Language pattern of Yoruba-English teenage school-going bilinguals in southwest Nigeria: Impact on the English language and suggestions for language planning

Abstract

As in many parts of the world, bilingualism is a common speech phenonmenon in Southwest Nigeria as many who have had exposure to western education are exposed to both Yoruba and English at about the same time and in the same environment. While Yoruba is the Mother Tongue, the English language is both the nations official as well as the second language and, by extention, the language common to many in this part of the countrys geopolitical zone. As the official language of education, the English language now faces serious challenges as it competes, in so many domains, with Yoruba, the language of the immediate environment, thus impinging negatively on the effectiveness of the use of the English language. The study is both a survey and descriptive using a simple questionnaire for the survey. The findings show a shift from the indigenous language to English,but the preference for English does not translate to mastery of the language. Results from public examinations indicate that the contact between the two languages affects the effective use of the English, which is the nations official language in schools. The study recommends, for the purpose of language planning, a tripartite lingustic model, with multilingualism at the base, for cultural matters, interpersonal communication in local trade and phatic communion; regional/geopolitical zone bilingualism in the middle of the pyramid, with the whole model peaking and coalescing at national monolingualism in a pyramidal form, with English retaining its prsent position at the peak of the pyramid.

Teachers‟ Experiences with Yoruba-English Bilinguals: Implications for Learning Yoruba and English in Public Primary School Classroom in Ekiti State, Nigeria

“…Nevertheless, Yoruba is still predominantly spoken in the homes of most of the pupils involved in this study, because their parents are semi-literates and illiterates who also have preference for English. Owolabi (2014) notes that even though the majority of such children are exposed to English in a way, they are not that proficient in it; neither are they proficient in their mother tongue. The fact remains that the shift from mother tongue to English has negatively affected the mastery of both the mother tongue and the English language.…”

Language of instruction in schools in low‐ and middle‐income countries: A systematic review

“…Beyond the cognitive underpinnings of biliteracy acquisition, past research identified certain aspects of the home environment as significant predictors of literacy and biliteracy acquisition. According to the Home Literacy Environment (HLE) model, informal language, and literacy practices at home (i.e., those not directly related to engaging with print at home) are predictive of concept of print and emergent literacy skills; whereas formal language and literacy practices at home, (i.e., those that are explicitly meant to teach children language and literacy skills) are predictive of early decoding development (Sénéchal & Le Fevre, 2002, 2014. Cross-country reviews also highlight that parental attitude toward reading, number of books at home (indirect HLE factors) and literacy-linked activities at home (direct HLE factors) have a significant impact on reading outcomes (Park, 2008).…”