ABSTRACT
The study assessed the extent of implementation of the language
provisions in the national policy on education in Lagos State. The study
adopted a descriptive survey
research design. Six research questions were developed to guide the study. The
population of the study covered all schools, educational bodies, language
teachers and students in Lagos State. A cluster random sampling method was used
in selecting 120 secondary school student respondents, 80 teacher’s respondents
for the study. Teachers questionnaire on awareness of language
provision in the national policy on education TQALPNPE, Student’s questionnaire
on awareness of language provision in the national policy on education SQALPNPE
and a self-constructed interview question for the respondents at the ministry
of education designed by the researcher was the major instruments used for data
collection. The result from the findings revealed that: All of the teacher
respondents know about the language policy in the National Policy on Education;
The language policy in the National Policy on Education is on the average
effective; The language policy is on the average being implemented in schools
in Lagos state; The monitoring bodies of the language policy is above average
effective in ensuring that the language policy is being implemented; Based on
the perception of the teachers, above 60% agree to the following; There should
be more training of language teachers on the implementation of the language
policy. Based on the suggested possible outcome of the challenges in implementing
the language policy in the National Policy on Education, the following were
strongly suggested (Teachers should be provided with adequate guidance on
implementing language provisions in our school, Regular trainings should be
organized for language teachers in schools, The monitoring team should ensure
that language teachers are trained and re-trained on a regular bases and new
employed language teachers taught the rudiments of the language policy, There
should be an introduction of the language policy in the university curriculum
for new language teachers); From the interviews conducted, it was noted that
the ministry is responsible for the implementation, particularly the department
of curriculum and evaluation studies and school is entitle to full inspection
once very ten years where the ministry comes to a particular school and spend
the whole week in inspecting the activities of the principals, teachers and the
students, the methods of teaching and every other activities that is of
importance to them.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents Pages
Title Page i
Certification ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgements iv
Table of Contents v
List of Tables vii
Abstract viii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to
the Study 1
1.2 Statement of
the Problem 8
1.4 Purpose of
the Study 9
1.5 Research
Questions 10
1.7 Significance
of the Study 10
1.8 Scope of the
Study 10
1.9 Operational
Definition of Terms 11
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.0 Introduction 11
2.1 Concept of Language 12
2.2 Importance of Language for Communication
14
2.3 The
National Policy on Education 20
2.4 The Language
Provision in the National Policy on Education 25
2.5 How Effective is the Language Provision 29
2.6 Teacher
Teachers’ Awareness of the Language 31
Provision in the National Policy on
Education
2.7 Students’ and the language of learning 34
2.8 The extent of implementation of the
language Provision 35
2.9 Summary of the review 39
CHAPTER
THREE: METHODOLOGY
3.0
Introduction 41
3.1 Research Design 41
3.4 Population of
Study 41
3.5 Sample and
Sampling Technique 42
3.5 Validity
of Research Instrument 42
3.6
Reliability of the Instrument 43
3.7 Reliability 43
3.8 Procedure
for Data Collection 43
3.9 Data Analysis
Procedure 44
CHAPTER
FOUR: DATA ANALYSIS
4.0 Introduction 45
4.1 Data Analysis 45
4.2 Summary of Findings 53
4.3 Interview
Responses 55
4.4 Discussion of Findings 58
CHAPTER FIVE:
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS.
5.0 Introduction 58
5.1 Summary of
the Study 58
5.3 Conclusion 60
5.4 Recommendations 60
5.6 Suggestions
for Further 61
References 62
Appendixes 64
LIST OF TABLES
Table 3.1: Showing the population of study 41
Table 3.2: Showing the sample population 42
Table 3.3: Showing the structure of the instruments 42
Table 3.4: Showing the sample population 43
Table 4.1: Descriptive Statistics of Respondents 45
Table 4.2: Percentage Distribution of Teacher’s
Respondents 47
on Their Awareness
Table 4.3: Distribution
of Teacher’s Respondents on Level 47
of
Effectiveness
Table 4.3b: Distribution of the Student on Level of 48
Effectiveness of the
Language Policy
Table 4.4: Distribution
of Teacher Respondents 49
on
the Extent of Implementation
Table 4.4b: Distribution of the Student’s Respondents 50
on the Extent of Implementation
Table 4.5: Distribution of Teacher Respondents on the 51
Level of Effectiveness of the
Monitoring Body in
Implementation of the Policy
Table 4.6:
Distribution of Teacher’s Respondents on Their 52
Perception and Attitude towards the
Language Policy
Table 4.7:
Distribution of Respondents on the Challenges 53
Associated with Implementation of the
Language Policy.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1
Background to the Study
A sound and qualitative education is the best gift any
nation can give to its citizens. It is the foundation on which all other
aspects of human existence stand. Education is the process by which the
customs, beliefs and tradition of a people are passed from one generation to
another. In order for education to take place, communication is required and
for communication to occur, it requires language. Language, according to the
Wikipedia, the free online encyclopaedia, is the human ability to acquire and use
complex systems of communication. It could be verbal, non-verbal and written.
