ENGLISH AND FRENCH LEARNING IN NIGERIA: MERITS AND DEMERITS

INTRODUCTION

DEFINITION AND ORIGIN OF THE TERM ‘ENGLISH LANGUAGE’

The oxford dictionary defines english language as the language of england and its inhabitants, used in many varieties throughout the world. As we all know, English language was introduced to us back in the colonial era, by our colonial masters (The Great Britain). English language is our lingua franca, and is regarded as a generally accepted language in nigeria, because it is spoken nationwide.

ROLES OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING IN NIGERIA

Learning English language in Nigeria has played a lot of roles in the affairs of the citizens. Some of these roles include the following:-

1)    Communication made easy:- Learning English language has made communication easier in a heterogeneous country like Njgeria, in the sense that, you can now communicate easily with people who don’t even share the same mother tongue with you. It would have been very difficult  for us to communicate if we all hadn’t learnt English language.

2)    Job opportunities:- English language learning has made it possible for Nigerians to go out to other English speaking countries to get employment. This wouldn’t have been possible if we’d been using our mother’s tongue as our lingua franca.

MERITS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING IN NIGERIA

1)    Foreign job opportunities:- English language learning has made it possible for Nigerians to go out to other English speaking countries to get employment. This wouldn’t have been possible if we’d been using our mother’s tongue as our lingua franca.

DEMERITS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING IN NIGERIA

Neglect of mother tongue:- Most Nigerians no longer value their mother’s tongue as they used to. A recent research showed that 60% out of all the kids growing in Nigeria now can’t speak their mother’s language fluently, some of them can’t even speak at all. This is as a result of giving much time and effort to learning English language.

DEFINITION AND ORIGIN OF THE TERM ‘FRENCH LANGUAGE’

The oxford dictionary defines french language as the language of france and its inhabitants, used in some part of the world. Nigeria

MERITS OF FRENCH LANGUAGE LEARNING IN NIGERIA

1)    Foreign job opportunities:- french language learning has made it possible for Nigerians to go out to french speaking countries to get employment. This wouldn’t have been possible if we’d been learning only English and our mother’s tongue.