COMPLETE SCHOOL PROJECT TOPICS & MATERIALS :
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THE EFFECT OF USING ENGLISH ONLY IN JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL CLASSROOMS ON STUDENTS’ UNDERSTANDING OF SUBJECTS IN IMO STATE.
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 Introduction
1.1 Background of the Study
Language of instruction and academic comprehension is also one of the most widely discussed questions in educational linguistics and the study of multilingual education. Fundamentally, this is a question as seemingly straightforward as it is: Can students learn on a language that they are not fully conversant with? This question is not a mere hypothesised one to the millions of students in sub-Saharan Africa, it is the day-to-day reality of every school-day. In Nigeria, where the National Policy on Education (FRN, 2014) dictates that English is the primary medium of instruction in junior secondary schools, students are supposed to acquire complicated academic knowledge not only in the basic science and mathematics but also in social studies and agricultural science all in a language that most of them only know as a second or even third language.
The case of Imo state, in the South-East geopolitical region of Nigeria, gives a very valuable case study of studying this problem. A very large percentage of junior secondary school students are also from homes and communities speaking Igbo as their first language, so the Imo public junior secondary schools exemplify a situation where the language barrier between home and school is both extensive and has educational implications. The consequences of the situation when teachers teach students in English in cases where students have not yet mastered English and when the academic register of school English is very different than the one that is used in the street can be devastating and far-reaching (Cummins, 2021; Probyn, 2019).
The studies in the logic of linguistics reveal that there is always a strong correlation between the proficiency in language and the understanding of academic issues. The distinction between Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) and Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) proposed by Cummins (1979, 2000, 2021) is influential because it emphasises the fact that conversational English a student might learn through watching television, listening to music, and informal communication with the other person is radically different than a type of academic English which is needed to comprehend a science textbook, make a mathematical argument, or interpret a historical document. Students with not yet developed CALP have a systematic disadvantage in comprehending content-area subjects in classes that use only English in junior secondary school.
This paper examines the impact of English-only classroom teaching on the junior secondary school students in the Imo State based on both quantitative and qualitative variables of the academic comprehension and personal experience in the classroom. The general purpose is to make a contribution to the existing body of rigorous empirical research on the language-in-education policy in Nigeria and to inform the intervention that can result in the enhanced comprehension of the subject among the junior secondary school learners in Imo State.
The history of English-medium instruction in Nigeria cannot be discussed outside of the history of British colonial education. Since the inception of the first missionary schools in the nineteenth century up to independence in 1960 and after that, English has held a privileged role in the educational hierarchy in Nigeria not only as a handy lingua franca but also as a language of intellectual prestige, economic development, and social mobility (Adegbija, 2004; Odili, 2016). The inclusion of English as the medium of instruction in secondary education which has been entrenched in successive National Policy on Education documents has implied that generations of Nigerian students have been anticipated to study complex academic material in a language which is neither their first tongue nor, in many cases, their outside-school exposure.
This phase at the junior secondary school (JSS1-JSS3) level is a particularly crucial one in Imo State, as in the rest of the Igbo-speaking South-East Nigeria. Students taking JSS1 usually have a background in primary schools where although there has been intentions of policies, a mix between Igbo and English has been employed in teaching. Once they enter junior secondary school, a far more stringent requirement of prerequisite English-only communication is placed upon them and they are expected to both learn more about English proficiency on a higher level and to interact with a more rigorous and differentiated curriculum at the same time. The mental load of this dual task language acquisition and content learning is significant, and both the Nigerian and the foreign literature indicate that most students cannot fulfil both tasks simultaneously (Nwachukwu and Okeke, 2021; Heugh, 2020).
Research on similar situations in sub-Saharan Africa sheds some light on the possible implications of English-only teaching on the comprehension of subjects. In South Africa, Probyn (2019) also reported the phenomenon where science teachers, who had to teach in English in township schools, used different informal bilingual strategies code-switching, translanguaging, and peer translating and still, most students were unable to show conceptual knowledge in examinations due to lack of proficiency in English. The Piper et al. (2018) study in Kenya established that the student in the early-transition English-based classrooms demonstrated considerably poorer understanding of the mathematics and science material, in comparison with students who learned the lower primary years in their native tongue.
In Imo State in particular, Odili (2016) established that students in junior secondary schools reported a high level of struggle in learning science and mathematics instructions provided in English only, with a large number of them claiming that they comprehended only half of what their instructors uttered at lessons. The patterns of classroom interaction have been more recently studied by Madu and Orji (2023) in Imo State JSS science classes and discovered that the English-only policy of instruction gave rise to a pattern of surface compliance students seeming to attend lessons without actively understanding the conceptual material being taught to them that led to poor performance in end-of-term assessments. These results are relevant to the study under consideration and highlight the necessity to research the impact of English-only teaching on the comprehension of the subject rigorously and systematically.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Although there is a general anecdotal and scientifically-based evidence that English-only teaching is extremely problematic in terms of subject understanding in junior secondary schools in South-East Nigeria, there has been no systematic examination of such impacts in Imo State. Although other research has covered the elements of language and academic performance (Odili, 2016; Nwachukwu and Okeke, 2021), none of them has fully delved into the implications of the English-only instructions on the student comprehension of the various subjects taught at the JSS level in Imo State, which would be a combination of both quantitative and qualitative methods.
