Forum on Public Policy Macro- Language Policy And Planning And Lack Of Proficiency In Language Learning And Use By Nigerian Students Wale Adegbite, Department of English, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria Abstract In this study, the problem of non-proficiency in language learning and use among Nigerian students is investigated. Using empirical data and information from available literature on the subject as evidence, it was observed that the language deficiencies of the students could be attributed to the lack of fit between the formulation of the national (macro-) language policy and planning and implementation procedures, in view of the complexity of the socio-cultural, multilingual and multi-ethnic context of the nation. The perceptions of students‟ language deficiencies at different levels of education were described and the attendant effects on national development stated. A “bottom-top” proposal was then made for initial prioritization of micro-language policies and planning procedures that would later provide bases for viable macro-policy and planning projects. 1. Introduction Doing fieldwork, analyzing data and publishing papers in learned journals should not be our only preoccupation as linguists. Our social responsibility demands that we look beyond the classroom to see how we can empower Nigerian languages… for use in education and other domains.1 (Emphasis ours) The observation above will serve the purpose of this paper with a slight modification on the expressions highlighted. For „linguists, who are the target of the above address, we substitute „intellectuals‟ to extend the population of human actors; and we interpret „Nigerian languages‟ more inclusively to refer not only to indigenous languages, as intended in the quotation, but to all languages in Nigeria, both indigenous and non indigenous. The intention is to admonish the addressee to embark on more advocacy or practical work of language development.2 This study investigates the lack of proficiency in language learning and use by Nigerian Students and attributes this mainly to a lack of fit between the national language policy, on the one hand, and planning and implementation procedures, on the other hand. It then suggests an initial bottom-up prioritization of micro-language policies, planning and implementation procedure that would provide support for a more viable macro-language policy. 1 Ayo Bamgbose, “Linguistics and Social Responsibility: The Challenges for the Nigerian Linguist” (Keynote Address Delivered at the 20th Annual Conference of the Linguistic Association of Nigeria at the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council, Abuja, Nigeria, November 13-17, 2006). 2 Jibril avers that a combination of research, advocacy and activism is required by linguists to bring about a reversal of policies so that African languages may grow and flourish. See Munzali Jibril, “New Directions in African Linguistics.” In Rethinking the Humanities in Africa, ed. Sola Akinrinade, et al. (Ile-Ife: Faculty of Arts, Obafemi Awolowo University, 2007), 281. 1 Forum on Public Policy The paper is divided into five sections as follows: the context of languages and education in Nigeria; language policy, planning and implementation in education; proficiency level of students in language learning and use; alternative policy and planning strategies; and conclusion. 2. The Context of Languages and Education in Nigeria Nigeria has about has about 400 languages which have been categorized in different ways by scholars, based on the parameters of sequence of acquisition, number of speakers, and roles assigned to languages. The categorization in terms of number of speakers and roles assigned to languages has provided us with the following labels3: i. Dominant official language, English, spoken by a small population of speakers; ii. Major ethnic languages, regional lingua francas, proposed but not utilized as official languages: Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba; iii. A trans-national language, proposed as second official language: French iv. Main ethnic languages used in network news: Angas, Edo, Efik/Ibibio, Fulfude, Kanuri, Ebira/ Igala, Idoma, Ijo, Nupe, Tiv, etc.; v. Minor ethnic languages: Fula, Ikwere, Itsekiri, Jukun, Kalabari, etc.; vi. Restricted lingua franca: Pidgin English; vii. Languages for religious and personal use: Arabic, Latin and German. Another categorization presents the status of Nigerian languages in ethnographic terms thus: dominant, deprived, endangered and dying4. The dominant label matches English in Nigeria. The deprived languages refer to Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba, which though have a relative advantage over the minority languages in terms of extent of their 3 Wale Adegbite, “Enlightenment and Attitudes of the Nigerian Elite on the Roles of Languages in Nigeria,” Language, Culture and Curriculum 16:2 (2003):185-86. 4 Ayo Bamgbose, “Deprived, Endangered and Dying Languages” Diogenes 161 (1993): 19-25. 