The National Policy on Education is a document that guides the Nigerian
educational systems at all levels.
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the degree of the implementation
of the language provision in the National Policy on Education. To determine if
it’s being implemented at the various academic levels, and where it’s not being
implemented as a result of challenges, suggest ways these challenges can be
prevented or overcome.
There are
approximately 7000 languages in existence, Nigeria has two broad groups of
languages – indigenous and exogenous languages. Exogenous languages are those
that are foreign such as, English, French, Arabic, while the number of Nigerian
languages is put at about five hundred and twenty – one (521) (UNESCO, 2003).
This number includes 510 living languages, two languages without native
speakers and 9 extinct languages (Crozier & Blench, 1992; Ikegbunam, 2010).
Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba are considered the Nigeria’s major languages due to
their having speakers in excess of 18 million each, while the rest are referred
to as minority languages (GreenBerg, 1996). Among the exogenous languages –
English, French and Arabic – English is the official language. It has been in
Nigeria since 1842, that is, before the coming of the British missionaries to
Nigeria. According to Okudo (2013) in her article; National Policy on Education: Problems and Prospects for Teaching and
Learning of Igbo as a Second Language in Nigerian Secondary Schools, it
has been discovered that English has increasingly replaced Nigerian languages
and is widely used in business, academics, and everyday life activities
especially in the cities. English language also became institutionalized because
it is the language of Nigerian’s colonial masters and was imposed on the
people. This is really a serious challenge and the situation is making Nigerian
children to no longer be inheritors but survivors of social and cultural
heritage. This portends a cultural catastrophe for the country which demands
serious concern by all Nigerians (Ohiri – Aniche, 2000; Obe, 1980).
To
this end, the importance of language cannot be over emphasised as it is the
power source of human existence and interaction. Language has been widely
studied and interpreted as the most invaluable human endowment which is
indispensable in all spheres of life. Crystal cited in Amuseghan (2010)
pictured language as having, to some extent, “magical and mystical” and “unique
role in capturing the breath of human thought and endeavours”. (pg 55).
Language
occupies a prominent place in any nation. People in every society have a way of
interacting with one another via language. The Federal Government, in
recognition of the pivotal role of language, makes provisions for it in the
National Policy on Education (NPE). The NPE (FGN, 2004) reflects government’s
intention of using the Mother Tongue (MT) as a medium of instruction in the
early stage of a child’s school life, with transition to English as a medium of
instruction in the upper primary classes.
The
effectiveness of using the language a learner is comfortable with, a language
in which he can express his thought and translate his internal ideas into
articulate sentences has been established by many scholars such as Taiwo
(1976), Emenanjo (1996), Osborn (2007), Olanrewaju (1996), Oluwole (2008),
Obanya (1992) and Fafunwa (1989). Though some other scholars, according to
Kolawole & Dele (2002), consider the use of mother tongue or Nigerian languages
in modern education as one of the problems militating against qualitative
teaching and learning of the English language, Emenanjo (1996) noted that,
formal education in Nigerian languages, began way back in 1831. Yet up till
now; not much progress appears to have been made in education in Nigerian
languages, irrespective of the 1926 Education Edict of the colonial government,
and the many noble sentiments of indigenous federal and state governments and
valiant activities of the Linguistic Association of Nigeria.
Emenanjo
(1996) has correctly identified the barriers and challenges facing effective
use of West African languages in general and Nigerian languages in particular.
Studies have established the effectiveness of teaching learners in their L1, notable
among such studies is the Ife Six Year Primary Project (SYPP), championed by
Fafunwa from 1970 - 1981 at the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo
University), Institute of Education. The main objective of the Ife Six-Year
Primary Project was to develop a coherent primary education that would use the
mother tongue as the medium of instruction. The project employed the Yoruba
language as the medium of instruction on the assumption that the child would
benefit cognitively, socially, culturally and linguistically through the use of
his/her mother tongue as the language of instruction throughout primary school.
The gap between the home and the school would also be bridged. English was
taught as a second language using specially trained teachers throughout the six
years. The project was continually evaluated with a view to determining its
effectiveness.
Five major
subject areas were chosen for instructional purposes. These were: social and
cultural studies; science, including health and sanitation; mathematics; Yoruba
language and literature; and English as a second language. The design of the
experiment provided for regular intake of Primary I classes each year from 1970
to 1975. For the purposes of the study, control groups and experimental groups
were established. The experimental group was taught all subjects in Yoruba
except English. English was taught from the first year to the sixth as a second
language. In the control classes, Yoruba was used as a medium of instruction
for the first three years and English for the last three years, when Yoruba was
taught as a subject. All the test materials in Yoruba, English, social and
cultural studies, mathematics and science were written and printed by the
project team over a period of five years. A total of 183 textbooks were
produced covering teachers’ books, pupils’ books and work books in Yoruba and
English, including several supplementary readers both in Yoruba and English.
