This study which investigated parents' and teachers' preferred medium of instruction in primary schools was conducted in Enugu, South East, Nigeria. It employed the descriptive survey research method. 500 respondents were used for the study. 250 teachers were selected through simple random sampling technique. Two researcher-designed questionnaires…

Although Nigeria's National Policy on Education provides for a multilingual policy involving the learning of a child's L1 or language of the immediate community (LIC), one of the three major or national languages (i.e. Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba) and English, this policy has not been effectively implemented. This paper reviews the problems and…

The evaluation of bilingual education programs is complicated by such factors as the diversity of evaluation methodologies and program goals and the reliability of instruments for minority language students. Three bilingual program evaluations in foreign countries are described in terms of their different contexts and approaches in order to raise…

An evaluation of the Six-Year Primary Project showed that Nigerian students who were taught in their mother-tongue (Yoruba) for the first six years of primary school scored higher academically than students who were taught with their mother-tongue for the first three years and then were switched to English. (RM)

This paper discusses the question of whether, in a multilingual society, the child's first or second language is best as a language of instruction in primary school. Reviewing eight case studies from seven countries in which initial primary schooling was given either in the second or first language, the discussion compares achievement in reading…

Because most Nigerian children receive only limited schooling, it is important to use this time as effectively as possible. One way to improve Nigerian schools is by teaching children in their native language, so that they will not be hindered by the need to master two languages and cultures. (IS)

This book makes a case for the mother tongue as the medium of education for the first 12 years of the child's life. It describes Nigeria's 6-Year Primary Project, which taught experimental groups of students in their native Yoruba in varying degrees for their first 6 school years, beginning in 1970. The book shows how the mother-tongue education…