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AcaseforinvestinginimprovingEnglishlanguageliteracyteachingintheearlygradesinNigeria

ByLouiseGittins1andNaomiFoxcroft2,

UniversalLearningSolutions

1ProjectsDirector,UniversalLearningSolutions2TechnicalDirector,UniversalLearningSolutions

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ExecutiveSummaryThis documentprovides a response topressure from INGOs and IGOs for state governments to focus entirely onimprovingmother tongue literacy instruction in the early grades inNigeria. Threequestions are answered in thispaper,theanswerstowhicharesummarisedbelow.

1) WhyalsofocusonEnglishliteracyintheearlygrades?

SeveralargumentsarepresentedastowhyafocusonimprovingEnglishliteracyintheearlygradesisalsoofvitalimportance.Theseare:

- ThefederalgovernmentofNigeriaareverykeentoimproveEnglishlanguageliteracyteachingintheearlygrades,specificallythroughtheimplementationofJollyPhonics.ItisthereforeagainstthewishesofNigeriangovernmenttonotsupportimprovingEnglishliteracyinstruction.

- Children are expected to be reading to learn in English by Primary 4 when the language of instructionchangestoEnglish.IfEnglishlanguageliteracyinstructionintheearlygradesisnotimprovedthenveryfewpupilsinNigeriawillbeabletodothis,particularlyinthenorthofNigeriawherethereislittleuseofEnglishathome.

- Nigeriaisalongwayfrombeingabletoprovideentirelymothertongueinstructioninallsubjectsthroughoutthe education systembecause the necessary resources do not exist. The onlyway for children to have achanceofaneducationinNigeriacurrentlyisthroughthembeingliterateinEnglish.

- There is currently no evidence to suggest that focusing only on improvingmother tongue instructionwillresultintheliteracyskillsinEnglishthatarenecessarytoaccessthecurriculumfromPrimary4.

- Theeffective teachingofsyntheticphonics inEnglishcanactuallyhelp to improve literacyskills inmothertonguelanguagesalso,particularlywheretheyhavearelativelysimilarorthographyasEnglishandHausado.

- EnglishliteracyisontheNationalPrimaryCurriculumintheearlygrades.TheteachingofphonicsbeginsinthePrimary1 level. It is thereforeagainst thecurriculumtonot supportEnglish literacy instruction in theearlygrades.

- IncreasingEnglishliteracylevelswill,morebroadly,alsohelpNigeriatoachievethesustainabledevelopmentgoalsthroughincreasingemploymentopportunities,andsohelpingtoreducepoverty,andprovidingaccesstoinformationonsustainablesolutionstoproblemsthatisnotavailableinmothertonguelanguages.

- AsEnglish is theofficial language inNigeria, English literacy isnecessary for full political engagementandservesasaunitingforceforthecountry,whichwillhelptoreduceinsecurity.

2) When,precisely,shouldEnglishliteracyinstructionbegin?

ThepaperalsoarguesthatEnglishsyntheticphonicsinstructionshouldideallybeginasearlyaspossiblebecause:

- Researchshowsthatchildrenareabletocopewithlearningtoreadandwriteintwolanguagesatthesametime, so it doesn’t matter if they are still acquiring literacy skills in their mother tongue when Englishinstructionbegins.

- Syntheticphonics isveryeffectiveforchildrenlearningwithEnglishasanadditional language,evenwheretheyhavenomothertongueliteracyskillstobuildupon.Thismeansthatitcaneffectivelybeginevenbeforechildrenhaveacquiredliteracyskillsintheirmothertongue.

- Ittakesalongtimeforchildrentomakethetransitionfromlearningtoreadtoreadingtolearn,whichtheyare expected to do by Primary 4 in Nigeria. Children certainly need at least three full years of EnglishlanguageliteracybeforePrimary4.Ifnot,theywillbeboundtofailandwillprobablydropoutofschool.

- Ameta-analysis of research has found that synthetic phonics instruction in English is the most effectivemethodforteachinginitial literacyskillsandhasthebiggesteffectswhenit is implementedfromtheearlychildlevel.