2 Forum on Public Policy use mainly for informal communication, are less officially recognized than English. Endangered languages are minority languages that are used very little, for informal communication, or are not used at all. Lastly dying languages are languages that are almost in extinction. On the educational context, we observe that apart from the informal education or home training that is generally assumed for all human beings, the National Policy on Education5 has a list of the following categories of education: Early Childhood/Pre- primary (2-5years); Basic education (Primary and Junior Secondary): Primary education (6-11years); Secondary education: Junior (3 year duration) and Senior (3 year duration); Tertiary education; Mass literacy, Adult and Non-formal Education; Science, Technical and Vocational education; Open and Distance Education; and Special Education. While primary to tertiary education above has been administered in schools over several decades, the others are designed as ad-hoc or remedy programmes to tackle problems as they arise. The schools are of two types, viz. public schools run by the state and private schools owned by individuals and organizations. The general impression of Nigerians in recent times is that education of children is better in private schools than in public schools, because the former has better infrastructures and management than the latter, which has suffered neglect over the years. The consequence of this is that only the children of the low working class attend public schools, while the rich and others who can afford it send their children to high fee paying schools at home or abroad. It is however, important to note that the private schools are of different standards and the quality of education received by learners differs in them. 3. Language Policy, Planning and Implementation in Education The language provisions pertaining to education are contained in several sections of the NPE. But these can be properly considered in relation to the general provisions on language in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria6. Below, we present the language provisions in both documents that are relevant to the discussion in this study. 1. The business of the National Assembly shall be conducted in English and in Hausa, Ibo (sic) and Yoruba when adequate arrangements have been made therefore. 5 Federal Republic of Nigeria, National Policy on Education (1977, revised 1981, 1998 and 2004). References are made to the 2004 edition in this paper, henceforth as NPE. 6 Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, henceforth referred to as The Constitution. 3 Forum on Public Policy The Constitution 1999, Paragraph 55 2. The business of a House of Assembly shall be conducted in English, but the House may in addition to English conduct the business in one or more other languages that the house may by resolution approve. The Constitution 1999, Paragraph 97 3. Government appreciates the importance of language as a means of promoting social interaction and national cohesion; and preserving cultures. Thus every child shall learn the language of the immediate environment. Furthermore i9n the interest of national unity, it is expedient that every child shall be required to learn one of the three Nigerian languages, Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba. (NPE, 2004, Para. 10a) 4. For smooth interaction with our neighbours, it is desirable for every Nigerian to speak French. Accordingly French shall be the second official language in Nigeria and it shall be compulsory in Primary and Junior Secondary schools but Non-vocational elective at the Senior Secondary School. NPE 2004, Para 10b 5. Government shall ensure that the medium of instruction is principally the mother tongue or the language of the immediate community….. Early Childhood/Pre-Primary Education (NPE Para 14c) 6. The medium of instruction in the primary school shall be the language of the environment for the first three years. During this period, English will be taught as a subject. From the fourth year, English shall progressively be used as the medium of instruction, and the language of the environment and French shall be taught as subjects. Primary Education (NPE, Para 19e and 19f) 7. Junior Secondary School (NPE, Para. 24a) Core Subjects (Languages): English, French and Language of immediate environment. 4 Forum on Public Policy (The language of the immediate environment shall be taught as L1 where it has orthography and literature. Where it does not have, it shall be taught with emphasis on oracy as L2.) Elective (Language): Arabic 8. Senior Secondary School (NPE Para 25c) Core Subjects (Languages): English language, a major Nigerian Language Electives (Languages): Literature in English, Arabic, any Nigerian language that has orthography and literature. 