At the end
of their Primary VI year, the children in the experimental classes were subjected
to the same external examinations taken by all Primary VI children in the
state. It was found that the children in the experimental classes performed
significantly better than those in the control groups in all school subjects,
including English. The Ife Six-Year Primary Project revealed conclusively that
a child learned best in his or her mother tongue. Also, the National Policy on Education (2004)
Section 3 (xx) states ‘Government will
see to it that the medium of instruction in the primary school is initially the
mother tongue (MT) of the immediate community and at a later stage, English’
The policy further states ‘In addition to appreciating the importance of
language in educational process, and as a means of preserving peoples’ culture,
the government considers it in the best interest of national unity that each
child should be encouraged to learn one of the three major languages other than
his mother tongue (MT).’
Emenanjo
(1996) states; ‘The training of the mind in the understanding of the world
around is best done and realised in the languages in which the students are
most familiar.’ Naturally, the language that a learner is most familiar with
can be any of the following: the learner’s mother tongue (MT), first language
(L1) or language of the immediate community (LIC) and so; it is important to
make use of the same as language of instruction in modern education. Although
the national policy on education favours the development and use of the mother
tongue in education but in implementation, very little may have been done or
achieved in this regard. There are a lot of challenges facing the adoption and
complete use of Nigerian languages in modern education and it is the quest of
this paper to identify the various challenges and as well proffer solutions to
these problems.
Oluwole
(2008) while lending his voice to the potency of indigenous languages as a
medium of instruction in modern education opined that, it is generally
acceptable that in teaching and learning processes, the mother tongue of the
child is of utmost importance. For one thing, it categorises a large part of
the child’s environment, that is, it has names of all the objects, actions,
ideas, attributes and so on that are so important to him as well as to the
society. A child’s mother tongue, an indigenous language or a Nigerian language
is the most appropriate vehicle to convey the theme, concepts and subject
matter of what is to be learnt to the Nigerian child. Olanrewaju (1996)
questioned the type of language that will be used to teach such heterogeneous
group and concluded that it definitely has to be in the mother tongue or
language of the immediate environment which is common to the young and the old.
The first
challenge faced by anyone that attempts to use a Nigerian language in modern
education is the stark realisation that most of the indigenous languages in
Nigeria are not fully developed. Taiwo (1976) quoted in Oladotun’s (2014) paper
on “The Use of Nigerian Languages in Formal Education: Challenges and
Solutions” asserts that Kiswahili never improved until it was adopted as a
lingua franca and the language of schools in Tanzanian 1967. This confirms that
the indigenous languages in Nigeria need to be trusted and assigned more
defined roles in the different sectors of the country. He further states that
the mother tongue has very little incentive for development and use in
education especially in most African countries where English (or other foreign
languages) is used as the lingua franca and the medium of instruction in
schools. However, the development and unrestricted use of a child’s home
language or mother tongue in education will promote universal basic education
and equal access to education across Nigeria and the African continent.
The
National Policy on Education (2004) recommends that the Nigerian primary school
child should be well grounded in his or her mother tongue apart from learning
English and/or any other language as the L2 or L3. Taiwo (1975), in a paper
titled ‘The importance of language learning on the overall development of
the child in primary school: solutions to the Nigerian problem’, submitted
to the National Language Centre states that, for education to be meaningful, the child should be taught in his
mother tongue which he can both read and write. The use of mother tongue in
education is a practical issue and students that are familiar with an
indigenous language have to struggle with the understanding of the foreign language
which is being used as the language of instruction as well as the complexities
of the concept that is being learnt. Oladotun (2014) while quoting Taiwo (1976)
opined that, there is no favourable means of rapport between the teacher and a
child on his first day at school than a common language, which is the child’s
mother tongue. As the child progresses in his adventure of schooling, the
mother tongue is a reassuring means of acquiring concepts and building them
into ideas and skills. If Nigeria as a nation is serious in her quest to raise
a generation of citizens that are academically sound, then we must revert to
using the Nigerian languages as a medium of instruction in our schools.
According
to Amuseghan (2010), language is a very important instrument of communication
and sustenance of social, cultural, political, economic, educational,
industrial and technological development in any society or nation, especially
in a multilingual nation. The undisputable fact that language has long effect
implications for national unity, cultural identity and development makes
governments to endeavour to plan and manage resources within their territory.
The need to ensure unity, cultural identity
and development in a nation (especially the multi-lingual nations) led to the
formulation of policies by governments which included provisions that will
guide the development of a language curriculum, the qualification of language
teachers and the methodology of teaching. Nigeria is a multi-lingual nation.