- TheteachingofphonicsisintheNationalCurriculumfromPrimary1.Thismeansthatteachersareexpectedtoteachitfromthisgrade.

3) Whatneedstohappennow?

Nowthereisaneedfor:

- MoreresearchonwhenandhowEnglishliteracyteachingshouldbeintroducedinNigeria.- Collaborationamongstactorsworkinginthisarea.

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IntroductionInresponsetopressurefromINGOsandIGOsforstategovernmentstofocusentirelyonimprovingmothertongueliteracyinstructionintheearlygradesinNigeria,thisdocumentwillanswerthreekeyquestions:

1) WhyalsofocusonEnglishliteracyintheearlygrades?2) WhenshouldEnglishliteracyinstructionbegin?3) Whatneedstohappennow?

TheDebate:LiteracyinmothertongueorEnglish?

Akeydebateinthefieldofeducationconcernstherelationshipbetweenmothertongueandglobal/officiallanguageliteracy teaching, more specifically when and how the teaching of literacy in the different languages should beintroduced.Thisdebate isparticularly important forNigeriaas therearearound520 languagesspokenacross thecountrybutEnglish is theofficial language. Thishas resulted ina languageof instructionpolicywherebychildrenshouldbetaughtintheirmothertonguefromPrimary1to3,withEnglishstudiedasaseparatesubject,andthenatransition ismade to English instruction fromPrimary4.At this point children are expected to “read to learn” inEnglish.

TheCommonApproach:mothertonguefirstItismostcommonlyarguedthatthefocusshouldinitiallybeonteachingliteracyskillsinthechild’smothertonguebeforeofficial/globallanguageliteracyinstructionisintroduced.3Itissaidtobeeasierforachildtoacquireliteracyskills in a language where they already have oral skills, including vocabulary, comprehension and phonemicawareness, to build upon4 and research demonstrates that literacy skills are transferrable to a second language.5Thus,theusualstanceofdevelopmentpractitioners is thatthefocusshould initiallybeonmothertongue literacyandthatinvestmentinimprovingthequalityofeducationshouldprimarilybeinthisarea.

ChildrendowellwhentaughtliteracyinboththeirmothertongueandEnglishatthesametime

However,researchfindingshaveshownthatchildreneffectivelyacquireliteracyskillsintwodifferentlanguagesatthe same timewhere they are taught alongside each other,with comparisons between the two languages beingmadethroughouttheteaching.6Forexample,astudyconductedinIndiathatexaminedKannadaspeakingchildren’sabilitytolearntoreadinEnglishwithsyntheticphonics,concludedthatchildrenlearntbetterwhensimultaneouslyshown a sound-symbol in their local Kannada language.7 Similarly, the Praesa Bilingual Literacy Project in SouthAfrica adopted a policy of, not eitherEnglish literacy or local language literacy, but teaching literacy inbothlanguages from Grade 1. Children taught to read and write in bothlanguages were able to read and writeequallywellinbothlanguagesbythetimetheyreachedPrimary6.AsateacherfromZamfaraState,Nigerianoted:“Weneedboth JollyPhonicsandHausaphonics,bothcomplimentandstrengtheneachother”.This suggests that,notonlycanchildrencancopewellwhentaughttoreadinbothlocalandofficial languagesatthesametime,butalsothatitmaybebeneficialforlearningtoreadandwriteinbothlanguages.

