By Niyi Akinnaso
Keen observers of English language usage in Nigeria would have noticed persistent errors in the spoken or written output of most Nigerians, regardless of status or occupation. Such errors are particularly rampant on social media and newspaper online platforms, where unguarded thoughts are expressed on a daily basis, especially by the teeming population of unemployed youths, most of whom are graduates of our universities.
Noticeable gaps in English language usage by Nigerians are not unexpected since English is only a second language for them. What is unexpected and troubling is the appalling level to which the standard has fallen, especially within the last 20 years or so. The decline is reflected in the WASSCE and NECO results in which the failure rate in English Language and Literature in English has been on the rise.
The poor performance in English language follows many secondary school students to the universities, which eventually produce many graduates who can neither speak nor write English well. Over time, the poor standard of English language usage has seeped through the entire society.
This should not be the case, given the prime role of English as the official language in which the business of government and high commerce is conducted. It is also the preferred language in which print and electronic media disseminate information. Most importantly, it is the official language of instruction in the educational system. This implies that competence in the English language is the gateway to the mastery of other school subjects.
The purpose of this piece is not toaadocument the evidence for the falling standard of English usage. A former UN diplomat and draftsman, Segun Omolewa, has done an excellent job of documenting popular errors in English usage in a 558-page book, titled, Pop Errors in English: Writers Beware. Rather, the purpose here is to sound the alarm, highlight the major causes of the decline, and suggest some remedies.
The decline in the standard of English usage is symptomatic of the decline of educational standard in general. Every stakeholder in the educational system has a share of the blame, from schoolchildren and their teachers to the parents and the proprietors, particularly federal, state, and local governments.
Many would argue that the government carries the brunt of the blame for not providing adequate funding, infrastructure, and necessary facilities for effective teaching and learning. The Federal Government polluted the education terrain by usurping part of the responsibilities of state and local governments for primary and secondary education, thus making it easier for the Universal Basic Education funds to be embezzled.
The government is also to blame for lowering the morale of the teachers, by not paying their salaries and other entitlements on time and for failing to provide regular capacity building opportunities to enhance their performance. These deficiencies are the more painful to bear when viewed against the humongous amounts of money looted by the political elite.
Today, adequate facilities are lacking for teaching and learning throughout the education system. Libraries and laboratories are either non-existent or grossly under-equipped. Bookstores are either non-existent or poorly stocked. Classes are overcrowded and understaffed, thus making it difficult for teachers to grade assignments and provide necessary feedback to the students.
The students themselves have little or no place for their studies, let alone pay attention to the English language. The recent introduction of entrepreneurial studies to the educational curriculum has led to a shift of focus to out-of-school jobs or vocations, using the skills acquired in entrepreneurial classes. As a result, little or no time is left for schoolwork outside school hours. The inadequacy or withdrawal of accommodation and boarding facilities in secondary and tertiary institutions further promotes this focus on out-of-school activities.
Students’ writing and spelling skills have been particularly jeopardised by social media, especially text and email messages, in which nonstandard coinages and abbreviations are employed, which are not allowed in school- work. To worsen the situation, many students don’t read assigned textbooks. Instead, they often rely on class notes and would readily go online to look for information on completing their assignments.
To complicate matters, many parents these days tend to end their expenditure on their children’s education with the payment of tuition and possibly accommodation fees. Little or no allowance is provided for the purchase of books. The government is partly to blame for this situation as well, by touting free primary and secondary education as well as low-cost tertiary education. Not only does the government subvention fall short of covering tuition fees, it leaves no allowance for the purchase of textbooks.
The teachers too have their own problems to cope with. There are far too many students and too few teachers, especially in key subjects, such as English language. Besides, in the absence of regular salaries, many primary and secondary school teachers seek additional sources of income from vocational such as farming, trading, and driving cabs or okada (motorcycle). Similarly, the astronomical increase in the number of universities has provided many university teachers with the opportunity to take on two or more jobs in sister institutions in order to bridge the income gap. This results in inadequate attention to teaching and the associated obligations.
The poor quality of primary and secondary school teachers is demonstrated in the assessments of Edo and Kaduna teachers, which revealed serious gaps in the teachers’ knowledge and skills. Although such assessments are lacking in the tertiary institutions, similar gaps exist in the knowledge and skills of many a university lecturer. I once observed teaching in a state university, where lecturers had limited knowledge of the subject matter and could hardly communicate the little they knew in fluent English.
A colleague shared his experience of an English Department in a state university, where neither the lecturers nor the students actually read all prescribed texts for a course. Rather, students were divided into various groups with a book assigned to each group. The summary provided of the assigned book was then used as the basis for assessing all members of the group for the entire course. The implication is that members of one group didn’t bother to read the books assigned to the other groups.
This particular case speaks to one of the major causes of decline in English usage in the country. Most Nigerians, including teachers and students, don’t read. They don’t come across words and sentences in written context. Without reading, their vocabulary remains limited. They hear words, but don’t know how to spell them. They do not consult dictionaries, which could provide pronunciation guides. In a recent casual conversation about the banal lyrics of a Nigerian hiphop song, a lady recommended that “They should band that song”, where she meant “ban that song”. If she had encountered the word “ban” in writing, she would have known its exact form.
The question now is what to do to overcome these problems. A complete overhaul of the education system is long overdue. Beyond providing necessary infrastructure and teaching aids, teachers need to be respected and incentivised, by paying their salaries on time and by providing them with regular capacity building opportunities. Outstanding teachers need to be rewarded in order to provide motivation for others.
Schools and universities should have adequate and well-stocked libraries and bookstores, where students could find material to read or purchase. A “No textbook, no class” rule should be adopted to encourage students to purchase necessary textbooks. Perhaps, this would send a message to their parents to buy books for them.
Finally, a consistent education policy is needed, which would be backed up by adequate budgetary allocation. No serious government allocates a paltry six or seven per cent of its GDP to education. And no sane government bans history in one year and then restores it decades later, without first ensuring that enough teachers were trained for the subject. If change is needed anywhere in Nigeria today, it is in the educational system. It should not take a Bill Gates to tell us that.
