GSE 111 – GENERAL ENGLISH 1

The Role of English Language in Nigeria

The status accorded a language and the functions which the language performs are closely
related. English plays a tremendous role in the Nigerian educational system right from the
elementary school level. Language status determines language functions just as language
functions also determine language status. In fact, we can regard the relationship between
language status and language functions as “egg and chicken relationship”.

Nigeria is a linguistically pluralistic entity. The actual number of the indigenous languages is not
yet known, but the languages (numbers) have usually been put between two hundred and four
hundred in relation, perhaps, to the ethnolinguistic groups in the country. Adegbija (1986:6), for
example, notes the existence of over four hundred ethnolinguistic groups in Nigeria. Some of
these languages still exist in the spoken form only. Out of these languages, Hausa, Igbo and
Yoruba are politically recognized as major. None of these major languages cuts well across
regional boundaries. In addition to the numerous indigenous languages are English, Arabic,
Pidgin etc. Although Nigeria is notionally multilingual, in practical terms, the country can be
said to be bilingual.

In Nigeria, English is a second language – it is learned and used extensively in addition to the
mother tongues. If placed in a diglossic relationship with the indigenous languages, English
stands as the “High” (H) language, while the indigenous languages have “Low” (L) status. This
picture is as a result of the functions which the language performs in the country. For example,

 It is the language of government and administration;

 The language of commerce and industry;
 The language of intra-national and international communications;
 The language of education, right from the upper primary school.
 Above all, English is the language of national integration.

1
As the language of administration, government affairs at the three levels of government: local,
state and federal are essentially conducted in English. Official records and publications are also
in the language. In fact, to play any meaningful role at any level of government in Nigeria, one
should be able to speak English.

The role of English in commerce and industry in Nigeria cannot be over-emphasized. The
language promotes trade activities across the regional boundaries, without it, inter-regional
business transactions will be difficult. In addition, the language facilitates international trade and
commercial activities.

English plays a prominent role in the Nigerian educational system. As stipulated in the National
Policy on Education (1981), the language is the medium of instruction right from the upper
primary school. Even in private nursery and primary schools, there is the practice of “straight for
English”. Therefore, in order to derive maximum benefits from the Nigerian educational system,
it is mandatory for one to be able to speak English. Failure in English almost amounts to failure
in education – many tertiary institutions in the country make a credit pass in English a
prerequisite for admission.

Perhaps, the most important function of English in Nigeria is that of national integration: it has
no ethnic bias and it is a binding force among the different ethnic groups in the country. Like the
national anthem and the national flag, the English language in Nigeria is a symbol of national
unity – it integrates the different tribal groups that constitute Nigeria. Although there is a
persistent clamour for the adoption of a true national language, the position of English will
remain certain for a long time in Nigeria because of the country’s linguistic pluralism. Although
the use of a common language is not a necessary and sufficient guarantee for unity, the English
language in Nigeria is certainly a unifying factor.

1.a Problems Facing Learners of English in Nigeria.

Since the Nigerian learner of English is already a linguistic adult by the time he learns English,
unlike the native speaker who acquires the language as a child. A linguistic adult already will
have learnt one language, which is his mother tongue, before learning English. Since he already
has this language to cater for his immediate needs, he does not feel the urgency to learn English
as does the EMT child acquiring it. Equally, the Nigerian learner of English learns it as a second

2
language. He therefore naturally transfers some features from his mother tongue to the second
language; such features may hinder or facilitate his learning of the language. The following
factors either aid/facilitate the learning of the English language for an ESL or impede it.

1. The Linguistic Data

Before the learner can learn English adequately, there has to be availability of raw
linguistic data. In an EMT environment, there is abundant data in natural and artificial
setting all surrounding the child, at home, at school, at play, everywhere. The ESL learner
is exposed to limited data in his own environment. Much of the data he is exposed to
cannot be described as raw but artificial, occurring mainly at school and on mass media
programme. Consequently, the learners end up learning and using bookish and stilted
English.

2. The Agents of Exposure

Agents of exposure serve as the source of the linguistic data discussed above. These
agents include parents, friends, teachers, books, the mass media, etc. In an EMT situation,
all these agents are abundantly present, whereas not all are in abundance in an ESL
situation. Agents associated with formal education, i.e., the teachers and textbooks,
provide the main source of data supply and these are complemented by the mass media.
One problem that may occur here is whether the teacher should be a native speaker or
Nigerian near-native speaker. While the former is almost an ideal, the later is equally
rare, especially in rural areas. Also, what method should the teacher adopt, direct
method or translation method? While there may be enough equipment to support the
former method, the latter method is fraught with the problems of cultural difference and
message preservation.

3. Maturation

It takes a long time and learning experience for a learner to mature in a language. The
maturation process takes place when a child understands and concretizes what he
senses or thinks and can express this in a language. Although maturation is a
psychological process in child development, the acquisition and use of language(s) are

3
always part and parcel of this process. In child psychology, the age of concretization of
objects for a normal child is between 7 and 11 years.