The government knowing the importance of language in the interaction of members
of the society, made provision for language in the National Policy of Education
(NPE). This is also to prevent language extinction and expose students to
indigenous languages and not English only.
The
language provision in the National Policy on Education (2004 revised edition),
reflects government’s intention of using the mother tongue (MT) as a medium of
instruction in the early stage of a child’s school life, with transition to
English as a medium of instruction in the upper primary classes.
The
following language provisions are made in the Policy:
·
The
medium of instruction in the primary school shall be the language of the
environment for the first three years. During this period, English shall be
taught as a subject.
·
From
the fourth year, English shall progressively be used as a medium of instruction
and the language of immediate environment will be taught as a subject.
·
In
junior secondary schools, English language, French, the language of the
environment and one major Nigerian language other than the language of the
environment will be taught as core subject while Arabic will be taught as an
elective.
·
In
senior secondary schools, English language and a major Nigerian language will
be taught as core subjects while French, Arabic and any Nigerian language that
has orthography and literature will be taught as electives.
·
French,
the second official language will be compulsory in primary and junior secondary
schools, and elective in senior secondary schools.
1.2 Statement of Problem
Language is
a very important factor in human interaction; the unity and development of a
nation as well as the social, economic and cultural growth of the nation. The
National Policy on Education (2004) has made provision for language which is
meant to be implemented in every school and the implementation process is to be
supervised by the ministry of education in all levels of government. Despite
the fact that the policy made provision for language, it is worthy to note that
most schools, especially in the urban areas, may not be following the language
guideline as stated in the policy and the monitoring bodies may not be
enforcing the implementation of these provisions. There is also the possibility
of teachers not being aware of the language policy or its expectations, as a
result lack the appropriate mindset to proceed with the implementation process.
One major challenge that has affected the educational system in Nigeria is
unavailability of teaching resources; this can also be a challenge to the
effective implementation of the language policy.
The
language policy was proposed because the developers observed the struggles of
students who are familiar with their mother tongue or language of the
environment when introduced to learning concepts in a language that is alien to
them (English) in their early formative years. Presently, students’ performance
level has dropped drastically and no one knows if it is due to the difficulty
in understanding concepts taught or the medium/language of communicating the
concept.
This study
will attempt a survey of the level of implementation of the provision of
language in the National Policy on Education, in selected schools in Eti-Osa
Local Government and the Mainland Local Government Areas in Lagos State.
1.3 Purpose of Study
The main
purpose of this research is to explain the extent of implementation of the
language provision in the National Policy in Education in Lagos State. Other
specific purposes are as follows:
i.
To
ascertain teachers’ awareness of the language provision in the National Policy
on Education.
ii.
To
determine the effectiveness of the language provision in the National Policy on
Education.
iii.
To
ascertain the extent to which the language provision in the National Policy on
Education is being implemented.
iv.
To
assess the teachers’ perception and attitude towards the language policy.
v.
To
determine the challenges associated with the implementation of the provision.
1.4
Research Questions
The
following questions will guide this study:
1.
How
well do teachers know the language policy?
2.
How
effective/feasible is the language provision in the National Policy on
education?
3.
To
what extent is the policy being implemented in schools?
4.
How
effective is the monitoring body in ensuring the implementation of the policy?
5.
What
is the perception and attitude of teachers to the policy?
6.
What
are the challenges associated with implementing the policy?
1.5 Significance of the Study
This study
is going to be of significant to language teachers and students as well as
teachers of other subjects, as it will improve the teaching and learning
process. This is because the language provision is to ensure that students at
all times and levels of learning understand what is being taught without
misinterpretation. With the successful implementation of the language provision
in the various academic levels in the country, there will be effective
communication between teachers and students which will ultimately lead to an
effective flow of teaching and learning.
1.6 Scope and
delimitation of Study
This
research work will focus on the implementation of the language provision in
schools and the level of supervision carried out by the ministry of education.
It will
involve teachers and students in selected pre-primary, primary, and secondary
schools in Eti-Osa and Mainland areas as well as officials of the Ministry of
Education in Lagos State.
However, it
is believed that the data generated from this study will be sufficient enough
to make decision for the whole of Lagos State Education Policy practice.
1.7
Operational Definition of Terms
Survey: This means to look carefully and thoroughly at something, with the
intention of appraising it.
Implementation: This is the process of carrying out, executing or
practicing a plan, method or any design for doing something.
Language: This is the human use of spoken
words as a communication system.
Provision: This is an act of providing or making something
available for the actualization of a target.
National: These are the elements that make up the totality of a nation or people.
Policy: This is a program of action adopted by a person or group of person or
government.
Education: This is the act of impacting and acquiring knowledge
through teaching and learning.
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