Lagos: Prof. Joy Odewunmi of Lagos State University of Education, on Thursday, called on parents to teach their children dialects to prevent the extinction of indigenous languages.
Odewunmi also urged governments to invest more in teachers of indigenous languages.
She made the call during the presentation of experiences in a research carried out on indigenous languages with the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) 2023 grant.
The event was held at the Lagos State University of Education (LASUED), Ijaniki, Lagos State.
Odewunmi is of the College of Language and Communication Arts Education, LASUED.
The research was entitled ‘Teaching Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba Proverbs Using Colouring Books and Interactive Animations for Nigerian Junior Primary Schools’.
The professor said that parents should make speaking of native languages attractive to their children.
“Parents should speak to their children in their native languages. The brain can learn 10,000 languages.
“Speak to them in your mother tongue and make the language attractive,” she said.
She noted a gap in learning and proficiency in speaking Nigerian languages among the youth.
She noted that the 2022 National Policy on Education prescribed that mother tongues should be used as a medium of instruction for primary pupils.
“For junior secondary schools, the three major Nigerian languages are prescribed for learning.
“There is a continuous decline in the use of our indigenous languages. There is now a renewed national pronouncement about adherence to teaching primary pupils in their mother tongue,” she said.
Dr Ngozi Dom-Anyanwu appealed to the federal and state governments to produce more teachers of indigenous languages.
Dom-Anyanwu is a lecturer at the Department of Nigerian Languages, Igbo Unit, LASUED.
“Some teachers of these languages are not qualified. They are not qualified to teach these languages. Some of them are ill-trained.
“When I say that they are ill-trained, what I mean is this: you go to a secondary school and see people teaching Igbo Language, but they did not study Igbo Language in any higher institution.
The don said that a major challenge encountered during the research was that some states had different dialects.
“Maybe, they studied history or any other course, but because they are of Igbo origin, they just chose to teach the language.
“We should have qualified teachers, and those who are ill-trained should be given on-the-job training so that they will be able to teach well,” she said.
She also said that governments should provide instructional materials. Prof. Oladayo Akomu of the Department of Nigerian Languages, LASUED, said that research must be beneficial to society.
“We won a grant from TETFUND and carried out research, and today is the grand finale where we have to present our experience in the field.
“Over the years, Lagos State Government has tried when it comes to the issue of promoting indigenous languages.
“For instance, all Lagos State tertiary institutions are now offering Yoruba at the level of general studies; so, we have to praise the government for that.
He urged the government to work on the outcomes of the research.
“The usual practice in the past was that when we had research of this nature, the stakeholders didn’t always work on the outcomes.
“We appeal to the government to look into our recommendation.
“There is a lot of research that we can carry out on indigenous languages apart from the one we have just done; so the government has a lot of roles to play,” he said.
Professors and doctors at the dissemination ceremony of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund 2023 grant at the Lagos State University of Education, Ijaniki, Lagos State, on Thursday.