4. Language Development

The learner of English in Nigeria encounters some problems in terms of language

development. Apart from the fact that the agents of exposure are limited, even those
agents available as teachers and reinforcers may also have their own weaknesses in terms
of lack of competence, experience and dedication to duty. Language development can
also be affected by the learner’s predisposition and attitude towards learning. While there
may be derogatory comments from envious non-English speaking people to discourage
the learners, on the other hand, there may be pressure from the learner’s family on him to
achieve a high proficiency in the language for socio-economic reasons.

5. Time and Motivation

The EMT learner unconsciously begins to learn English from birth. He is exposed to the
language 24 hours in a day, when awake, in sleep, etc. Thus, by the time he is five years
old, one could wonder the amount of time he has spent acquiring English for a maximum
of about 6-8 hours a day, or even less, one can imagine how long it will take him to
achieve the competence of the 5 years old EMT child.

Similarly, it has been said that the motivation for learning language cannot be as strong as
that for learning a mother tongue. A child who learns English as a primary means of
communication has a greater motivation for learning than a child who learns it a
secondary means. Note, however, that ESL learners can be better motivated towards the
secondary language under favourable learning conditions and environment, e.g., with
well-qualified and experienced teachers, adequate and appropriate teaching aids and
equipment, books and media facilities.

6. Skills

A learner of English in Nigeria like an EMT speaker requires the four basic skills of
listening, speaking, reading and writing to function efficiently in the language. Since
reading and writing are the skills emphasized (in the teaching and examining) in the

4
country’s educational system, listening and speaking are thus poorly developed in the
learners. The inefficient manner in which the skills in the learner’s MT and English are
introduced simultaneously in the primary school does not give the learner room to
develop fully in some skills and actively transfer some abilities from these to others.

Problems Inherent in English Learning

When considering the problems of Nigerian learners of English, the issue of retroactive
interference of MT with SL is always quickly pointed out, at the various levels of language:
phonic, grammatical, lexical, semantic, and semiotic. While it is true that retroactive interference
constitutes a hinderance in the learning of English by a non-speaker, it should be noted, however,
that this is not the problem. There are some inherent features of English itself which create
problems for both non-native and native speakers alike, especially when the former
overgeneralise rules without being aware of exceptions. Some of these are recognized mainly at
the level of orthography, phonetics, morphology and syntax, and lexis. They include the
following:

a. Lack of correlation between phonetic and orthographic features

(i) /f/ - fight, enough, phatic, laugh
(ii) /g/ - get, ghost, rogue, rage
(iii) /t/ - tent, bottle, mantle
(iv) /u:/ - pursue, through, foot, route
(v) /i:/ - see, sea, quay, deceive, belief
(vi) /ei/ - bay, fail, late, grey
(vii) /ᴐ:/ - raw, more, court, cause, short
b. Lack of consistency in word formation rules
(i) ‘in-, im-, il-‘ means ‘not’ in informal, impossible, and illogical; but ‘in’ means
‘highly’ in inflammable.
(ii) ‘-less’ means ‘without’ in childless, useless, powerless, but not in priceless (very
costly)
(iii) One who writes; ‘writer’; one who reads, ‘reader’; one who acts, ‘actor’; one who
cooks, ‘cook’

5
c. Lack of consistency in syntactic rules
(i) Plurality : boys, men sheep ɸ, spelt, babies
(ii) Tense : walked, went, cut, ɸ, shook
(iii) Comparison : hotter, worse, (not *badder) and more effective
(iv) Stative/dynamic (verb of perception)

I am seeing him

I am looking at him

NOTE: Stative verbs are verbs which refer to the state of affairs rather than an action or event.
They are not usually used in the progressive aspect. Instances of these verbs are: understand,
know, hear, think, have, love, see, like, belong, etc.

(d) multiplicity of meaning in polysemous items – bank, well, mouth, air, key, etc

Meaning and Scope of Communication

Communication is a human activity – it is the foundation of interaction among human beings.

Communication has to do with meanings, with understandings, with feelings, with desires, with
needs and with ideas. Communication has been defined by many scholars in so many ways. The
following are some of these definitions:

Communication is any means by which a thought is transferred from one person to another. R.
Chappell & W.L. Reed, (1984)

Communication is not just the giving of information. It is the giving of understandable

information and receiving and understanding the message. Communication is the transferring of
a message to another party so that it can be understood and acted upon. E.C. Eyre (1983)

6
Whatever the definition, it should be noted that:

 Communication is a process of sending and receiving information

 Communication is the exchange of meaningful symbols
 Communication requires a medium
 Communication is transactional

From the foregoing, a working definition of communication could be:

“The process of transmitting, receiving and acting upon messages/information, thoughts, ideas,
attitudes and feelings through mutually agreed, understandable or determined codes or symbols.

Elements of Communication

The basic elements of communication process include communicator, communicate, message,

channel and feedback.

