Jul 2026· Journal of Language and Literature· Vol 9, pp. 101-114· 0 citations· 10 references
Abstract
The role of language in education remains a contested terrain in postcolonial Africa, where the legacies of colonialism continue to shape national policies and classroom realities. In Nigeria, English functions as both the official language and the medium of instruction, particularly in primary schools, despite the country’s vast multilingual heritage. This paper interrogates the costs of privileging English in Nigerian primary education, examining its implications for learning outcomes, identity formation, and cultural continuity. Drawing on postcolonial language debates (Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Chinua Achebe, Ayo Bamgbose), sociolinguistic theory, and the Nigerian National Policy on Education, the study critically reviews policy documents, existing literature, and empirical reports from international organisations such as UNESCO and UNICEF. The analysis reveals a persistent gap in policy, which recommends mother-tongue instruction in the early years, and practice, where English dominates due to parental pressure, prestige, and lack of resources for indigenous languages. The paper argues that the dominance of English imposes significant costs: it undermines comprehension and learning, alienates learners from their linguistic and cultural identities, and reproduces structural inequities between social classes and regions. At the same time, it acknowledges the pragmatic role of English as a global lingua franca and a tool of socioeconomic mobility. By foregrounding the “cost” framework, this study contributes to the growing body of scholarship on language and education in Africa, presenting fresh insights into the intersection of policy, pedagogy, and identity in Nigeria. It concludes with recommendations for strengthening mother-tongue education toward inclusive and culturally rooted learning.
Language plays a pivotal role in shaping educational access, participation, and success, particularly in multilingual societies where the language of instruction often determines learners' opportunities for academic achievement and social mobility. In Nigeria, the National Policy on Education advocates the use of the mother tongue or the language of the immediate environment during the early years of basic education, followed by a gradual transition to English. However, widespread reliance on English as the dominant medium of instruction has created significant barriers for learners from marginalized linguistic, cultural, and socio-economic backgrounds. This paper critically examines how the medium of instruction functions as a gatekeeper that either facilitates or restricts educational opportunities for marginalized learners in Nigeria. Adopting a systematic literature review methodology, the study synthesizes evidence from peer-reviewed journal articles, government policy documents, UNESCO reports, and empirical studies on language-in-education policies. The review reveals that the dominance of English in classroom instruction often disadvantages children from rural communities, minority language groups, nomadic populations, internally displaced communities, and economically disadvantaged households by limiting classroom participation, literacy development, academic achievement, and cultural affirmation. The paper further argues that language is not merely a medium of communication but also a mechanism through which social power, identity, and educational inequality are reproduced. Effective implementation of multilingual and mother tongue-based education is identified as a critical strategy for promoting inclusive, equitable, and sustainable education in line with Sustainable Development Goal 4. The study concludes that achieving educational justice in Nigeria requires stronger implementation of language policy, investment in indigenous language development, enhanced teacher preparation, and sustained stakeholder engagement. These measures will help transform language from a gatekeeping mechanism into an instrument of inclusion, empowerment, and national development.
MOSES, GIDEON ODIBAH, ADEYEMI, ADERINSOLA HELEN, MOSES, VALENTINA OGU· International Journal of Hum...· 0 citations
Few subjects in Indian education carry as much historical baggage and present-day urgency as the teaching of English. It arrived as an instrument of colonial administration, was retained after 1947 as a language of law, higher education, and the civil services, and now doubles as a marker of social mobility for some and of exclusion for others. This paper traces how these competing pressures have produced, over roughly a century and a half, a layered rather than linear history of pedagogy: colonial grammar-translation gave way to mid-century structuralism, which was in turn challenged by the communicative movement of the 1970s–90s, and all three now sit uneasily alongside the multilingual, learner-centred orientation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. Rather than treating these as a tidy sequence of methods each superseding the last, the paper argues that they persist simultaneously, layered on top of one another in actual classrooms, because none of the underlying constraints that produced them — linguistic plurality, uneven teacher preparation, examination-driven assessment, and rural-urban resourcing gaps — has gone away. The review examines nine major models (Grammar-Translation, the Direct Method, the Structural-Situational Approach, the Bilingual Method, Communicative Language Teaching, Task-Based and Content-Based Instruction, the Eclectic Approach, multilingual/mother-tongue-based pedagogy, and technology-mediated instruction) against the specific realities of Indian classrooms, and closes by arguing that the country's diversity makes a single official method neither available nor desirable. What is available, and what the evidence supports, is a form of principled eclecticism: deliberate, trained combination of techniques rather than either nostalgic grammar-translation or an unreflective import of communicative orthodoxy.
