scholarly journals Societal Perception of Repositioning Childhood Education Through Mother Tongue: Prospects and Challenges in Northwest Nigeria

Author(s):  
Sarkinfada Halima

This paper focuses on prospects and problems of the use of mother tongue as medium of instruction for the whole duration of primary education in the North Western States of Nigeria. The language of instruction is very crucial to education at every level because it serves as the key to learning.  Mother tongue serves as the first language of children. Low trend of enrolment in primary school has been attributed to the use of foreign language of instruction in schools which is contrary to the customs and traditions of the people in the North Western states of Nigeria. Pupils find it difficult to socialize with the English language and do not have a sense of belonging in school. The research intends to examine the prospects and problems of the use of mother tongue as a medium of instruction for pupils in North west Nigeria. The study adopted descriptive survey design. The instrument for this study was a self-develop questionnaire titled "Questionnaire on prospects and problems Mother tongue". The population of the study include stakeholders' in the society, which include parents, Guardians, and Teachers, involved in childhood education. A total of 907 participated in the study, 113 parents, 30 Guardian, and 764 Teachers,  Stratified sampling technique was used to select 3 States from 7 North-western states. Which include Katsina, Kebbi, and Sokoto states in North West Nigeria.. Ten (10) metropolitan primary schools were selected from the 3 states using simple random sampling technique. Since there no significant difference between the views of parents, teachers and other stakeholders on the prospects of the use of mother tongue as a medium of instruction for pupils in North West Nigeria. It is therefore recommended that  since the prospects of Mother tongue ate inevitable and its challenges are inherent. Teachers, parents and all stakeholders should be more proactive in discharging their professional functions  in  teaching of Mother Tongue and the English language currently during lessons.

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Johnkenedy A. Ozoemena ◽  
Festus U. Ngwoke ◽  
Basil O. Nwokolo

This paper investigates the prospects in the use of mother tongue as a medium of instruction in Nigeria’s primary level of education. With the multilingual nature of Nigeria, many scholars have continued to clamour for the use of indigenous languages as a medium of instruction in Nigeria’s primary schools. This paper also seeks to justify the reasons why mother tongue education may not be feasible in the nearest future especially with the numerous roles that the English language plays in Nigeria, and the myriads of difficulties which constitute stumbling blocks to its realization. In doing this, two research questions were generated, and data collected from 150 primary school teachers, from both private and public primary schools in Gwagwalada Area Council of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) through purposive sampling technique. The instrument for data collection is a well-structured questionnaire. The questionnaire is made up of two sections, sections A and B. Section A sought for demographic data of respondents, while section B sought for information on the factors militating against mother tongue as a medium of instruction in primary schools in Nigeria. The data collected were analyzed using Crombatch Alpha, mean and standard deviation. The result of the analysis revealed that the multilingual nature of Nigeria, and lack of names of instructional materials and science equipment in the indigenous languages are impediments to the use of mother tongue as a medium of instruction in Nigerian primary level of education.


2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 271
Author(s):  
Soo Ying How ◽  
Ain Nadzimah Abdullah ◽  
Swee Heng Chan

Multilingualism is embedded in the Malaysian Education Blueprint (2015-2025) as a stated goal towards nation building. The education system provides opportunity to learn Malay which is the national language, the mother tongue (Mandarin or Tamil) and the English language as part of formal schooling. In fact, Malaysian primary schools are classified into two major divisions. Students can opt to study in national schools in which the medium of instruction is Malay with the provision for the learning of English and a mother tongue. The other option allows students to enrol in national-type schools of which the medium of instruction is either Mandarin or Tamil, with English and Malay taught as academic subjects. At secondary level, the medium of instruction in national schools is Malay and students are provided the opportunity to learn their mother tongue and English. Other than in school, other social milieus also allow the use and practice of these languages. Given this linguistic environment, there exists a myriad of language experiences within and outside formal learning which together would influence the totality of language vitality. This paper investigates language vitality featured in this multilingual environment. It focuses on the vitality of the English language among students that appears to co-exist with the learning and use of other languages as they progress through the primary and secondary levels. The vitality is measured by the following indicators: language preference, choice, dominance, use, attitude and motivation and proficiency which were used to develop a questionnaire to obtain data on strength evaluation of these languages. The methodology encompasses random and convenient sampling to obtain representative responses from students with different levels of education and language experiences. The study reveals relative vitalities of languages used and highlights values attached to languages at different points of language exposure that coincide with chronological age.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (7) ◽  
pp. 133-138
Author(s):  
Edward Owusu ◽  
Charles Senior Afram