3.1 The Prospects of the Policy Provisions The provisions above, without any doubt, have some prospects. First is the recognition of the importance of language in national communication, for social interaction, cohesion and unity, smooth interaction with our neighbours and as mediums of instruction and subjects in schools. Where there is a multiplicity of languages, all of such languages must be cultivated and developed to serve the various communicative needs in these different domains7. Secondly, the identification of indigenous languages in the policy alongside English expresses the desire to break away from an exogenous policy situation in which a non- indigenous second language alone is used by a fraction of the population for governance, to the exclusion of the majority of the population. Another prospect is that of bilingualism/multilingualism, which has the double advantage of enabling the nation to preserve its indigenous languages and forge a unique (indigenous) national identity, on the one hand, and foster national and international communication, on the other hand, in the present day world. For example, by the end of secondary education, a child is expected to have learnt three or four languages, if his or her L1 is different from a major language, thus: i. the language of the immediate environment, ii. English, iii. A major language, i.e. one of Hausa, Igbo or Yoruba (henceforth referred to as „other‟ language). 7 See Rene Appel and Pieter Muysken, Language Contact and Bilingualism. (London: Arnold, 1987); Efurosibina Adegbija, Language Attitudes in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Sociolinguistic Overview. (Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 1994a). 5 Forum on Public Policy iv. French The learning of the above is done without prejudice to other languages like Arabic and Pidgin English which the child may find expedient to use by virtue of his/her religion or area of birth. 3.2 Problems and Weaknesses of the Provisions Just as the provisions have their strong points, they have also have weak points which scholars have labeled differently as “weaknesses”, “constraints” and “threats”. Bamgbose identifies the following constraints in the implementation of the provisions: failure to accord priority to language policy, negative attitude to all indigenous languages, absence of well coordinated implementation strategies, administrative or political instability leading to frequent changes of policy makers and policies, failure to use language experts and lack of political will.8 He considers, for example, the expression “when adequate arrangements have been made therefore” in Provision 1 as gratuitous and unnecessary. It is an escape clause that is not time bound, which justifies why the formulators have not been bothered about its non-implementation after almost three decades of the initial formulation in 1979. Also, he avers that the tentativeness of the clause in Provision 2 “but the House may in addition to English conduct…” has removed the steam from the engine of a provision that would have promoted bilingualism/multilingualism.9 Owolabi identifies possible threats in terms of (i) downright opposition to the policies from three quarters, viz. speakers of main and small group languages whose native languages are not overtly recognized, elite who have the native language prejudice syndrome (NLPS) and those who would like to oppose the policies because they are not part of the teams that produce them; and (ii) official reluctance to implement the policies.10 Nigerians from the ethnic minority groups believe that some of the provisions favour the three major Nigerian languages and neglect others.11 Meanwhile, the hegemonic status of the three major 8 Ayo Bamgbose, “Language Policy in Nigeria: Challenges, Opportunities and Constraints” (Keynote Address presented at the Nigerian Millenium Sociolinguistics Conference, University of Lagos, Lagos, August 16-18, 2001). 9 See Ayo Bamgbose, “Fifteen Years of the National Policy on Education: How Far Has Language Fared?” Language in Education in Nigeria, edited by Wale Adegbite and Chukwuemeka Onukaogu, (Ile-Ife: Centre for Language in Education and Development, 1994), 1-10. 10 Kola Owolabi, “On the Translation of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria into Selected Languages” In Forms and Functions of English and Indigenous Languages in Nigeria, edited by Kola Owolabi and Ademola Dasylva ( Ibadan: Group Publishers, 2004), 523-37. 11 See Efurosibina Adegbija, 1994a. 6 Forum on Public Policy languages has diminished over time in response to political action. For example, the constant creation of states and local government areas since 1967 has brought into prominence several other ethnolinguistic units and more of former minority languages have gained ascendancy in the status and functions assigned to them.12 Thus, part of the weakness of Provisions 1 and 3 is the overt mentioning of the indigenous languages to be used, which has created the rivalry and fear of dominance among the ethnic groups. Lastly, Omoniyi perceives threats to macro-language policies in terms of the complexities associated with the nation-state formation13 According to him, nation-state policies plans would seem to have been set out to fail or at least have difficulty in succeeding because of problems such as the complex demography and heterogeneous population, policy formulation and disparity between the language needs of the larger population, migration into urban cities, displacement of refugees as well as dual habitation and citizenship in arbitrary boundary demarcations. For example, scholars have reported instances of non- implementation of Provisions 4, 5 and 6 above. On Provision 5 Ohiri-Aniche reports that most of the nursery schools in Nigeria, which are privately owned, use