The Impact of Nigeria Pidgin on the Written English of Senior Secondary School Students
Chapter One
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The objectives of the study are;
- To examine the impact of Nigerian pidgin on the written English of selected senior secondary school students in Lagos State.
- To evaluate the impact of Nigerian pidgin on students performance in English language.
- To determine the reason why students communicate in Nigerian Pidgin.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
BRIEF HISTORY OF NIGERIAN PIDGIN ENGLISH
The Portuguese were the first Europeans who traded in pepper and slaves from the Nigerian coastal area. They first arrived in Benin (city) at the end of the 15th century. From the mid 16th century, the British took over as major trading partners. With the abolition of the slave trade at the beginning of the 19th Century, British colonial interests shifted to agricultural production for exportation to Europe. In 1842 and 1846 the first missionary stations were established in Badagry (near Lagos in the Southwest) and Calabar (in the Southeast) respectively. The missionaries were mainly interested in spreading Christianity among the African pagans. In the schools they established in the Southern part of Nigeria (they were not allowed to settle in the Islamic North of the country) they also taught agriculture, crafts and hygiene. In order to easily reach the population, the language of instruction was usually the mother tongue of the natives. But the Africans refused to send their children to school because they needed them to work in the house and on the farms. Consequently, the missionaries paid compensation to the parents. All the same, the first generation of students was made up mainly of children of slaves who the village communities thought they would not miss much. The mass withdrawal of English colonial officers just before and after Nigeria’s independence down turn in the Nigeria economy and the disappearance of the middle class with the attendant breakdown in social and family values.
The British colonial government increasingly felt the need for Africans who were literate in English and would serve British colonial and trade interests (for instance as teachers, interpreters and clerks for local native courts and the trading companies). Therefore, missionary stations were ordered in the 1880s to teach English in their schools. In the long run, however, the missionary schools were unable to meet the demands for educated Nigerians, and the colonial government began to establish state schools from the turn of the century. The first state school was in fact founded as a result of pressure from Muslims in Lagos in 1899 who had no access to missionary schools and felt they were at a disadvantage. Despite all these efforts, communication was indeed difficult between the Nigerians and the colonial masters thus a means of easy communication had to be devised which was a simplified way of structuring and speaking English. The simplification could be seen in all the levels of a new contact language that emerged (Pidgin). The emergence of churches and the use of pidgin English to evangelise people.
CHARACTERISTICS OF NIGERIAN PIDGIN
The new contact language is a simplified language in the areas of Lexis, Phonology and Grammar
NIGERIAN PIDGIN LEXIS
Pidgin draws its lexical items from the dominant language namely English, while others are drawn from the indigenous languages. For examples,
- a) Yoruba: oyibo – ‘white man’,
wahala – trouble
- b) Portuguese: pikin – ‘child’
palava – ‘trouble’
sabi – ‘to know’
- c) Hausa: wayo – ‘tricks’
Secondly, there is extensive use of reduplication in its lexis. This is partly to identify meaning and partly to avoid confusion which could result from phonological similarity. Examples: katakata (confusion, chaos), wakawaka (walk or wander perpetually), toktok (talk, gossip).
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought to a study on the effect of Pidgin English on Nigerian students
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
(i)Primary source and
(ii)Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
Population of the study
Population of a study is a group of persons or aggregate items, things the researcher is interested in getting information on the study a study on the effect of Pidgin English on Nigerian students. 200 staff of selected secondary schools in Uyo local government of Akwa Ibom state were selected randomly by the researcher as the population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was on a study on the impact of Nigeria pidgin on the written on English of senior secondary school students. In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the impact of Nigeria pidgin on the written on English of senior secondary school students
Summary
This study was on the impact of Nigeria pidgin on the written on English of senior secondary school students. Three objectives were raised which included: To examine the impact of Nigerian pidgin on the written English of selected senior secondary school students in Lagos State, to evaluate the impact of Nigerian pidgin on students performance in English language, to determine the reason why students communicate in Nigerian Pidgin. In line with these objectives, two research hypotheses were formulated and two null hypotheses were posited. The total population for the study is 200 staff of selected secondary schools in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made principals, vice principals administration, senior staff and junior staff were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
The study explored situations that make students speak Pidgin English and whether the speaking of Pidgin English has any serious negative repercussions on their performance in examinations, especially WAEC examinations. The researcher visited some secondary schools. There is inadequate supply of reading and supplementary readers in some basic schools. The researcher visited some basic schools in the course of the research, and it was clear that the supply of those books were inadequate. Some of the schools have limited copies of reading books, and this does not augur well for the teaching and learning of English language in those schools.
Recommendation
There is general demand for improvement in the standard of written and spoken English in schools in the country. This should have a national focus so that educators as well as parents should let students see that it is good to speak impeccable English language. When this is done, students will take pride in using Standard English. Therefore teachers who speak Pidgin English and encourage students to use it should put a stop to that.
REFERENCES
- Brown Ann Cole. (ed) English. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1992 Dakubu Kropp M. E. English in Ghana. Accra: Black Mask Publishers, 1997
- Derrian D. C. Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary. Chicago: G & C Merriam Company, 1978
- Dolphyne Florence. A note on the English language in Ghana, In New Englishes: a West African Perspective, edited by Ayo Bamgbose, Ayo Banjo & Andrew Thomas, Ibadan: Mosuro/British Council, 1995
- Fromkin Victoria & Rodman Robert. An Introduction to Language, 6th edition, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1978 Huber Magnus. Ghanaian Pidgin English: an overview. English World-Wide 16, London: Inter-Varsity Press, 1995 Huber Magnus. In Special Report in The Pidgins and Creoles in Education (PACE) in West Africa Newsletter, Issue 8, 1995
- McArthur Tom & Feri McArthur, (ed). The Oxford Companion to the English Language, London: Oxford University Press, 1992
- Montgomery, M. An Introduction to Language and Society, London: Longmans, 1978
