Effects of the Use of Pidgin English on Speaking Competency of Students of Senior Secondary School
CHAPTER ONE
Objective of the study
The objectives of the study are;
- Find out the extent of Pidgin English usage among secondary schools in Kwara state.
- Determine the factors that inform students’ usage of Pidgin in secondary schools in Kwara state.
- Ascertain the extent of harm done by Pidgin English on the speaking competency of secondary school students in Kwara state.
- . Find out ways to mitigate the effects of Pidgin English on Standard English usage among secondary schools students in Kwara state.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
STANDARD ENGLISH
The notion ‘Standard English’ is somewhat a direct and deliberate invention by the society to create a class and standard for a language. Standardization refers to the process by which a language has been codified in some way. The process usually involves the development of such things as grammars, spelling book, dictionaries and possibly a literature (Wardhaugh: 31). Based on this, Standard English is defined by Trugill (5-6) as ‘that variety of English which is normally taught in schools and to nonnative speakers learning the language. It is also the variety which is normally spoken by educated people and used in news broadcasts and other similar situations.’ 25 Yule (180) also defines Standard English as ‘the variety which forms the basis of print in newspaper and books, which is used in the mass media and in schools … It is the variety normally taught to those who want to learn English as a second language.’ For a language to be standard there must be a referent and a model which that language must follow and this has to be the prescribed grammatical rules of that language. When one fails to follow these prescribed rules, an incorrect grammar is produced and this is in total deviance with the model. Quirk (100) says: ‘Standard English is basically an ideal, a mode of expression that we seek when we wish to communicate beyond our immediate community with members of the nation as a whole or with members of a wider community – English speakers as a whole.’ For a language to be standard, it must pass through a filter. Its usage is not labeled standard merely because it is used and found acceptable by native speakers. The additional criterion is the acceptability of such usages among educated people. Hudson (33) comes up with the criteria or the filter which a language must be sifted before it is said to be standard. These are: ‘selection, codification, elaboration of function, acceptability (by the educated class) and intelligibility (international).’ The grammatical systems of Standard English are linked to the various national, regional and local dialects in a taxonomic way. It is directly tied to the way in which English is used in a particular area. For the purpose of this work, what has been accepted as the Standard English in Nigeria is a rendition devoid of native idioms or loan words from Nigerian dialects. It agrees with the rules of the English syntax and is also grammatical. Any usage either in writing or speech that deviates from the rules of the language is not standard. It encompasses grammar, vocabulary and spelling.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
This chapter is concerned with a discussion of the research plan and method adopted to aid the realization of the objectives of the study. It is made up of the research design, area of study, population of study, method of sampling, method of data collection and analysis.
RESEARCH DESIGN
This work adopted a descriptive research design. It is appropriate in describing events as they are. Descriptive survey seeks or uses the sample data of an investigation to document, to describe and explain what is existent or non-existent on present status of a phenomenon being investigated. This design is considered suitable since this study seeks information to find out the extent of the damage done on kwara state students’ use of Pidgin English on speaking competency of students of senior secondary schools with a view to suggesting solutions to the existing problem.
STUDY AREA
The major motivation for this work is the relative effects of the use of Pidgin English on speaking competency of students of senior secondary school. This study was carried out in selected secondary schools in Kwara state
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
INTRODUCTION
In this section, the results from the analysis of data were presented in tables showing frequencies and percentages with illustration of results. This chapter also contains the discussion and answers to the research questions raised in this research. Out of a total of 200 copies of questionnaire distributed to students, 192 were returned, giving 96% return rate while all willing teachers in the schools were sampled.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
INTRODUCTION
This section deals with the summary of findings emanating from the results in the data presented in the previous chapter (i.e. chapter four) as they provided answers to the research questions posed in this study. Here the researcher also drew conclusions based on the findings in this study and thereafter made some recommendations.