English as a medium of instruction and some of them do not even have the language of the immediate environment as a subject on the school time table.14 On Provision 6, some prominent scholars have commented that the fourth year period of change-over from language of immediate environment to English is too early for effectiveness.15 They suggest that the native language should be used as a medium of instruction throughout the six years of primary school or even up till the end of basic education, while at the same time taught alongside English as a subject. Furthermore, the political circumstances surrounding the formulation of Provision 4, have been questioned by some scholars, who argue that French does not deserve the status of a second language, most especially at a time when Nigerians are still grappling with the 12 See Francis Egbokhare, “Language and Politics in Nigeria” In Forms and Functions of English and Indigenous Languages in Nigeria, edited by Kola Owolabi and Ademola Dasylva, (Ibadan: Group Publishers, 2004), 507-22. 13 Tope Omoniyi, “Alternative Contexts of Language Policy and Planning in Sub-Saharan Africa” TESOL Quarterly 41:3 (2007): 533-549. See also Jan Blommaert, “Language Policy and National Identity” In An Introduction to Language Policy: Theory and Method, edited by T. Ricento, 238-254. Oxford: Blackwell, 2006. 14 Chinyere Ohiri-Aniche, “Language Endangerment among a Majority Group: The Case of Igbo” Paper presented at the Nigerian Millenium Sociolinguistics Conference, University of Lagos, Lagos, August 16-18, 2001. 15 See A. Babs Fafunwa, et al. Education in Mother Tongue: The Ife Primary Education Research Project, 1970-1978. (Ibadan: University Press Limited, 1989); Adebisi Afolayan, “The Alienated Role of the Mother Tongue in Literacy Education for Sustainable National Development: The Western Nigeria Yoruba example.” In Proceedings of the First Pan-African Reading for All Conference, edited by Seth Manaka, (Pretoria: International Reading Association, 2001), 70-88; Pai Obanya, Revitalizing Education in Africa, (Ibadan: Stirling Horden, 2002). 7 Forum on Public Policy problem of learning and using English effectively and at the same time clamouring for more attention to be paid to developing indigenous languages.16 4. Proficiency of Students in Language Learning and Use Language policies and planning always have a direct consequence on the linguistic repertoire of a community and this can be described in terms of the number of languages acquired and learnt, the modes of acquisition and the levels of proficiency of members. The language proficiency of students is described here in terms of two parameters, viz. the number of languages leant and the performance levels of students in the languages in both communication and education. 4.1 The Languages in Students’ Repertoire In a survey of the linguistic repertoire of Nigerian subjects, Wolff reports as follows: “… the number of languages spoken by each of the subjects of the speech communities studied ranged from two to five as follows: 60 percent of the subjects spoke two languages; 30 percent three and 10 percent spoke over four languages.”17 Although the findings above indicate the capacity of Nigerians to acquire two or more languages, the survey is limited by its non-recognition of monolinguals among Nigerians. A more representative survey should reveal two groups of speakers. First there are speakers who are monolingual in the languages of their respective communities. These are mainly old and young illiterate people who live in the villages and small towns. Then, there are bilinguals and polyglots who speak two or more languages. Nigerian students belong to this second category. To attempt to describe the repertoire of speakers from the perspective of individual speakers may be very cumbersome as individuals learn and use languages for various uses in different settings. However, from a societal perspective, a dominant pattern of 16 See Ayo Bamgbose, 2001; Tope Omoniyi, “Language Ideology and Politics: A Critical Appraisal of French as Second Official Language in Nigeria” AILA Review 16 (2003):13-25. Bamgbose wonders further how feasible it is to introduce French in the primary school curriculum, since every primary school teacher teaches all subjects and very few of them can teach the subject. 17 H. E. Wolff, “Multilingualism, Modernization and Post Literacy: Some Central Issues Concerning the Promotion of Indigenous Languages in a Democratic Society” (Paper Presented at a Workshop on the Role of African Languages in Democratic South Africa, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa, 1998). 8 Forum on Public Policy bilingualism emerges whereby native languages or languages of immediate environments, on the one hand, and English, on the other hand, play diglossic roles; the former are acquired earlier and are used for personal and social interaction, while the latter which is learnt much later serves official and inter-ethnic function. Other languages apart from the two above serve specific needs of the individuals and do not cut across the society. 