Bialystok (2015) argues that the bilingual’s cognitive benefit is related to the continuous supervision and the need for conflict resolution that happens when dual languages are co-activated. One framework that clearly projects the experience of the bilingual, in terms of swapping languages is the bilingual’s language modes (BLMs) by Grosjean (2001). In this review paper, we have highlighted the policy of medium of instruction for teaching English in primary schools in Ghana. Again, we have briefly described the tenants of the BLMs, and demonstrated how these modes can be applied on the Ghanaian bilingual primary schools. On the basis of the BLMs, we argue that the most suitable medium of instruction for teaching and learning of English as a second language at the primary level (primary 1 - 6) of a diverse Ghanaian multilingual society should be English language, and the mother tongue of the community within which the school is situated. This argument is in conformism with Anyidoho (2009), and Owusu et al. (2015). Consequently, this paper would enable the key stakeholders of Ghanaian primary schools, to reexamine the policy of instruction for teaching English in Ghanaian primary schools, by placing prominence on the first language of the various speech communities in Ghana. 


2020 ◽  
pp. 250-266
Author(s):  
Jonathan Scott

This chapter studies cultural invention in light of the North-Western European cultural movement called Enlightenment. Enlightenment refers, in the first place, to a description by European intellectuals of what they took to be an advanced present state of moral and natural knowledge by comparison to that of the ancients. With related self-confidence, in the heyday of their empires, some described their culture as possessed of a dynamic modernity to be distinguished from the ‘oriental' lethargy and backwardness existing elsewhere. Yet Enlightenment also originated as European self-criticism. One context for that was the comparative perspective acquired by discovery of non-European cultures. In this and in other ways the origin of Enlightenment, including its ‘conviction that progress had become unstoppable', lies in the period when Renaissance and Reformation combined with printing and natural philosophy to establish the culture of the European North-West.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 362-371
Author(s):  
Abul Ala Mukhtar ◽  
Zafarullah Sahito ◽  
Abida Siddiqui

This case study inquires the perceptions and experiences of teachers about the English as a medium of instructions at government higher secondary schools of Warah city of Sindh, Pakistan. It witnesses that a large chunk of the population is diversified to use their provincial or regional languages as destined by socio-political heritage. Because English was remained a paramount part of educational context in Pakistan during British rule. In Sindh, students learn English from their teachers at their schools, who by no means really acquire the required proficiency in the English language. The research design undertaken was qualitative in nature and revolved around the semi structured interviews. English as a medium of instruction has a daunting and remarkable role to set to be set up across the globe. The mother tongue has the supreme role to play in the organized system of social institutions, which has massive resources of linguistics pouring down to the common people in the forms of superb streams of dialects with definite code of syntax, semantics and pragmatism. The extra reading materials with the support of technology, the English lessons can play a pivotal role to give internalization and adaptation of English language as a medium of instruction.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 76
Author(s):  
Shahinaz Abdullah Bukhari

The present study explored the challenges encountered through the transition from using the mother tongue as a medium of instruction at schools to using English as a medium of instruction at universities. Two focus groups were conducted with Saudi undergraduates and faculty members from different Saudi universities. The focus groups investigated how participants perceive this experience, what difficulties they face and how they cope. Participants expressed their preference for using English as a medium of instruction in higher education to maximise students’ future and international opportunities. Participant students reported difficulties in lecture comprehension, taking notes while listening and classroom communication. Participant content lecturers reported difficulties related to students’ reluctance to speak in English, lack of English terminology and insufficient lecture comprehension. Some suggestions that have been offered to overcome these challenges include the following: designing adequate trainings for content lecturers on teaching their content in English; using Arabic-English bilingualism as medium of instruction; giving emphasis to academic literacy and communication skills over the use of standard English models and enhancing the collaborative work between English language teaching practitioners and content lecturers.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (12) ◽  
pp. 149-154
Author(s):  
Obateru, Oluwatoyin Tolu

