Culture, Language Policy, and the Medium of Instruction in Nigerian Primary Schools: An Empirical Assessment

This study empirically assesses the relationship between mother tongue instruction policy, classroom language practice, and pupil learning outcomes in public primary schools in Nigeria, across three geopolitically distinct states. Nigeria's National Policy on Education recommends mother tongue or the language of the immediate community as the medium of instruction in the first three years of primary school, but implementation has been inconsistent, with English instruction often beginning from Primary One in practice. This study uses a quasi-experimental design, comparing learning outcomes in matched schools implementing mother tongue instruction with those using English-medium instruction from Primary One in Yoruba-speaking (Oyo State), Hausa-speaking (Sokoto State), and Igbo-speaking (Anambra State) communities. Pupil numeracy and literacy assessments were administered in both mother tongue and English to 900 Primary Three pupils. Regression and ANOVA with post-hoc analysis were applied. Results reveal that pupils receiving mother tongue instruction in the early years demonstrate significantly higher comprehension and mathematics reasoning scores in mother tongue assessment. However, English reading scores were not significantly different between the two groups at the Primary Three stage, suggesting no long-term English acquisition cost from mother tongue instruction. The study concludes that mother tongue instruction is a more effective and equitable pedagogical approach for early primary education in Nigeria. It recommends full policy enforcement of mother tongue instruction from Primary One to Three and the development of standardised early grade reading materials in the three major Nigerian languages.

Keywords: medium of instruction, mother tongue, language policy, primary education, Nigeria.