3Forexample:UNESCO,ImprovingtheQualityofMotherTongue-basedLiteracyandLearning:CaseStudiesfromAsia,AfricaandSouthAmerica,(Bangkok:UNESCOBangkok,2008);A.Ouane&C.Glanz,MothertongueliteracyinSub-SaharanAfrica,BackgroundpaperpreparedfortheEducationforAllGlobalMonitoringReport2006LiteracyforLife,(UNESCOInstituteofEducation,2006)4A.Gove&P.Cvelich,EarlyReading:IgnitingEducationforAll.AreportbytheEarlyGradeLearningCommunityofPractice,(ResearchTrianglePark,NC:ResearchTriangleInstitute,2010),205Forasummaryofresearchonthistopicsee:S.P.Nishanimutetal,‘EffectofsyntheticphonicsinstructiononliteracyskillsinanESLsetting’(2013)LearningandIndividualDifferences27,47–486ibid,47–537ibid

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SyntheticphonicsisveryeffectiveforchildrenlearningEnglishasanadditionallanguage

Moreover,researchonthesyntheticphonicsmethodforEnglishliteracylearninginparticularhasdemonstratedthatitisveryeffectiveforEnglishasanadditionallanguage(EAL)children,evenwhereitisnotlinkedtomothertongueinstruction and where pupils do not have literacy skills in a first language to build upon.8 For example, a studyundertaken by the American University of Nigeria in Adamawa State, Nigeria, on the impact of Jolly Phonicsinstruction at the Primary 1 level, found that, despite over 95% of the pupils involved in the intervention notspeaking English at home, never hearing English outside the school and there being no focus on first languageliteracy instruction, theywere quickly “blooming and beginning to understand the basics of reading” providing afoundationuponwhichto“buildtheirentirereadingcradle”.9Thesefindingssuggestthatthereisnoneedtowaitfor children to acquire literacy skills in their first language before literacy in a global/official language can beeffectivelytaught.ThismeansthatEnglishliteracyteachingcaneffectivelybeginfromtheearliestgrades.AnothergreatexampleofEnglishsyntheticphonicsinstructionbeingeffectiveforEALpupilsthatdidnothavemothertongueliteracyskillstobuilduponwasaUSAIDfundedprogrammeimplementedinLiberia,whichissummarisedbelow.

8M.Stuart,‘Gettingreadyforreading:Earlyphonemeawarenessandphonicsteachingimprovesreadingandspellingininner-citysecondlanguagelearners’(1999)BritishJournalofEducationalPsychology69,587–605;M.Stuart,‘Gettingreadyforreading:Afollow-upstudyofinnercitysecondlanguagelearnersattheendofKeyStage1’(2004)BritishJournalofEducationalPsychology74,15–36;P.P.Dixon,I.Schagen&P.Seedhouse,‘Theimpactofaninterventiononchildren'sreadingandspellingabilityinlow-incomeschoolsinIndia’(2011)22SchoolEffectivenessandSchoolImprovement:AnInternationalJournalofResearch,PolicyandPractice4,61-4829E.Orakpo,Whenyouunlock reading forchildren,youunlock theworld—KristaMcKee, (Vanguard,6thFeb2014),publishedonline at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/02/unlock-reading-children-unlock-world-krista-mckee/ (last visited 11th Dec2015)

Liberia:USAIDStudyintoSyntheticPhonicsEnglishProgrammein600Schools1

Background:AlthoughEnglishistheofficialLiberianlanguage,theformofpidginEnglishnativetothecountry(knownasLiberianPidginEnglishorLiberianKreyollanguage)isspokenbyapproximatelyonly20percentofthepopulation.ThemajorityofLiberia’sresidentsfallintomajorlinguisticcategories:theMande,KwaandMel,allofwhichbelongtotheNiger-CongofamilyofAfricanlanguages.However,asEnglishistheofficiallanguageofLiberiaitisthelanguageofinstructioninpublicschools.

ResultsofEnglishsyntheticphonicsprogrammes:

• 475%improvedfluency:AstudyconductedbyRTIbetween2008and2010in600primaryschoolsintheimpactofanEnglishsyntheticphonicsprogrammeonearlyreading,revealedthatinthe200schoolsusingsyntheticphonicsinfull,childrenimprovedtheirperformanceby485%(from2.5wordsperminuteto17wordsaminute).

• Comprehensionskillsdoubled:Theresearchshowedthatthefulltreatmentgroupmorethandoubledtheircomprehension,whiletheothertwogroupsexperiencedminimaleffect.

