ABSTRACT
This study examined the parents’ and teachers’ perception of the use of mother tongue as language of instruction in Lower Primary Schools (1 – 3). A total of four (4) public primary schools in Mainland Local Government Area of Lagos State were used. The study was carried out to ascertain whether the children’s mastery of mother tongue at school, is influenced by their parents’ and teachers’ perception of the language.
The descriptive survey research was used in order to collect data from respondents. Two different questionnaires were used – one for the teachers and the other for the parents. A total of two hundred and forty (240) respondents were randomly selected and used for this study. The sample size is made up of one hundred and twenty (120) parents and one hundred and twenty (120) teachers.
Two null hypotheses were formulated and tested using the independent t-test statistical tool at 0.05 level of significance. At the end of the analyses, the results obtained show that:
(1) There is a significant difference between parents’ perception of mother tongue and children’s mastery of mother tongue at home.
(2) There is a significant difference between teachers’ perception of mother tongue and children’s academic performance at school.
Based on the results obtained at the end of the analyses, it could be deduced that, the way both parents and teachers perceive the use of mother tongue as a medium of instruction at school, to a large extent influence the children’s mastery of the mother tongue and their performance in it. Recommendations were proffered also.
CHAPTER ONE
1.1Introduction/Background to the Study
A primary school pupil according to the National Policy on Education, 3rd Edition (1998) comprises children aged between 6 – 11 years) plus. The primary education is graded from Primary 1 to 6. The first three years of the primary education is termed the lower primary.
Children at the lower primary form the bedrock of the educational system in Nigeria. Therefore, the success of the whole system of education is hinged on the success of the lower primary education level. At this level, pupils are still very attached to their homes which is one of the agents of socialization. Hence, the mother tongue which is a means of transfer of cultural practices, norms and mores of the society should be given utmost priority.
According to Obanya (1985:19), the child’s mother tongue is the child’s first language, the one in which he/she feels most at home with and which he/she uses most of the time. Mother tongue according to Olayemi (1990), refers to any language indigenous to Nigeria.
The National Policy on Education (1998) stipulates the importance of language as a means of promoting social interaction, national cohesion and preserving cultures. Thus, every child should learn the language of the immediate environment. Furthermore, in the interest of national unity, it is expedient that every child should be required to learn one of the three Nigerian languages: Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba.
According to Agagu (1990), parents’ and teachers’ perception of the use of mother tongue or the traditional language to teach the child is negative. This is because many parents, especially the ones living in the urban areas of Nigeria, do not even have the mastery of the mother tongues and this is applicable to the teachers. As Agagu puts it, one cannot give what one does not have. As parents who are the first teachers of the child at home, the educated urban dwellers especially, do not know how to speak the mother tongue without code-mixing it with English Language. They lack the capability and competence to impart it to their children.
Also at school, the teachers cannot teach the children with the mother tongue because many do not have the mastery of the indigenous language such as Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, Efik, Urobo, Nupe etc. This has left the child to be more proficient in English Language which his/her teachers and parents mostly apply in teaching and interacting with them.