This article highlights how English language teachers professional development and training programmes fosters teachers’ professional competences in the teaching of the subject. English Language is vital in developing communication and social skills in learners as it does empower learners to compete favorably with their peers around the world. The ex-post factor approach of the survey design was adopted in the study. A random sampling technique was used to select twenty primary schools in Oyo state, Nigeria, with 168 English teachers who were currently undergoing the SUBEB/UBEC teacher professional development programme (2018). Two instruments: Teacher Teaching Competence Scale (TTCS) with Cronbach’s Alpha reliability coefficient of 0.68 and the Teachers Checklist Observation Scale (TCOS) with Scott Pi reliability coefficient of 0.71 were used for data collection. The data collection lasted for a period of fourteen weeks. Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics and correlation at 0.05 level of significance. Results revealed that teacher’ attendance and exposure to a professional development and training programme; does enhance their professional teaching competences. It is therefore expedient that stakeholders in the education sector; especially governmental agencies, sponsor and encourage practicing primary teachers in attending and participating in professional development programmes; incentives should also be given to these teachers. This will go a long way at ensuring that these teachers look forward to attending such programmes at any time in the future


Author(s):  
A.Yu. Ozerov ◽  
◽  
O.A. Girina, ◽  
D.V. Melnikov, ◽  
I.A. Nuzhdaev ◽  
...  

February 18, 2021, a flank eruption started on the north-western slope of the Klyuchevskoy Volcano (Kamchatka, Russia). Cinder cone was formed at the altitude of 2 850 m above sea level, from which a lava flow was spreading north-west. Having moved 1.2 km downslope, the lava flow entered the Ehrmann Glacier, which resulted in the formation of huge mud-stone flows. The latter made their way further north-east along the Kruten’kaya River bed and reached the length of about 30 km. The eruption brought onto the surface high-aluminous basaltic andesites typical of the Klyuchevskoy Volcano. By March 21, the flank eruption ended. It has been named after G.S. Gorshkov, associate member of USSR Academy of Science, famous Russian volcanologist.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-72
Author(s):  
Boris I. Chibisov

Introduction. History of the North-West area of Novgorod land at the end of the XV century attracted the attention of researchers mainly in the socio-economic aspect. This is due to the fact that Novgorod scribal books are dated by the end of the XV century. From the standpoint of socio-economic history their value is not in doubt, but from an ethno-historical point their onomastic content is underestimated. Materials and methods. The main source of research was the scribe book of the Vodskaya Pyatina 1499/1500. The descriptive method of research is to identify and record the Baltic-Finnish oikonyms (names of rural settlements) and anthroponyms mentioned in the scribe books. Baltic-Finnish anthroponyms are identified on the basis of an analysis of formal indicators of borrowing the anthroponyms. Results and Discussion. There are several areas where the Baltic-Finnish oikonymy and anthroponymy were concentrated, namely Korboselsky graveyard in the northern Prinevye, Lopsky and Terebuzhsky graveyards in the southern Ladoga, as well as Dudorovsky and Izhora graveyards south of the Neva. Archaeological sources record a significant presence of the Izhora antiquities. The presence of Karelians is noted in the northern Prievye and southern Ladoga. Slavic onomastic materials are recorded throughout Orekhovsky and Ladoga counties, but to mostly in the cities of Oreshka, Ladoga and their nearest areas. Conclusion. By the end of the XV century the north-western graveyards of Novgorod land were inhabited by representatives of various ethnic groups: Slavs, Vodians, Izhora and Karelians, as evidenced by the data of anthroponyms and toponyms of the scribe’s books and confirmed by archaeological sources.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Nipher Olieba ◽  
Ronald Kikechi

<p>The language policy in Rwanda states that English is the medium of Instruction (MOI) to be used in the Education system following the 2008 Language shift. However, this change in the MOI brought about extreme challenges to both Rwandan teachers and learners. Moreover, the extensive day to day usage of Kinyarwanda, the local dialect, has greatly inhibited the use of English. This has adversely obstructed the use of the English language as a MOI and the curriculum implementation for over 20 years hence adversely affecting the teaching and learning process. The proficiency of the teachers who are meant to teach in the MOI is quite questionable; many realize the need to learn English while teaching or risk unemployment. As such, this study purposed to examine the teacher competency and teaching styles in use of English as a MOI in facilitating  curriculum implementation in rural primary schools in Rwanda. Guided by the inter language theory and the Discrepancy theory, the study applied a descriptive survey research design. With a target population of 3,269, the study entailed a sample of 1470 randomly selected learners from Primary 4 to Primary 6, teachers and head teachers from 21 schools. The study used questionnaires, interviews, and observation to collect primary data. The study found that the teachers’ competency in using English language as MOI had significant influence on curriculum implementation in rural primary schools in Muhanga district and in the entire republic of Rwanda. The teaching styles factors positively and significantly influence the use of MOI in curriculum implementation when other factors are held constant.</p><p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0807/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>


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