Teachers’ Experiences with Yoruba-English Bilinguals: Implications for Learning Yoruba and English in Public Primary School Classroom in Ekiti State, Nigeria

This study investigated teachers’ experiences with Yoruba-English bilinguals in public primary schools in Ekiti State. The sample used for this study consisted of one hundred (100) public primary schools teachers in the state. A simple self-developed questionnaire was used to get information from the respondents regarding their experiences with their pupils concerning the pupils’ communication behaviour and competence in Yoruba and English. The research hypothesis was tested at 0.05 level of significance during the study. The findings showed that the pupils found it relatively more comfortable to communicate in their mother tongue than in the English language; that the issue of general preference for the use of English in the Nigerian educational sector which had imposed communication in the language on the pupils and their teachers was a major factor constraining the use of mother tongue at the elementary schools; and that teachers had resorted to the use of code mixing/switching to ensure pupils’ learning and understanding. These findings indicated that there were significant effects of English-Yoruba bilingualism on Yoruba and English learning among public primary school pupils in Ekiti State. This has negatively affected the learning of both languages by the pupils. Thus, the study recommended that the implementation of early Mother Tongue instruction should be made workable by ensuring adequate development of the mother tongue; teachers’ competence in the mother tongue; availability of teaching materials to be used and proper monitoring of the school to follow the stipulations in the policy.