 Communicator is the sender, speaker, issuer or writer, who intends to express or send out
a message.
 Communicatee is the receiver of the message for whom the communication is meant. The
communicatee receives the information, order or message.
 Message, which is known as the subject matter of this process, i.e, the content of the
letter, speech, order, information, idea, or suggestion.
 Communication channel or the media through which the sender passes the information
and understanding to the receiver. It acts as a connection between the communicator and
the communicatee, i.e, the levels of communication or relationships that exist between
different individuals or departments of an organization.
 Feedback, which is essential to make communication, a successful one. It is the effect,
reply or reaction of the information transmitted to the communicate.

Firstly, the communicator develops an exact idea about concepts, beliefs or data that he wants to
convey. Then he translates the idea into words, symbols or some other form of message which he
expects the receiver to understand. The communicator picks out an appropriate medium for
transmitting the message. The message is then received by the communicatee. The
communicatee acts upon the message as he has understood it. Finally, the effectualness of

7
communication is assessed through response or feedback. If the communication brings in the
desired changes in the actions, it is said to be successful.

Introduction to Language Skills

Learning a language means developing four skills – Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing.
Husain (2015) defines language as a skill because it is not a content-based subject like
mathematics, geography, or history, etc., which aim is to impart information and fill the human
mind with knowledge. It is meant to help its users express their thoughts and feelings. Since
language is a skill, it naturally comes under psychomotor domain. A skill may be called the
ability to do something well. Swimming, playing, etc, are skills which people perform after
acquiring them. Knowing about these things is an intellectual exercise (cognition) and using or
doing them is a skill (action).

Classification of Language Skills

The four and fundamental skills, viz. LSRW (Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing) may be
further classified into two parts: productive skills (active skills) and receptive skills (passive
skills). Speaking and writing are called productive skills because while using these skills a
learner/user is not only active but also produces sounds in speaking and symbols (letters, etc) in
writing. On the other hand, listening and reading are considered receptive skills because here a
learner is generally passive and receives information either through listening or reading. The
following table gives a better idea of these skills.

Language Skills Oral Written

Receptive Listening Reading
Productive Speaking Writing

These four language skills may further be categorize into two other ways namely: proper skills,
including listening and writing skills and casual skills, including reading and writing skills
respectively.

Parts of Speech

8
We make our speech in words. The words are joined to make sentences. These words perform
different functions. The words are classified into parts of speech according to their function(s) in
a sentence. There are eight parts of speech.

 Nouns
 Verbs
 Adjectives
 Adverbs
 Pronouns
 Conjunctions
 Prepositions
 Interjections

All these parts of speech, when well understood, will help our mastery of English grammar.

THE NOUNS

Nouns are names of people, places, objects, abstract ideas, qualities and concepts. In short, nouns
are naming words.

Types of Nouns

 Common nouns
 Proper nouns
 Collective nouns
 Abstract nouns
 Concrete nouns
 Count nouns
 Non-count nouns

1. Common Nouns

These are names of objects, things etc. Examples of common nouns are tree, book, road,
pen, stone, dog, girl, sugar, plane, etc

9
I. The book has been returned to me.
II. The road leading to the Chief’s house is rough.
III. Some man wants to see you. (A man not known to the speaker)

Note: A singular common noun should always be written with an article or modifier before it as
in I, ii, and iii above.

2. Proper nouns

These are specific names of people, places, publications, days of the week, months of the
year, countries, continents, institutions of learning and so on. Such nouns are always
written initial capital letters. Examples are: Ibadan, Chukwuemeka, Arinlade, Taofeek,
Bimpe, Africa, Ghana, Tuesday, June, Europe, University of Lagos, Osuntokun Avenue,
River Niger, Obafemi Awolowo Library, The Guardian, River Niger, Mt. Kilimanjaro,
Macbeth, God, Bible, Quran, Olubadan of Ibadan, The Emir of Ilorin, Cathedral of St.
James and so on.

i. The girl attends St. Louis Secondary School in Ibadan.

ii. The month of February has shorter days than the other months of the year.

Note: Prepositions, articles and conjunctions joining the proper nouns are written with small
letters, e.g. University of Ibadan.

3. Collective nouns

Collective nouns are names of a group or collection of similar persons or things

considered as one complete undivided whole. Examples are: flock of sheep, class of
students, an army of soldiers, gang of robbers, galaxy of stars, bevy of ladies, fleet of
vehicles, a bunch of keys or bananas, set of tools, cluster of islands, a staff of workers, a
choir of singers, a series of events, a pack of cards, a flight of stairs, a code of laws.
Others are crowd, committee, government, team, family, panel, jury, etc.

i. The man’s story is a pack of lies.

ii. I saw a crowd of people in front of the demolished building.

10
4. Abstract nouns

These are names which denote human perspective of feelings, beliefs, ideas, concept,
thoughts or conditions. These types of nouns cannot be seen, held, or touched but they are
perceived by one or more of the five senses of the human being. Examples are air, wisdom,
beauty, courage, privilege, childhood, guilt, sadness, happiness, laughter, endurance, arrival,
hunger, anger, friendship, hatred, etc.

11