This statistics was confirmed by the director of the french village in 2011 during the celebration of 20. The number of languages currently estimated and cataloged in nigeria is 521. Abstract the relevance of french language in the field of journalism education in nigeria is yet to. Worldwide importance of the french language frenchcrazy. Her immediate neighbours are french speaking countries.
The benefits of the english language for individuals and. The relevance of french language to journalism education. Being able to speak another foreign language as well as english is also highly beneficial for military personnel. This therefore underlines the importance ofteachers in the educational system. In addition to english, which is the nations official language, arabic and french are also taught in nigerian schools as foreign languages2. Importance of french language in nigeria best school news. The indigenization of french language teaching in nig eria is perceptible in two facts. The expansion of the french language lies in africa. Ironically, it is also nigeria s dominant language, with the use of english being taught at various levels of the nigerian educational system prenursery schools, nursery schools, primary schools, secondary schools and tertiary institutions of learning. A total number of 125 students of mass communication at the polytechnic, ibadan participated in the study. In 2016, declining oil revenue led to nigeria s first recession in more than 25 years.
Language of political campaigns and politics in nigeria 106 justify or validate their particular course of action. Several of those countries are traditionally francophone nations like cameroon and seychelles. Niger obtained independence from france in 1960, and a history of french influenced culture and french language have been a point of commonality in the. Communication and language are the main source of the human experience.
Onyemelukwe and adie offiong 2004 described nigeria as. French language and print media for national security and. The importance of french has demographic and economic consequences for major economies in the world, even the us. Prior to then, education was done informally, as children were taught tradition, culture, history, and the likes by their parents who were in turn taught by their own parents. English language while the language of the immediate environment and french. In nigeria today, three languages have been raised to the status of official languages. Their relations are based on a long shared history and the more than sixty year rule of niger by french colonial empire beginning with the french conquest in 1898. It is perceived to be as important as the mandatory english language. Franceniger relations refer to foreign relations between france and the niger. These facts come from a 2014 report which discussed french s progress since 2010 because the lack of linguistic diversity encourages uniformity in the way we perceive and think. It can be creative, constructive or destructive, perhaps, because it is a weapon with which one attacks or defends oneself. French is the 5th most spoken language in the world and the 2nd most learned foreign one. Despite the fact that the importance of language is recognized in national policy on education. In nigeria, agreeing on a national language is impossibility due to multilingalism and our population.
The spectrum of english in nigeria ranges from standard english through a more general english whose structures are influenced by the mother tongues, by the indian english of many traders and teachers, and by wape west african pidgin english, which is sometimes acquired as a mother tongue in such urban areas as calabar and port harcourt, usually along with one or more local languages. The importance of english language is spreading geographically in the world there are many languages being spoken. Communication in the english language is much more popular in the countrys urban communities than it is in the rural areas. The benefits of language training for military personnel. French was introduced into the nigeridn school curriculum because of its economic, polltical, social and educational vllhla. I wonder how many citizens of the densely populated country are aware of the fact that in 1996, the late general sani abacha declared french as nigeria s second official language. Today, 26 countries in subsaharan africa use english either as an official language exclusively like nigeria and ghana or as an official language alongside another african language like in kenya or south africa negash, 2011.
Factors affecting teaching and learning french language in nigeria a case study of oshodiisolo lga lagos state chapter one introduction background of the study french is one language that is taught in every school in nigerian. The importance of english in nigeria obviously goes beyond the boundary of academic, administrative, political, commercial, and religious communication alone. Nigeria shares political and sociocultural affinity and aspirations with many arabic speaking countries. Nigerian educational research and development council nerdc. In nigeria, language policy on education dates back to the colonial era when in 1927 the british advisory. Effects of english language on national development olofin alabi olusoji principal lecturer, the federal polytechnic, adoekiti, ekiti state, nigeria. Nigeria belongs to some international organizations where arabic is a working language. A second language is one that comes after ones primary language. Department of religious studies ekiti state university, adoekiti, nigeria email. The nigerian french language village successfully trained 45,000 nigerians from all walks of life since its establishment in 1991. As reported in 2003, nigerian english and nigerian pidgin were spoken as a second language by 60 million people in nigeria.
The federation comprises 36 states and 1 federal capital territory, where the capital, abuja, is located. To communicate with foreign investors or to study in a french speaking country. This page will help you frenchspeaking africa represents an area larger than the usa, french is the most widely taught second language after english, french is one of the official languages of the united nations. The nigeria nation is perceived as a country where diverse languages. Due to the everexpanding global market, the increased travel opportunities and worldwide implications of the internet, the importance of foreign languages is higher than ever. Government appreciates the importance of language as a means of. Importance french language do you want study french language in nigeria. In todays world, speaking one foreign language is not enough. It will help readers improve their knowledge of the language. Multiplicity of languages in nigeria there is no gainsaying the fact that nigeria and other colonized nations have multiplicity of languages because many small nations were merged indiscriminately to form the nations and countries we have in africa and elsewhere today. The production of language is a continuous process humans acquire language through social interaction in early childhood, and children generally speak fluently when they are approximately three years old languages develop to be used for 3 objectives. Language education in nigeria language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols by means. It is important to note that, english language goes as far as to the coffers of cohesion, solidarity, and national unity. Request pdf on mar 19, 2007, matthew iwuchukwu and others published the importance of french language in nigeria today find, read and cite all the.
