THE PROBLEMS OF TEACHING ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS AND THEIR IMPLICATION FOR IMPROVEMENT (A CASE STUDY OF JOS NORTH)

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

• BACKGROUND OF STUDY

Nigeria is a highly diverse, multi-ethnic and multi-linguistic country, comprising of nationalities that come from diverse linguistic backgrounds, with over 450 ethnic groups and languages. Nigeria is a multilingual and multicultural society. It is therefore inevitable that the multicultural nature of Nigerian education system will continue to grow in size and diversity. In Nigeria today, English is not only the medium of instruction in the educational system, but has become a common lingua franca. Nigeria itself is a culturally plural and linguistically diverse society and will continue to be so. In present day Nigeria, schooling means a classroom for an increasing student population from diverse ethnic groups and languages. Apart from students who speak one of the major indigenous languages ( Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba), there are others from ethnic minorities and, all of them have come to the classroom to learn English as a medium of instruction. Ultimately, they must reconcile crossing cultures since they have become multicultural in school settings. Therefore, the crucial factor is the need for new types of teachers and training to develop the skills and confidence that teachers need for effective teaching of English in this multicultural  classrooms. As Marcos Koffi Ngoran has remarked, there is need for an ESP approach. An ESP approach encourages communicative and interactive teaching, allowing Nigerian learners to fully express themselves and their world (IATEFL ESP SIG 2017 Issue 41, p. 31). In Nigeria where English is a second language it is imperative for the teaching and learning implications to be properly addressed in such a diverse L2 classrooms. In a typical Nigerian classroom, one finds students from diverse cultural backgrounds and mother tongues (Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa, Efik, Echie), to mention but a few who have come to acquire the English Language in the classrooms. However, the acquisition of English is different from these indigenous languages as English can only be learnt in schools in the classrooms where it is taught as a subject. The implication is that the majority of learners of English in Nigeria hardly practise English after school and in fact outside the classrooms because, they quickly revert to their mother tongues once they escape the classrooms or in the case of Nigeria to pidgin which now has the unofficial status of lingua franca for most Nigerian students in Secondary Schools, especially in the cities; as they hang out with their peer group.

However, multicultural classrooms can provide an opportunity for intercultural learning and avenues for sharing perspectives that could prove useful for today’s global educational setting. The basic question now is how teachers do and facilitators of education ensure effective teaching and learning in a complex setting such as the multicultural L2 classroom? In the Nigerian context, English is not only a medium of communication but a medium of instruction called upon to mediate a whole range of cultural and cross-cultural concepts. Therefore, this paper highlights some of the core considerations for analyzing the challenges faced by teachers and learners of English Language. Therefore effective teaching of English in a multicultural context is crucial, but there are many challenges related to this, and exploring the issue of how to come out of this challenge by the learner has been a matter of great concern for a long time to pedagogical scholars

It has been a subject of ongoing research that what language is as a communication tool, how languages have emerged and evolved, and until today, many definitions and theories have been proposed about language (Roucek, 2014). Dilaçar (2014) states that language is a social system which reaches an agreement among individuals. Aksan (2016) also describes language as a versatile and advanced arrangement which provides thoughts, feelings and desires to be transferred to others through using the elements and rules common in terms of sound and meaning in a society. According to Soner (2016), Language was born with the occurrence of the first man described as hominid on Earth a million years ago. From the moment he came to earth, human being as a cultural asset has felt the need to communicate with the environment, and this led to the emergence of different languages in communities. Due to the fact that human being is a live speaking, language keeps up to date in all the ages.

