EVALUATING TEACHERS’ KNOWLEDGE AND USE OF MOTHER TONGUE AS A MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION IN LOWER PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN ILORIN METROPOLIS
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Date
2016
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Primary and Tertiary Teacher Education Association of Nigeria (PATTEAN)
Abstract
There is abundant evidence that educating children in the mother tongue has a lot of advantages both for the children and the society. In recognition of this, the National Policy on Education stipulated that primary school children should be taught in their mother tongue (MT) in the first three years. There is need to examine how this policy has been implemented in our schools. So, the study investigated teachers’ knowledge and use of MT as a medium of instruction in lower primary schools in Ilorin Metropolis. A survey design was adopted and simple random sampling technique was used to select 40 schools and 400 teachers of lower primary schools in Ilorin metropolis, Kwara State. Teachers’ Knowledge of Mother Tongue Questionnaire (r=0.76) and Teachers’ Use of Mother Tongue Questionnaire (r=0.83) were used to collect data for the study. Data generated were analysed using descriptive statistics and t-test at p<0.05 significant level. Results revealed that teachers’ knowledge of MT is low and they do not use MT as a medium of instruction. It was recommended that government should take a drastic step to revisit and enforce her policy on MT as a language of instruction in our schools.
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Keywords
Teachers’ knowledge of mother tongue, Teachers’ utilization of mother tongue, Medium of instruction