LANGUAGE EDUCATION PLANNING AND POLICY: THE WAY FORWARD FOR NIGERIA.

Abstract

Language is an important attribute of mankind. It is a major instrument of communication and exercises great influence over the activities of man. Language defines the identity of every group of people as distinct from the others. This explains the rivalry and struggle for supremacy among different language groups. Thus, the major task in language planning is to strike a balance among the competing languages by assigning roles to each, such that none is devaloured. In a multilingual society like Nigeria, language patterns and possibilities must be religiously considered and appropriately weighed to ensure the accommodation of both major and minor languages in language functions. Equity is the watchword. In the National Policy on Education (2004), only three out of more than four hundred Nigerian indigenous languages were elevated to the status of national languages and provided for in education. This has been considered inappropriate and against the development of indigenous languages and culture. As important as indigenous languages are in communication, Nigeria cannot afford to limit their development and use for instruction to three years in the primary school. This paper recommends that national language use in education be extended beyond the early primary school level.