CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Communication, from time immemorial, has been a major means of passing information to people in every human community. It is a means of exchanging ideas and disseminating information to the appropriate quarter and area. According to Fawehinmi (2007:224) “communication is the “process” by which thoughts, views, opinions are transferred from one end to the other”. Communication is seen as a process because it changes human beings and tailors their behaviour towards expected outcomes. It is an important instrument that can be used to change human orientation. Nevertheless, it is observed that the use of language cannot be separated from communication and communication itself cannot be absolutely possible without the inclusion of language (Jimoh, 2007).

Language is an integral part of communication. Language as a means of communication plays many important roles among human beings in their day-to-day interactions and communications. According to Onyekwere, Chibueze, Roscolette, Matins & Quinette (2012, p. 3), “language is human specific in that it is a human activity. It is exclusive to human beings. Although animals communicate, such communication is not through speech or language”. Language is specific to human beings because it is used to carry out series of functions among human beings and can only be learned by human beings. There are some theories that underline how language can be acquired or learned. These theories were developed to account for language acquisition and learning. Some of them include behaviourist- “say it after me”, mentalist- “it is all in your mind”, connectionist- “it is associative”, interactionist- “linguistic environment interacting with innate capacity”, among others.

Consequently, after the acquisition or learning, humans use language voluntarily to convey information, to influence others, to keep records, to document some ideas, to express themselves and to interact for phatic communication. Basically, language affects human endeavours and manifests itself in every facet of human life and activity (Fawehinmi, 2007). It is in light of this statement that various language policies have been made in Nigeria with regards to medium of instructions in our various institutions of learning. The language policy on education (2004) stated in Ibemesi (2012, p. 444), states that;

… the languages  are grouped under official, Nigerian and foreign languages. Under official languages, English, designated (L4) stands alone, while L1 to L­3 designated, Nigerian languages are classified as: Mother Tongue (L1), language of the immediate community (L2­) and major Nigerian languages as (L3) respectively. French and Arabic are classified as foreign languages and designated both as (L5).

The implication of this policy is that it makes mother tongue or language of the immediate community (if any) compulsory in the lower primary school, while English is compulsory from the senior primary school to secondary school.

English as one of the international languages of the world is indispensable because of its global status. According to Yang (2005), English language is not only a system of communication but the pre-eminent language of science, technology and medicine and it has become the Lingua Franca in the 21st century. Its trend of communication revolves global recognition. People all over the world, today, are learning it either as a second language or foreign language to enhance their potential for international communication. According to Denham and Lobeck (2010, p.420), “Today, fewer than one-fifth of native English Speakers live in the British Isles”. This means that many native speakers of English are not from British Isles.

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