The views of Nigerian teachers in public and private primary schools on the teaching of early literacy in English

Abstract

Drawing on the bilingual policies and biliteracy programmes of African nations, this paper discusses the context of literacy education in Nigeria and examines Nigerian early literacy teachers’ attitudes to teaching literacy and literacy teaching practices as informed by the National Policy on Education, Primary English Language Curriculum and the teaching–learning milieu. The paper also reports the findings of a survey in which respondents to a questionnaire expressed their views and understanding of the primary English curriculum and their own relations and experiences with it, as well as their own competencies and self‐concept as literacy teachers. Results indicated the need to train Nigerian teachers to adopt a much wider perspective in literacy, which recognises the opportunities for developing the interrelated strands of literacy. Governments should also consider practising teachers’ professional identities and growth in decision‐making and curriculum development. This will enhance their understanding of ideologies in policy and practice.

An assessment of the reading motivation skills of Nigerian primary school teachers: Implications for language and science education

“…The basis for the difference is their types of ownership. Privately owned schools, according to Okebukola (2012), are those schools that are run and financed by individuals. They are completely autonomous and responsible for the day-to-day running of the schools' affairs, such as recruiting and laying off of staff, planning of the school's timetable, promotion of staff and studies, planning and conducting of examinations and admission of students.…”

“…Thus, misgivings about students' level of proficiency in a medium of education other than their mother tongue have been internationally acknowledged (Mesthrie 2009). As noted by Okebukola (2012), this problem is carried over and persists even in higher education. Consequently, higher institutions across…”

“…Whether this decline in positive attitude towards reading found amongst African primary school children is caused by the lack of school time available to explore reading pleasure (Bruzo & Flint 2007), lack of development of indigenous languages (Rugemalira 2007), poor knowledge of English from home (Okebukola 2012) or the effect of socio-economic status or incompetence of teachers (Onakaogu 2001) is worthy of consideration by educators. What can be said with certainty is that a multifarious layer of issues impinges on students' reading achievement and attitudes to reading in the middle and later years of primary school.…”

Mother tongue as default language of instruction in lower primary science classes: Tension between policy prescription and practice in Nigeria

“…Education seen in its broad sense as process of cultural transmission, utilizes the vehicle or medium of language for transmission of culture. Language, a system of signs for encoding and decoding information (Fitch, 2010), is the key to communication in the classroom (Okebukola, 2012; Tomasello, 2008). While an in‐depth review of the extensive literature on the sociological, epistemological, and philosophical underpinnings of language in education is beyond the scope of this paper, it is apt to highlight a few of the arguments in this literature.…”

“…It is the third most ethnically and linguistically diverse country in the world, after New Guinea and Indonesia. Different scholars put the number of indigenous languages in Nigeria at between 250 and 521 (see Bamgbose, 2005; Obanya, 1999a; Okebukola, 2012). Most government documents put the number at about 450 (Federal Ministry of Education, 2010).…”