Outcomesofthestudy:Asaresultoftheaboveevidence,syntheticphonicshasnowbeenrolledoutin**schoolsinLiberiathroughthe***project.ThisprojectwasseenasfundamentalforimprovingtheeducationsysteminLiberiawhereEnglishisthelanguageofinstruction.Asateacherwhobenefitedfromincreasinghisownaswellaspupils’Englishliteracyskillsundertheprogrammenoted:“WhatwehavestartedinLiberiamustcontinue.Weneedtohavepeopleinrelevantpositionsthatwillcontinuethefocusonreading,evenifdonorsleaveLiberia.”

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IttakesalongtimeforchildrentomakethetransitionfromlearningtoreadtoreadingtolearnResearch has shown that it takes a child with English as a first language an average of 2.5 years tomove fromlearningtoreadtoreadingtolearnandittakesachildlearningwithEnglishasanadditionallanguageevenlonger.10ThomasandColliersuggestthatitcouldtakeupto10yearsofEnglishlanguageliteracyteachingforchildrentogetuptofirstlanguagelearningstandard.11Ofcourse,thismaybereducedwheretherearesomefirstlanguageliteracyskillstobuildupon,however,therestillneedstobeseveralyearsofEnglishliteracyinstructionbeforechildrencanproperly read to learn inEnglish,as theyareexpected todo inNigeria fromPrimary4.12Therearecurrentlyhighdrop-out rates in theNorthofNigeria inPrimary4andonereason for this is thatpupilsareunable toaccess thecurriculumduetopoorEnglishliteracyskills.13ImprovingEnglishliteracyinstructionintheearlygradesisthereforealsoessentialforimprovingaccesstoeducationwithinthecurrentsystem.

SyntheticphonicsforEnglishismosteffectivewhenimplementedattheearlychildlevelAdditionally, the National Reading Panel’s meta-analysis of peer-reviewed research found that synthetic phonicsinstructioninEnglish,whichitconcludedtobethebestwayforchildrentobetaughttoread,ismosteffectivewhenitbeginsveryearly–fromKindergarten!ThisunderstandingwassupportedbyUSAIDinNigeriathroughitssupportto the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) on integrating phonics into the PrimaryNationalCurriculumfromthePrimary1level.ThisagainmeansthatgovernmentanddonorsshouldbeinvestinginimprovingEnglishliteracyinstructionintheearliestgrades.

TheNigerianEnglishCurriculumInadditiontobeingmoreeffectiveif introducedintheearlygrades,asnotedabove,theteachingofphonicsfromtheearlygrades isactuallyonthenationalcurriculum.English istaughtasasubjectattheEarlyChild leveland inPrimary1to3.ThenewEnglishPrimaryCurriculumincludestheteachingofphonicsfromthebeginningofPrimary1.However,conventionally,teachersinNigeriateachEnglishliteracyusinganineffectivewhole-wordmemorisationmethod,whichistheoppositeofwhatshouldbetaughtthroughphonicsinstruction.Thismeansthatteachersareunable to effectively implement the curriculum. Thus, there is a great need to invest in training for early gradeteachers so that they are able to effectively teach this very important aspect of the curriculum.Moreover, notsupporting the implementationof Englishphonics programmes fromPrimary 1 actually goes against theNigerianNationalCurriculum.

NigerianFederalGovernmentsupportforJollyPhonicsinEnglishInadditiontobeingonthenationalcurriculum,theteachingofsyntheticphonicsinEnglishusingJollyPhonicshasstrongsupport fromthe federalgovernment.TheUniversalBasicEducationCommission (UBEC)hasadopted JollyPhonics as a flagship programme. In August 2015 the Executive Secretary of UBEC, Dr. Dikko Suleiman, publiclyannouncedUBEC’sdesiretospreadJollyPhonicsacrossthewholeofNigeria.14FurtherexamplesofUBECsupportforJollyPhonicsintheearlygradesincludeinstructingstatestoincludeJollyPhonicsintheirTPDactionplansandhostingJollyPhonicssensitisationworkshopsforkeyeducationstakeholders.AstheUBECDirectorofInternationalDevelopmentPartners,AlhajiIroUmar,declaredatameetingwithavarietyofinternationaldevelopmentpartners

