IGBO LANGUAGE TEACHING; AN IDENTITY IN SCHOOL OF GENERAL STUDIES, IN NIGERIAN UNUVERSITIES

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to ascertain Igbo studies in general studies, problems and prospects. Over the years, English and French languages have attained a certain status that both are taken as General Studies (G.S) courses in Nigerian Universities but unfortunately the Igbo language which is an indigenous language has not been accorded this respect. In lieu of this, this work seeks to address the issue of neglect of a major Nigerian language in General Studies in Nigerian universities. Three research questions and three null hypotheses were tested by using 0.05 levels of significance. The population of the study comprised of 20 Igbo lecturers and 100 students of Linguistics, Igbo and Nigerian Languages, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Mean and standard deviations were used to analyze research questions and t-test is used to test the null hypotheses. Major findings were: (1) Igbo parents do not expose their children early enough to their mother tongue. (2) The Igbo language is not spoken in the environment where most students live. (3) Many Igbo parents have developed hatred for their language therefore ban their children from speaking Igbo in their homes. (4) The Igbo language will be a unifying force if it is well integrated in the General Studies. Recommendations are: (1) Parents should encourage their children to be speaking Igbo at homes. (2) Necessary Igbo textbooks should be procured in the library for the students to be made use of. (3) The Igbo language lecturers should start from the scratch to teach the students since most of the students are learning Igbo as a second language (L2).