Interference of Igala Language in Learning English Language at the Lower Basic School Level in Kogi East Education Zone, Kogi State, Nigeria

Abstract

English Language is Indispensable in the educational system from the Lower Basic Level through all other stages of education in Nigeria. The achievements of pupils in English language, especially in public schools have been low. One of the reasons for low achievements by pupils in English language is interference of their mother tongue in learning the language. Mother tongue interference hinders effective learning of English language at the early stage where English is learned as a subject while the widely used language of instruction is the mother tongue (language of the immediate community) of the pupils. The poor standard in education and low performance in English language by pupils necessitated the need for effective learning of English language at the early stage of learning. This study was therefore embarked on to find out the interference of Igala language in learning English language at the Lower Basic Classes. Five research questions and two null-hypotheses guided the study. The descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. A sample size of 476 Lower Basic II pupils in public schools in Kogi East Education Zone was used for the study. Simple random sampling techniques was used to sample five schools in each of the two local government areas sampled. Five of the schools were located in urban areas and five were in the rural areas. In each of the ten sampled schools, one intact class was randomly sampled for the study. The study looked at the pronunciation of words with regard to the production of vowel and consonant sounds of English language and translations of constructions at the level of morphology from Igala language into English. A-50 item Incidence of Interference Interview Schedule (IOIIS) developed by the researcher, which was validated by three experts from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka was used for data collection. Reliability of the instrument was ensured through trial testing using the Kuder-Richardson (K-R) 21 formula. An internal consistency of 0.90 was obtained. The test was administered on the sampled group with the help of research assistants in the schools. The research questions were analyzed using the statistical tools of frequency and percentage while the hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance using Pearson Chi-Square. The findings of the study revealed that there was Igala language interference in learning English language at the Lower Basic Class. Female pupils performed better than the male pupils in articulating vowel and consonant sounds as well as in the aspect of morphology of English language. In the same vein, pupils attending schools in the urban areas performed better than their counterparts attending schools in the rural areas. There was significant difference between urban and rural pupils interference ratings. Recommendations were made based on the findings. The major recommendations was that curriculum planners and textbook writers should re-design the Basic Education Syllabus and Textbooks by making use of research works on Igala language and items in the local environment of pupils.