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
During the investigation to find out the extent to which Pidgin English has affected the use of Standard English among students in Kwara state, the study found out the extent of Pidgin English usage, the factors that inform students’ usage, the extent of harm done on their use of Standard English and outlined some ways to mitigate these effects. Based on these, the study addresses the research questions.
The findings from this study reveal that students’ use of Pidgin English is traceable to their homes. They use it often at home (as indicated by 118 respondents representing 62%). Their responses in other statements in Table 2 show that they rarely use Pidgin English in other areas such as; with classmates, during class activities and with some teachers. Students use Pidgin English more at home or outside school activities like in the market and in the church (see Table 3) than during school activities. Furthermore, most of them do not use the social media because if they do, that would have ranked highest. If they find themselves in a social gathering (3%), they seldom use Pidgin. This finding agrees with the assertion by Amao (4) and Fasan (24) who noted that ‘Nigerian Pidgin is a predominant language of expression and a form of solidarity or mark of identity among the various multi-ethnic groups of young people who crave to create effective urban culture in their respective locations. It is also acknowledged as a formidable stride in the recreation of Nigerian and African socio-cultural identity.’ This underscores the prevalence of the use of Pidgin English among the sampled respondents, especially at their home
Also, from the results in their speaking competency in Table 6, Pidgin English has affected the speaking competency of students. This finding contradicted the result in Table 5 which shows the response on the extent of harm done by Pidgin English on students’ academic performance. All respondents disagree with this researcher that Pidgin English has an adverse effect on their use of the Standard English. But when given a chance to speak, the effects were quite obvious. This corroborates with the assertion that Pidgin is a fundamental simpler form of communication and that the grammar and phonology are usually as simple as possible consisting of uncomplicated grammatical structure, reduction of syllabus codas and reduction of consonant cluster.
On the factors that determine their usage of Pidgin English, this study found that most of the respondents (53%) enjoy using Pidgin English (see Table 4), even though a greater percentage (84%) denied they prefer using Pidgin English when compared to Standard English usage. There appear to be some form of contradiction in these statements because one cannot claim to prefer what he/she does not enjoy using.
This study also found that more respondents (67%) claim that Pidgin English conveys what they want to say better than Standard English. This agrees with what Balogun found out in his study entitled In Defense of Nigerian Pidgin. According to him: “Nigerian pidgin serves as a convenient form of communication in reaching targeted audience in the informal setting,” (95).
It has been established that Pidgin is a simplified language and its constant use results in the inability of students to make a complete sentence and spell a word correctly in the Standard English. This has been a major problem that has always resulted in mass failure in the English Language in WAEC as seen in the findings recorded in Table 7, even though the sampled students in this study claim that Pidgin has not affected their written and spoken English in any way (see Table 5). However, confirmatory findings from the marked students show a preponderance of indiscriminate use of Pidgin in their work.
Conclusion
From the findings in this study, it can be inferred that there is relative influence on students’ use of Pidgin from their home and since parents appear not to take it up with the students at home, the effect has now been felt in the school.
Also, Pidgin English (as was found in this study) was used to create a form of identity for the students who find it convenient to express themselves easier in Pidgin than in Standard English when communicating with their peers.
There is a sense of denial in young people when confronted with their weakness as regards the use of Pidgin. No student will want to give an impression of himself or herself as one that uses Pidgin in examination or in writing assignments. But a closer scrutiny will reveal the true nature of one who pretends over issues of this magnitude.
Using outright ban or prohibition of Pidgin English in schools does not seem to stop its usage but a deliberate and conscious effort at instilling in the mind of the students the knowledge of Pidgin’s adverse effect on their academics and the danger of its persistent use will go a long way in mitigating the adverse effect of using Pidgin in schools.
Recommendation
There should be constant monitoring and evaluation of language use in teaching and learning in Nigerian schools to check the trend of usage of Pidgin.
Teachers should always caution students each time they use Pidgin in formal school settings
Students should be constantly exposed to debate competitions and other activities that will help improve their use of Standard English.
References
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