECOWAS
countries. But nothing happened to French in Nigerian
education after that statement (Ajiboye 2000).
Also General Sani Abacha another Nigerian president, in
1996 suddenly remembered how close his country is to the
Francophone world and declared French a second official
language (Ajiboye 1997). However, aside from a few motions
made then, not much has been done on the issue, either to make all
Nigerians bilingual or at least encourage more people to learn the
language.
In view of the importance of French as a language of science
and technology and as the official language of our neighbours,
we recommend the review of its curriculum, to make it accessible
to those who need it. Much as it is desirable for all Nigerians to be
able to speak French, our circumstances make it impossible. It
should therefore remain in the curriculum fcr pupils who are
interested. Nonetheless, because most people recognize the need
for French after school, extra-mural lessons in French can be
encouraged. We state with every sense of responsibility and
facing the stark reality of the Nigerian situation, that not every
Nigerian needs French. It must however be emphasised that most
professionals and researchers need it.
CONCLUSION
In this paper, we have attempted to highlight the problems
confronting the Nigerian educational system using some of the
various studies to buttress our point. It all points to an educational
system whose standard has fallen and is still falling. The fall has
been traced to the problem of language in education. The main
solution proposed after looking at the various language
classifications and studies in language of education is the
reversion to the use of mother tongue as the language of basic
education. The step will restore an adequate cognitive
development in the Nigerian child who would take advantage
of his new-found intellectual ability to approach English as a
second language.
Apart from the above fact, the use of mother tongue in
education is likely to facilitate national integration in our
multilingual society and the development of our local language.
We have shared our thoughts on the subject of language
in Nigerian Education to generate further discussions on this
vital issue. Our conclusions and the action or the usual inaction
of policy makers can make or mar the future of Nigerian
Education and in effect the development of the country.
If Nigeria must attain the status of a technological society,
the genius in her children must not be killed at the basic
education level
through an ill-advised and haphazardly implemented language
policy But to date, with the foregoing analysis, if there has been
any motion, then it is regressive.
REFERENCES
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reflections on the Nigerian evidence. Arts/inks, I, 13-20.
---- 2002. Coping with global integration: The place of communication. A
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Languages, Tai Solarin College of Education Ijebu-Ode.
Amuzu, D. S. Y. 2003. A role for the mother tongue in building competency
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Teaching and Learning of Languages in Contact in West Africa. Cape
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medium of instruction. In D. D. Kuupole (Ed.), An Insight into the
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BUKOYE AROWOLO
DEPARTEMENT OF FRENCH,
UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN, ILORIN,
E-MAIL :<BUKOYE AROWOLO107@YAHOO.COM>