Such gap is important due to various reasons. First, junior secondary school is the base level of secondary education and learning gaps in this level especially in subjects such as mathematics, basic science and social studies are bound to add up over the years giving rise to domino effects on the learning performance in the senior secondary stage and even in subsequent levels of learning. Second, the unique sociolinguistic characteristics of Imo State, including the rural student population with its Igbo speakers and relatively high but skewed educational systems may have different results of English-only instruction effect compared to the results reported in Lagos or Abuja. Third, in Imo State, the policymakers do not have the empirical foundation to support the targeted interventions without state-specific evidence.
The proposed research will thus fill these gaps by rigorously researching the impact of English-only classroom teaching on the comprehension of junior secondary school students in the Imo State in the anticipation of offering actionable evidence to the education policy and practise.
1.3 Objectives of the Study
The broad objective of this study is to examine the effects of using English only in junior secondary school classrooms on students’ understanding of subjects in Imo State. Specifically, the study seeks to:
i. Determine the extent to which English-only instruction affects junior secondary school students’ understanding of mathematics in Imo State.
ii. Examine the effect of English-only instruction on students’ comprehension of basic science concepts.
iii. Assess the impact of English-only instruction on students’ understanding of social studies content.
iv. Investigate whether the effect of English-only instruction on subject understanding differs based on students’ gender, class level, and school location (urban versus rural).
v. Explore the strategies that teachers use to support student understanding in English-only classrooms and assess their effectiveness.
1.4 Research Questions
- To what extent does English-only instruction affect junior secondary school students’ understanding of mathematics in Imo State?
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What is the effect of English-only instruction on students’ comprehension of basic science concepts?
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How does English-only instruction affect students’ understanding of social studies content?
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Do the effects of English-only instruction on subject understanding differ significantly based on students’ gender, class level, and school location?
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What strategies do teachers employ to support student understanding in English-only classrooms, and how effective are these strategies?
1.5 Research Hypotheses
HO1: English-only instruction has no significant effect on junior secondary school students’ understanding of mathematics in Imo State.
HO2: English-only instruction has no significant effect on students’ comprehension of basic science concepts.
HO3: There is no significant difference in the effect of English-only instruction on subject understanding between male and female JSS students in Imo State.
HO4: There is no significant difference in the effect of English-only instruction on subject understanding between urban and rural JSS students in Imo State.
1.6 Significance of the Study
The proposed research has a theoretical relevance, as it will apply the BICS/CALP framework of Cummins (2021) to the particular environment of junior secondary schools in South-East Nigeria, which will not only test the relevance and applicability of the framework but also shed light on its shortcomings within a multilingual postcolonial environment. The research is also included in the empirical literature on medium of instruction effects in sub-Saharan Africa since it provides Imo State-specific data that can be compared with the results of Kenya (Piper et al., 2018), South Africa (Probyn, 2019), and Mozambique (Chimbutane, 2021).
In practise, the results will offer the Ministry of Education at Imo State an empirical picture on the subjects and student groups that, in particular, have been most adversely impacted by the use of English-only instruction, allowing the introduction of specific policy types of interventions. The results can be used by curriculum developers and publishers to justify the argument of coming up with a bilingual teaching instructional resource on JSS subjects. To the teachers, the research will record good coping mechanisms that can be formalised and disseminated via the professional development programmes. The research also adds to the wider policy debate in the country regarding whether Nigeria language-in-education policy is still viable in the twenty-first century.
1.7 Scope of the Study
The research will be restricted to junior secondary schools students (JSS1-JSS3) in the selected public junior secondary schools in Imo state, Nigeria. The analysis centres on three main areas of subject matter mathematics, basic science and social studies which are indicative of the field of cognitive requirement that students receive as a whole through the JSS curriculum. This research involves the urban and rural school sites in the Imo State and is restricted to the male and female students aged between 11 and 16. The scope does not include the private schools, the senior secondary schools and the primary schools. The research is done in the 2024-2025 year of study.
1.8 Definition of Key Terms
English-Only Instruction: The exclusive use of English as the medium of delivering and receiving academic content in all classroom interactions, including teacher explanations, pupil responses, group work, and written exercises, with no official use of Igbo or other languages.
Subject Understanding: The degree to which students are able to comprehend, retain, apply, and demonstrate knowledge of academic content in mathematics, basic science, and social studies as measured by standardised assessment instruments.
Junior Secondary School Students: Students enrolled in JSS1, JSS2, or JSS3 (the first three years of secondary education) in Nigerian public schools, typically between the ages of 11 and 16.
Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS): the conversational language proficiency adequate for face-to-face social communication in informal contexts, typically acquired within one to two years of exposure to a second language.
Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP): The advanced academic language proficiency required to engage with complex, abstract, and subject-specific content in formal educational settings, typically requiring five to seven years of sustained instruction to develop.
Translanguaging: A pedagogical and social practice in which speakers draw on their full linguistic repertoire across named languages and varieties to communicate and make meaning.
References
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Chimbutane, F. (2021). Multilingualism and education in postcolonial Africa: Language policy, practice and ideology. Applied Linguistics, 42(5), 957–975. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amab020
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