10A.Gove&P.Cvelich,EarlyReading:IgnitingEducationforAll.AreportbytheEarlyGradeLearningCommunityofPractice,(ResearchTrianglePark,NC:ResearchTriangleInstitute,2010),??11 W. P. Thomas & V. Collier, School Effectiveness for Language Minority Students, NCBE Resource Collection Series, No. 9(InstituteofEducationSciences,1997);W.P.Thomas&V.Collier,Anationalstudyofschooleffectivenessforlanguageminoritystudents'long-termacademicachievement,(InstituteofEducationSciences,2002).12ibid13trytofindreference–otherwisejustsaythatthisisalikelyreason.14 A. Haruna, ‘Poor reading culture worsens among pupils’, (Daily Trust, 2nd Sept 2015), published online at:http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/education/-poor-reading-culture-worsens-among-pupils/109151.html(lastvisited11thDec2015)

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in London inNovember 2015 “UBEC is supporting Jolly Phonics becausewe are seeing the results. Itworks”.TheNationalCommissionforCollegesofEducationhasalsosignedanMOUwithUniversalLearningSolutionstodeveloptrainingmodulesforCollegesofEducationonteachingsyntheticphonics inEnglish intheearlygradesandNERDCandtheFederalMinistryofEducationhaveexpressedsupportfortheeffectiveimplementationofsyntheticphonicsfromtheearlygrades.Moreover,theVicePresident,Prof.Osinbajo,isalsoabigsupporterofJollyPhonicsasawaytoimproveliteracylevelsinNigeria.Hisorganisation,theOrderlySocietyTrust,hasbeenimplementingJollyPhonicsinschoolsinLagosStateatPrimary1levelandhespokeofhisdesiretoseeJollyPhonicsusedacrossthecountryinhiselectioncampaign,somethingheisnowpursuing.AllofthissupportdemonstratesastrongdesireatthefederallevelinNigeriatoimproveEnglishliteracybyimplementingsyntheticphonics,particularlyusingJollyPhonics,intheearlygrades.Thus,donorsaregoingagainstthewishesofthegovernmentbynotsupportingtheimplementationofJollyPhonicsintheearlygradesinNigeria.

NigeriaisNotReadytoIgnoreReadingandWritinginEnglishintheEarlyGradesAkeyreasonwhygovernmentinNigeriaiskeentoimproveEnglishliteracyteachingintheearlygradesinNigeriaisbecause the country is a long way from being able to provide entirelymother tongue instruction in all subjectsthroughouttheeducationsystemduetoasignificant lackofnecessaryresourcestodoso.AsthePresidentoftheReadingAssociationofNigeria,Prof.ChinweMuodumogu,notes:“I havenot seenanymaths textbookor sciencetextbookinanyschoolinthelocallanguage.UnlesschildrenareabletoreadinEnglishearly,howwilltheycope?”Thismeans that theonlyway for children tohave a chanceof aneducation inNigeria currently is through thembeingliterateinEnglish.

EnglishliteracyisimportantforachievingsustainabledevelopmentIn September 2015, all UNMember States, includingNigeria, agreed to the Sustainable Development Goals. Theacquisition of literacy skills in official/global languages has particular benefits from a sustainable developmentperspective.Inanincreasinglyglobalisedworld,literacyinanofficial/globallanguagesuchasEnglishprovidespeoplewithgreateraccesstofullandproductiveemployment,promoting inclusiveandsustainableeconomicgrowthandreducingpoverty,whichisakeydriverofsustainabilitychallenges,15andenhancesone’saccesstoextensiveexistingknowledge, creatinggreater awarenessof awide rangeof sustainability issuesandpromoting lifestyles, solutionsandinnovationsthatarebeneficialforsustainabledevelopment,amongstotherbenefits.Thus,seekingtoimprovethequalityofEnglishliteracyteachingwillhelpNigeriaachievetheSustainableDevelopmentGoals.