4.2 Performance Levels of Students in Languages. Performance levels of students are described in this section and the next, first in terms of the bilingual skills and the degrees of the mastery of these skills for communication and education and second, in terms of the levels of achievement of students in the learning and use of languages. Bilingual speakers exist with varying degrees of competence in their native languages and English. Coordinate bilinguals have good mastery of the basic skills of oracy and literacy in the two languages. Members of this group are less than 5% of the bilingual population and they constitute mainly of adult graduates and “undergraduates of those days” who had the double advantage of first being well grounded in their native language before going to school to learn both languages under conducive circumstances.18 It is doubtful whether younger tertiary students of nowadays can be classified into this category. Subordinate and incipient bilinguals make up the second and third groups of bilinguals and these are made up of secondary and tertiary students for the former and some brilliant primary school students for the latter group. Members of this group have mastery of one of the languages and understand the other language partially, with the former being slightly higher on the bilingual competence ladder. Normally, children of the low class have adequate exposure to their native language orally at home before going to school but fail to achieve literacy in the language as well as master any skill in English at school because of several constraints. In contrast, children of elite parents never mature in their native language before going to school and thus lack both oral and literacy competence in it. Some of them, however, eventually succeed in gaining mastery of English via adequate exposure to it at home and in their elitist schools. For this category of students, English replaces the parent‟s language as native language of the child. 18 Festus Adesanoye, “The English Language in Nigeria: The Case of a Vanishing Model” In Forms and Functions of English and Indigenous Languages in Nigeria, edited by Kola Owolabi and Ademola Dasylva, 2004, 507-22. 9 Forum on Public Policy The two groups above used to constitute the bulk of the bilingual population, until the recent past two or three decades when the emergence of a fourth category of bilinguals, „limited‟ bilinguals or „semilinguals‟19 , which is fast becoming a threat to the phenomenon of bilingualism altogether. It is taken for granted by cognitive linguists like Noam Chomsky that a speaker must have competence in his or her native language, even if the competence in a second language is in doubt. However, in recent times, the Yoruba speech community is bombarded by an increasing number of children who have limited bilingual skills as a result of bad language acquisition planning. Hornby comments that: Many factors may potentially affect the relative status or strength of an individual‟s two or more languages. Such as age and order of acquisition, usefulness and amount of opportunity for communication, degree of emotional involvement, social function as well as literary and cultural value.20 The reasons why students lack competence in their native language are many, (cf. Fabunmi and Salami 2005) but a mention of some of them will suffice here.21 First is the generational shift in language taking place as a result of contact of languages with English. The social prestige and high status accorded English have influenced the attitudes of parents and children positively towards English and less so towards the native language. Some parents forbid their children from speaking the native language at home, even when the fathers and mothers speak it to each other. Some overzealous parents even prevent their children from playing with peers in the neighborhood, except those who can speak to them in English. A second reason is the low priority accorded indigenous languages at school in a „straight for English‟ programme. Apart from the fact that fewer periods are allocated to the languages in the school curriculum, if they occur as subjects at all, school regulations forbid children from speaking them, even when the teachers do so. Thus, for some children who initially have 19See Colin Baker, Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism (Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 2001); S. A. Dada, “Language Contact and Language Conflict: The case of Yoruba-English bilinguals” In Language and Economic Reforms in Nigeria, edited by Ndimele Ozo-Mekuri, Clara Ikekeonwu and B. M. Mbah (Port Harcourt: M & J Grand Orbit Communications Ltd. and Emhai, 2006) 68-85. 20 Peter Hornby, “Bilingualism: An Introduction and Overview”. In Bilingualism: Psychological, Social and Educational Implications, edited by Peter Hornby (New York: Academic Press, 1977), 1-3. 21 See Felix Fabunmi, et al. “Is Yoruba an Endangered Language?” In Trends in the Study of Languages and Linguistics in Nigeria, edited by Ndimele Ozo-mekuri (Port Harcourt: M & J Grand Orbit Communications Ltd. and Emhai, 2005), 245-260; S. Oluwole Oyetade, “Attitude to Foreign Languages and Indigenous Language Use in Nigeria” In Language Attitude and Language Conflict in West Africa, edited by Herbert Igboanusi (Ibadan: Enicrownfit, 2001), 14-29. 10