THE PLACE OF MOTHER TONGUE IN ADULT/NON-FORMAL EDUCATION IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Language plays an important role in teaching and learning situations, not only as a subject taught in school but also as a medium of sharing information between the learner and the teacher. It is therefore important to use appropriate language that can effectively capture and convey the exact information of the teacher to the learner and most importantly in a way the learner will understand. The trend all over the world, especially amongst the developed countries of the world is that mother-tongue is equally used as the medium of instruction in school system including adult/non-formal education programmes. This factor has helped such countries as China, Japan, India, to mention but a few in no small way in achieving enviable development because learners are able to transfer concepts learned in the mother-tongue easily. It is, however, sad to note that Nigeria, a multilingual country, with over 400 spoken languages, seems to be reluctant to tap into the benefits of using the mother tongue in her system of education. This paper delves into the place of mother tongue in Adult /non-formal education in Nigeria.