ChallengesinTransferandTransitionofLanguage1toLanguage2

Furthermore,UniversalLearningSolutionsalsobelieves thatweneedtobecarefulnot to throwaway learning toreadandwriteinEnglishatexpenseofreadingandwritinginthemothertongueforthefollowingreasons:

LackofLongitudinalEvidenceofLanguageTransfer

Universal Learning Solutions believes that the following questions are yet to be answered by researchers andpractitionersinNigeria:HowquicklyandhowwellwillchildreninNigeriamaketheswitchfromfluencyintheirlocallanguage(L1)toFluencyinEnglish(L2),andtheabilitytoreadtolearninEnglish?HowlongitwilltakeforchildrentobecomefluentinthehomelanguagesufficientlyenoughtotransitiontoliteracyinEnglish?Isthepacesuggestedby currentHausa literacy schemes sufficient?Weneed further longitudinalevidence fromHausaprojects suchasthoseinBauchiandSokotoStatesbeforeremovingEnglishLiteracyinstructionintheearlystagescompletely.

‘There isalsoagap in researchoneffectiveapproaches for successful transitionsofmother-tongueeducatedchildrentosecondaryschoolinadominantlanguage.’16

15Languagetakenfrom:OpenWorkingGroupoftheGeneralAssemblyonSustainableDevelopmentGoals,OpenWorkingGroupproposalforSustainableDevelopmentGoals,(UnitedNations,2015)16GlobalPartnershipforEducation,2015

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On analysing the transition frommother tongue to English, the Critical Evaluation of the Implementation of theNigerianLanguagePolicyatthePre-PrimaryandPrimarySchoolLevelscommentson,

‘TheneedtoestablishandidentifythesequentialrelationshipbetweenthemothertongueandtheEnglishlanguageinsuchawaythatearlylearningofL1skillswillfacilitatethelateracquisitionofL2literacyskills.17’

AnEnglishPhonicsSchemeisneededtoAssistwithLanguageTransfer

The2008UNESCOreport,‘ImprovingtheQualityofMotherTongue-basedLiteracyandLearningCaseStudiesfromAsia,AfricaandSouthAmerica’18commentsthatreadingandwritingtransfer(frommothertongueto language2)doesnothappenovernight; it isaprocess…Thisprocesscanbefacilitatedbyteacherswhoencouragestudentstonotice the similarities and differences between written forms of the two languages, and explicitly teach thedifferences(suchasnewlettersandsounds)sothatstudentsdonotbecomefrustrated.JollyPhonicsprovidesthisopportunity forexplicit instructionoftheEnglishsoundsandduetobeingafast-trackprocess, thiscanbeagoodbridgefrommothertonguetolanguage2literacy.

AsProf.Chinwe,**ofBenueStateUniversity,andstates‘HowcanchildrenlearnEnglishwithoutknowingthesoundsystemofEnglish’

ThereisaPlaceforbothlocallanguageandEnglishPhonicswhenCarefullySequenced

There is a case for sequencing teaching ofmother tongue literacy followedby English (l2) literacy inNigeria. Forexample,‘InabilingualschoolprojectinBurkinaFaso,schoolswhotaughtthemainsubjectsincluding3rsinMotherTonguealongsideLanguage2(French)orallyinthe1styear,followedbyteachingreadingandwritinginLanguage2(French) in the 2nd year, all achieved better exam results than childrenwhowere submerged in language 2 onlythroughouttheirprimaryschoolingyears.

17 A Critical Evaluation of the Implementation of theNigerian Language Policy at the Pre-Primary and Primary School LevelsFolasadeOjetunde182008UNESCOreport,ImprovingtheQualityofMotherTongue-basedLiteracyandLearningCaseStudiesfromAsia,AfricaandSouthAmerica