English is the only international language that is important in nigeria. The united nations annual report on the issue ranks nigeria. Nigeria can exchange experiences and ideas and, in fact, can benefit tremendously in the. Students who speak several languages will increase their chances of finding a job, whether at. French is both a working language and an official language of the united nations, the european union, unesco, nato, the international olympic committee, the international red cross and international courts. English is one of them which become international language. In north africa, the middle east and south east asia, former colonies of france replaced the french language immediately after colonisation, with strong national languages. Nigeria in the 21st century still consider bilingualism as the objective of teaching french language in.
Teaching of french language in oyo state colleges of. This number includes 510 living languages, 2 second languages without native speakers and 9 extinct languages. Recommendations the following recommendations were made with the view of use of instructional and its impact in teaching and learning. The official language of nigeria, english, was chosen to facilitate the cultural and linguistic unity of the country postcolonization by the british. Members of 8 institutions of the french network and of 6 nigerian schools took part in this programm ibadan, may 2017 in 2017, 7 members of the french embassy in nigeria work for the promotion of french language in 5 nigerian cities. It says government appreciates the importance of language as a means of promoting social interaction and national cohesion and preserving cultures.
French is meanwhile the main rival language to english in cameroon, nigeria and rwanda, thanks to the colonial legacy of these countries. French education will reduce unemployment in nigeria. Why are more african countries adopting english as an. Simple random sampling technique was used to select a higher institution of learning in ibadan, oyo state. It is therefore essential that soldiers involved in international projects or operations develop appropriate language skills. The study focused on the impact of instructional materials in teaching and learning in secondary schools in onicha local government area of ebonyi state. The importance of french language in nigeria today request pdf. In section 1 subsection 10 the policy talks about the importance of language. What are the reasons why the french language is important. As you quickly realize when you look at the foreign film section of your local video store, france is one of the most prolific producers of international films. Irrespective of its significance in our educational system, the english language. Compare that to spanish, which is an official language in only 20 countries. Language is used to defining the characteristics of every nation.
French is now nigerias 2nd national language antimoon forum. This demand for the language generally encourages individuals to focus their educational requirements primarily on the learning of english. How the various print media such as newspapers, magazines, brochures, posters and so on can assist to reduce the rate of insecurity in nigeria was discussed and the need for french as a second language in national security and. Language of political campaigns and politics in nigeria. Learning arabic as a second language and its importance in nigeria adeyemi, k.
Its southern coast is on the gulf of guinea in the atlantic ocean. Now as an individual or a corporate party french may be important to you. In spite of the abovementioned importance of french language to nigerian citizens, the language is yet to be taken serious. This paper equally considers the emergence of french language in nigeria and depicts its relevance which can be traced to the phases of economic, social. The importance of french language and why should it be. French is the language of culture opening your door to art, music, dance, fashion, cuisine, and cinema. Learning arabic as a second language and its importance in. But like any other type of language, military english has its own vocabulary, acronyms and idioms. Request pdf on mar 19, 2007, matthew iwuchukwu and others published the importance of french language in nigeria today find, read and cite all the research you need on researchgate. Tackling the challenges of teaching english language as. French language teaching in nigeria and the indigenisation.
This all important discussion calls for an explication of the key terms development. It is very important we support french language because this is the first time we are having this kind of magazine in nigeria. Proficiency in french is essential for anyone considering a career in any international organisation. English is important in nigeria because it is the language that builds a bridge across the barriers created by the existence of many languages. The christian missionaries who came from great britain introduced formal western education to nigeria, just before the middle of the 19 th century. Moreover, important national documents such as the nigerian constitution. There are over 500 native languages spoken in nigeria. The role of french language in developing 21st century nigerian. History and importance of english language in nigeria. The researcher therefore investigated the relevance of french language to journalism education in nigeria. Most graduate schools require knowledge of at least one foreign language, and french is a common choice for many fields of study. Although some recovery progress was evident by 2018, many nigerian citizens did not see relief, and the country earned the unenviable distinction that year of having the most people in extreme poverty in the world. Nigeria is an anglophone country but has approved french language as a core.
The other exception, though less significantly so, is the francophone islands of the west indies, where again american english is diminishing the importance of french. Pdf french language education in nigeria researchgate. This paper examines the role of french language and print media in national security and transformation in nigeria. The linguistic insecurity endured by the less described languages stems from the insouciance of an. From a recent survey, it has been noted that almost 70% of jobs in the us require or prefer the aspirants who know french, other than english, which is a testimony to the importance of french. The importance of french language in nigeria today.
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