Chandra Mukesh Swami (Assistant Professor)· International journal of re...· 0 citations
Often, the medium of instruction in schools is considered to be caste- and class-neutral, especially when it comes to vernacular language. However, the caste and class orientation of language has not always been critically evaluated. This article traces how education shifted from community-driven pre-colonial schools to colonial administrative policies and look at how Sanskritized Hindi became the medium of schooling in India. The study details how organizations such as the Nagari Pracharini Sabha and the Arya Samaj and influential figures such as Acharya Ramchandra Shukla and Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi systematically purged the shared Hindi–Urdu continuum to create an elite linguistic standard. This constructed register was later institutionalized as a state ideology through Article 351 during the Constituent Assembly debates, displacing actual spoken mother tongues (
matrbhasa
) from the school curriculum. The article argues that this contemporary Sanskritized textbook language reflects the everyday life-world language of the upper caste and upper class. Consequently, students coming from the upper strata benefit more and understand the content better, while this language acts as a severe pedagogical obstacle for Dalit and working-class students. Ultimately, the study demonstrates that academic merit is an accumulation of different forms of capital like language, proving that merit is a naturalized myth.
Sunit Singh· Contemporary Voice of Dalit· 0 citations
This article analyzes the centrality of African philosophy in teacher education within Pedagogy and Education of and in the Countryside. Aligned with the Epistemologies of the Global South and counter-hegemonic studies, the text proposes a fracture in the conventional conception of philosophy to overcome eurocentric geocultural reductionism. The objective is to evaluate the incorporation of anti-racist and intercultural debates into the curricula of these degree programs, countering the historical distance of educational sciences regarding African social thought and its transmission based on intergenerational orality. Methodologically, it is grounded in the Methodology of Afrodescendence. It concludes that the legacy of the Western civilizational project and colonialism operate as long-lasting structures that promote epistemic violence, labeling ancestral knowledge as mythological or primitive. However, compensatory legal frameworks and the struggles of social movements drive the rediscovery of African and Afro-Brazilian history and culture. This process makes it possible to break with assimilationist paradigms and reframe Black cultural identity, reorienting educational praxis based on worldviews centered on "well-living" (bem viver) and the autonomy of subalternized subjects within the context of countryside schools.
Miguel Melo Ifadireó, Belijane Marques Feitosa, Camila Silva Alves Aquino et al.· Revista de Estudos Interdisc...· 0 citations
The use of English as a global lingua franca influences the adoption of English-medium instruction (EMI) in non-native English-speaking countries such as Nepal. However, attraction towards EMI may threaten linguistic heterogeneity and cultural maintenance. This study dives into the Indigenous parents’ motivations for choosing EMI, focusing on socioeconomic factors and their views regarding the impact of EMI on the preservation of their mother tongue. This study involved a survey questionnaire and semi-structured interviews with Indigenous parents whose children attend EMI schools. The study reveals parents’ concerns about EMI as they compared the potential socioeconomic gains against the need to protect their cultural heritage. The study points out that the Indigenous parents’ preference for EMI revolves around international migration, quality education, and socioeconomic mobility, all of which may erode Indigenous languages and exacerbate inequalities. Policy should ensure that the aspirations of Indigenous people are fulfilled without the cost of their language and culture, implementing multilingual approaches.
Sandip Basyal, Nabaraj Neupane· English Language Teaching Pe...· 0 citations
The medium of instruction remains one of the most critical determinants of learners' cognitive development, literacy acquisition, and educational achievement, particularly within multilingual societies. In Nigeria, the National Policy on Education prescribes the use of the child's mother tongue or the language of the immediate environment during the first three years of primary education before a gradual transition to English language. Despite this policy provision, implementation across states, including Kogi State, has remained inconsistent due to sociolinguistic diversity, inadequate teacher preparation, insufficient instructional resources, and parental preference for English-medium education. This paper evaluates the extent to which the prescribed language policy has been translated into classroom practice in Kogi State and examines its implications for effective and sustainable basic education. Drawing on policy documents, empirical studies, theoretical literature, and international best practices, the study adopts a qualitative review methodology anchored on language planning and sociocultural theories of learning. Findings indicate a significant disconnect between policy intentions and classroom realities, resulting in reduced learning outcomes, poor literacy development, and widening educational inequalities among learners from different linguistic backgrounds. The study further reveals that effective implementation of mother tongue-based multilingual education has the potential to improve foundational literacy, classroom participation, learner retention, and educational sustainability when supported by adequate teacher training, curriculum development, and community engagement. The paper concludes that strengthening policy implementation requires coordinated efforts among government agencies, educational institutions, teachers, communities, and development partners. It recommends enhanced investment in indigenous language materials, continuous professional development for teachers, improved monitoring mechanisms, and stronger stakeholder advocacy to ensure that language policy contributes meaningfully to quality basic education and sustainable national development in Kogi State and Nigeria at large.
Moses Gideon Odibah, Aderinsola Helen Adeyemi, Moses Valentina Ogu· International journal of ass...· 0 citations
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