The Impact of Pidgin English on Students Competence in Nigeria University: Case Study of 300 Level Students of Mell
Chapter One
AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
This research is carried out to examine the effect of Pidgin English on students’ competence. It is a fact that students deviate from the norms of codified English in most of their essays and communications.
The following are the set of objectives to be achieved
- To show the impact of Nigerian Pidgin in a University Community; using 300 level students ofMELL
- To assess the extent of its popularity and the communicative situation within which it is
- To show who uses Pidgin and for what purpose.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
INTRODUCTION
Nigeria is the most densely populated country in West Africa and one of the most multilingual having approximately 400 indigenous languages (Todd, 1984). Today this figure is highly questionable as recent development of minority languages has increased this figure to possibly estimated 500. As in other parts of West Africa, there are no statistics for the number of people who speak pidgin English but as the population is a young one and as more become urbanized, Todd (1984) projects at least 5 million users of pidgin English in Nigeria. With the growth of Nigeria’s population and rapid urbanization one can project a much higher figure.
Nigerian Pidgin (NP) is widely used in certain states where minority languages abound and no particular language is deemed as the major language. State creation however, gave rise to the status of the various local minority languages in such states. Such states where NP is viewed as a-language in its own right by virtue of constant usage and growth include the South-South geo-political states of Edo, Delta, Rivers, Bayelsa and Cross River and to a lesser extent
Akwa-lbom. Akwa-lbom is a fairly homogenous state and so, strictly speaking does not fall under this category. A pidgin is a communication system that develops among people who do not share a common language. Linguists claim that a language is an arbitrary set of signs by which members of a speech community communicate and cooperate (Fromkin and Rodman, 1989). Pidgins are auxiliary languages which can be characterized as either restricted or extended. An extended pidgin is one which although, it may not become a Mother Tongue (MT/L.1) but proves virtually important in a multilingual nation like Nigeria where pidgin is used beyond the original limited functions.
The Nigerian Pidgin (NP):
It is a Known fact that pidgin the world over, developed from contact situations, especially where the groups in contact have no common means of communication. Todd (1984) defines pidgin as a marginal language that arises to fulfill certain restricted communication needs among people who have no common language. In other words, when a language is used as a means of contact or communication between persons having no other language in common and when this particular language is native to none of the people using it, it is called a pidgin. Todd (1984) says that a pidgin is a common language that has a fixed word order and is syntactically simpler than any other mother tongue variety of English. The Nigerian pidgin is particularly influenced not just by English but by local languages too. Egbokhare (2001) observes that NP thrives in a linguistically heterogeneous environment like Nigeria with a total of about 436 indigenous languages. In the same vein, Bamgbose (1991) accepts the wide use of NP as a means of communication in Nigeria.
The Nigerian Pidgin (NP) is a language of wider communication in the face of the multiplicity of languages in the country. Pidgin has no standard grammar or model; no noun-verb agreement endings. NP is therefore not standardized as it varies in depth and usage from region to region (Ugot, 2009). However, Abdullahi notes that using the word pidgin to describe the speech pattern or its written version commonly referred to as broken English in days gone by or stylishly named rotten English by Ken Saro-Wiwa in his novel, sozaboy is no longer fashionable nor accurate. The structure of the NP includes an absence of grammatical categories like gender, case, person, number, mood and voice. There are no inflections for plural possessive or derivational types. Pronouns often preceed nouns.
Code-switching and code-mixing are inherent in Nigeria’s multilingual society. The NP is one of the languages used commonly in code-mixing and code-switching in particular because it is often used in situational code-switching where the situation demands a change in language to accommodate a third party who may not be fluent in the language used by the original speaker.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
This chapter highlights various methods used to collect the data in the course of this study. It includes population sampling, the data sources and instrument.
POPULATION SAMPLING
The research takes its sample from students of 300 Level in their casual conversation within the school premises and hostel. A population of one thirty students of three hundred levels was selected through the simple random sampling technique, by which one student out of every three was interviewed. A total of thirty students were nterviewed on the same subject matter.
METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION
In the course of this research work, the formal interview and observation of the students’ discourse were employed. Attempt is made to present the data and analyse the data presented. The data is presented on the impact of pidgin English on students competence. The analysis is in such a way to enable the researcher to get a comprehensive result.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA ANALYSIS
INTRODUCTION
This chapter attempts to explain how the students use pidgin in their academic discourse, classroom and casual discussion among them, looking into its impact in their phonology, lexical and syntactic peculiarities. At the end of the analysis, logical deductions and conclusions were made to the research problems stated earlier, while appropriate recommendations were given.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
It is observed that many of the students do not understand that English language is distinctly different from Nigerian pidgin. They do not know that the grammar and vocabulary of the pidgin are foreign and unacceptable to English. This set of students are fooled by the English language vocabulary they use in Nigerian pidgin to assume that the two languages are the same.
Solomon (2007:82) reports that this ignorance makes students to loan Nigerian pidgin vocabulary to the language. As a result of the ignorance, many students impose the grammatical structure of the former on the latter in their written English. These have grave effects on their performance in English language examinations.
As seen from the data above, Nigerian pidgin is a formidable and unassailable indigenous language in Nigeria. The co-existence of English language and the pidgin is an educational problem in Nigeria. The negative impact of the co-existence of the two languages exerts some considerable negative effects on the effective learning of English. The ignorance of some students about the distinct features of the two languages has a grave implication on the learning of English language in the country.
Implication to Research and Practice
The school curriculum would have to be adjusted to accommodate Nigerian pidgin. Students need to be aware, right from upper primary school through to the end of junior secondary school, that Nigerian pidgin is different from English language. The differences should be taught alongside their negative effects when Nigerian pidgin interferes with English. This campaign should be sustained for the period suggested above so as to afford the students’ sufficient time to learn how to handle the languages independent of each other. Teachers in primary schools as well as English language teachers in secondary schools need to acquire the requisite knowledge of Nigerian pidgin and its negative effect whenever it interferes with English language. The teachers will then be able to teach students as suggested above. Policy makers in Nigeria need no longer disdain or ignore Nigerian pidgin. Doing the contrary is a disservice to the educational progress of the teeming population of the future leaders of the country.
Nigerian pidgin is a national linguistic force to reckon with in Nigeria. A well articulated programme is of necessity, which needs to developed. This will enable students and other users of the language to be conversant with the orthography and vocabulary of the language. It is envisaged that this will drastically minimise the interference of Nigerian pidgin with the English that students are taught in schools.
CONCLUSION
This project hopes that these measures will contribute to revamping the unsatisfactory poor performance of students in English language, which is vital to both their success and progress in formal education. The government, parents and teachers will achieve greater value from their investments, in both human and material resources, expended on education when the teeming population of students passes the all important English language examination. Teachers of English need to be equipped with necessary provisions to enable students overcome the pressures of their massive exposure to Nigerian pidgin in the society. This call for a reappraisal of the teaching of English language is expected to enhance better returns on teachers’ efforts.
References
- Abdullahi-Idiagbo, M.S. (2010), “The sociolinguistic of Nigerian pidgin English in selected university campuses in Nigeria”. Ife studies in English language Vol. 8, No. 1, September, 2010, pp. 50-60.
- Ativie, C.A. (2012), Cultural Influences as Inputs of Development of Nigeria Pidgin. Novena University, press.
- Bomgbose, A. (1991), Language and the Nation. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University press (2013), African Linguistic Association, African Linguistics and Social Responsibility. An address presented at the WALS and LAN conference at the university of Ibadan.
- Babawilly, (2001), Nigeria-Babawilly Pidgin English Dictionary. www.nyex.com
- Skiba, R. (1997), “Code Switching as a Countenance of Language Interference” [email protected]