Languages which are the product of ecology and geographical environment have begun to spread in different regions of the globe in time, and they have had different changes because of the reasons such as migration and interaction with other cultures. Some languages have subsisted only in their own communities due to the reasons such as being spoken in a limited geographical conditions and the difficulty of communication with other communities (Aydın and Erdal, 2016), while the utilization rate of some other languages is increasing day by day over the world. English is located at the beginning of this primary language. It can be said that being widely used in the world as both science and technology language, and the political and military power of the states using it as their mother tongue are the reasons for the spread of English (Canbulat and İşgören, 2015). Foreign language teaching in the Ottoman period came into prominence especially after the second Constitutional Monarchy (1908), and English and German were implemented as optional foreign language lessons while French was mandatory leasson (Soner, 2016). With the establishment of the Republic, it was accepted in Turkey that a Western language teaching would be compulsory, and a second Western language would be an optional foreign language course in some schools (Çelebi, 2016; Sebüktekin, 200 1). However French was placed on the top among the compulsory foreign language courses taught in the first year of The Republic (Soner, 2016; Aktuna, 2014). During this period, the state and private high schools providing foreign language training were established. In 200 3, Foreign Language Education and Training Act No. 2923 including regulations related to foreign language teaching was enacted (Çelebi, 2016). English lessons in primary education institutions have become essential. Middle school and high school providing foreign language training, and secondary preparatory classes have been established (Akdoğan, 2017).

Since the 1800s, it is observed that the success at the desired level has not been attained in Turkey although it has been made efforts for foreign language teaching (Çelebi, 2016; Demirel, 2014). Although many different teaching methods such as different orientations, use of technological tools, different teaching methods have been applied for this issue, any system which provides the targeted level of foreign language teaching has not been established in Turkey (Gömleksiz, 2014; Kocaman, 2014). In today’s world, the importance of learning a foreign language especially English is vital. On the other hand, such reasons as globalization, economic development, technology and innovation in the field of computers, communication cause that English is becoming increasingly common, and becomes the most preferred and taught language (Şahin, 2017; Yıldız, 2016; Ergüç, 2015; Tezcan, 2016). In the New Age 21st Century, English is a global language and it can be easily reached the judgement that almost everyone must know English. Today, technological advances are faster than cultural change. Therefore, knowing a foreign language, especially English, is an integral part of life, i.e. existing. Bartu (2014 ) emphasizes that teaching a foreign language, especially English as lingua franca, is as important as the instruction of main language in such a world. In this context, the importance of English instruction unarguably emerges in terms of both capturing the global world conditions and adapt to them, and activating individual human strength in Turkey. In the literature (Soner, 2016; Aküzel, 2016; Bakeries, 2014 ), such factors as teaching methods, student’s interest in and attitude towards foreign language, relationship between native language and foreign language, contribution of parents in foreign language teaching, number and quality of teachers, class sizes, density of other courses, relationship between social environment and English use, lack of equipments, managers’ attitudes have been put forward as the causes of failure in English learning and teaching. With this study, it is aimed to put forward the problems encountered in English teaching-learning processes according to secondary school students. In accordance with this main purpose, the problems encountered in English teaching learning according to secondary school students were examined in terms of the variables as gender, grade level, number of siblings, type of school, parents occupation, family income level, taking/or not refresher course, the place and the duration of the course.

Nigeria according to Olaoye (2017) is a country made up of three nations, and each of these ethnic group nations is struggling for their survival. In Nigeria, agreeing on a national language is impossibility due to multilingalism and our population. This spells the importance of English in Nigeria. Danladi (2014)asserts that―the multiplicity of languages in Nigeria is so obvious and egregious that languages of people living within a 25 kilometer radius are massively different and incomprehensible to one another. The implication of this complex language situation is the absence of established effective communications between the ethnic groups, which becomes the basis not only for bigotry and hatred but for resorting to the use of English as a predominantly official language. It also implies that the choice of any of the three indigenous languages as a national language certainly will deteriorate to disintegration or unpleasant feelings.‖ Although, English Languagehas been adopted as an official language many decades ago in Nigeria, the learners still face difficulties learning it for many reasons. A chief reason is the fact that every Nigerian is endowed with his or her mother tongue but compelled to learn in second language or English. Obinna (2017) states that‖ second language refers to the language a person learns on top of his first or natural language. Although in some situations, the second language may be learnt almost simultaneously with first language, generally it comes at a later stage in the process of social formation. Second language usually serves as a truce in a multilingual setting. Dada (2016) states that ―Nigeria happens to be one of the 22 most linguistically diverse countries in the world. In Nigeria today, according to the 15th edition of the Ethnologue report for Nigeria, there are about 510 living languages co-existing with one another. It is interesting to note that apart from the many indigenous languages, which are of course the mother tongues of Nigerians, non-indigenous languages such as English, French, Arabic, German and Russian also exist. English has become a second language in Nigeria, while Pidgin English, with probably the largest number of speakers, has also emerged as a result of the contact of English with the indigenous languages.‖ Nigeria, no doubt, is a nation that has witnessed a cross-current of linguistic activities due to her inherent multilingual nature coupled with her colonial experience under the British.‖ Dada further opines that the issue of language contact and language conflict exists at three distinct but interrelated levels viz: the social, psychological and linguistic axes of the contact situation. The social aspect is concerned with issues like language choice or language use, the psychological aspect has to do with language attitude as well as language and ethnicity, while the focus of the linguistic aspects is on code-switching, interference, etc.‖ Thus English being a second language is faced with many problems. This is as a result of its complex and inconsistent nature.

• STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

English language is our major language into the world of heterogeneous culture and traditions. It is and has been an instructional language in schools from the lower level to higher level of learning. It is our cultural window into the world of various cultures and traditions which of course enhances communication.

However, it has become a thing of concern as the teaching of the English language in secondary schools especially in Jos North has been suffering from defects and government neglects.

Furthermore, the unavailability of qualified teachers in the field of English language has posed to be one of the major problems of teaching English language in secondary schools. Also the unavailability of teaching materials like textbooks are lacking as well as changes in curriculum which causes a disjointed teaching of the English language.

Finally, the mother tongue is another limitation and danger to the teaching and learning of English language in secondary schools since the first language a child acquires is the mother tongue as such it will be difficult for the child to learn and speak a very good English without the interference of the mother tongue.

• AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

The main aim and objective of this research is to assess the problems of teaching English language in secondary schools and their implication for improvement. Other objectives of this study include:

1. to examine the problems of teaching English language in secondary schools.
2. To determine the implication for the improvement of teaching English language in secondary schools.
3. To examine the ways to improve on the teaching of English language in secondary schools especially in jos north.
4. To proffer solutions to the problems of teaching English language in sec9ondarty schools and their implication for improvement.
   • RESEARCH QUESTION
5. What are the problems of teaching English language in secondary schools?
6. What is the implication for the improvement of teaching English language in secondary schools?
7. What are the ways to improve on the teaching of English language in secondary schools especially in jos north?
8. What are the solutions to the problems of teaching English language in sec9ondarty schools and their implication for improvement?
   • STATEMENT OF RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

H₀: teaching of English language in secondary schools does not need further improvement.

H₁: teaching of English language in secondary schools needs further improvement.

• SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

English particularly grammar and how effectively teachers utilize teaching resources in schools particularly in these days of information and communication technology (ICT). It is expected that the areas of deficiencies unveiled in this study will help to improve the teaching and learning of English in schools. Such unravelling of the problem areas will give an insight into how best to approach the teaching of English and possibly review existing methodology. The research will also provide a platform for other researchers to look into this all important aspect of language teaching in Nigeria. It is hoped that ultimately, this research work will help advance the course of learning English to improve proficiency among users of the language in Nigeria. The study also may set a basis for highlighting and expanding views on the danger of declining proficiency in the use of English in Nigeria. It is hoped that setting the agenda for the discussion of this problem from this perspective or rather reinforcing discussion on the issue through this research there would be a more concerted effort at tackling the problems that have been unveiled from this research.

1.7 SCOPE OF STUDY

The study covers the problems of teaching English language in secondary schools and their implications for improvement ( a case study of jos north).

• LIMITATION OF STUDY

1. Financial constraint– Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
2. Time constraint– The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.
   • DEFINITION OF TERMS

Language Teaching and Learning: With reference to English Language, this means the whole activities that surround the process of acquiring English as second language by students in Jos north Local Government Area

Improvement: a thing that makes something better or is better than something else

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