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Article Title: The Use of Mother Tongue as Medium of Instruction in The Lower Basic Primary Classes in Nigeria
by Abijo, J. A. (PhD), Azeez Fatai Ayiki, and Akande Oluwabukola, O

Abstract:
Nigeria's National Policy on Education stipulates that the medium of instruction for the lower basic primary classes in Nigeria shall be principally the mother tongue or the language of the immediate community. During this period, English shall be taught as a subject. Furthermore, it is expedient that every child be required to learn one of the three Nigerian languages: Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba. This study therefore investigated how teachers experience the use of the mother tongue in the lower basic primary classes in Nigeria and suggested ways in which mother tongue in the lower basic primary classes could be implemented successfully in the country . The study also reviewed the problems and challenges of implementing the policy. Stratified sampling technique was used to select 600 mother tongue teachers teaching Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo from three States of the federation. Four research questions were answered. Mother Tongue Teachers Questionnaire with Cronbach reliability co-efficient of 0.85 was used for data collection. Frequency and Simple Percentage were used to analyse the data collected. The study reveals that the policy has not been effectively implemented. The means that mother tongue is not the only mode of instruction in the lower basic primary classes in Nigeria. Also, majority of the teachers , especially in the privately owned schools, were compelled by the school authorities to use English Language. Most of the teachers in the public schools use the bilingual medium and were not positively disposed to the use of only one of them. The study therefore recommended that the training of teachers at the lower primary school level in the use of the mother tongues and other indigenous languages should be given priority by the government. __________________________________________________________________________________________ Keywords: Language Preference, Medium Of Instruction, Language Policy Document

Keywords: Language Preference, Medium Of Instruction, Language Policy Document

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