THE EFFECTS OF POOR PERFORMANCE IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE ON THE ACADEMIC

PERFORMANCE OF NIGERIAN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Ngohide S. Gbayange
Office of the Vice Chancellor, Kwararafa University Wukari
[email protected]

Abstract
From the early 19th century when English language was introduced in Nigeria by the British
colonial administration, English has since become a vital and unifying language of
communication, commerce, government and formal education. This paper seeks to unravel the
effects of poor performance in English language on the academic performance of Nigerian
University students. The study presents the challenges responsible for the poor performance of
English language and makes a case for its effects on the academic performance of students in
Tertiary Institutions. The study reveals that language blending and hybridity, mother tongue
interference, bad model of English language teachers, poor infrastructural and learning facilities,
outdated curriculum, religiosity, negative social and entertainment media models for learning of
the English language are some of the factors responsible for poor proficiency in the English
language of students. The paper concludes by stating that tertiary institutions are prone to failing
in their attempt at developing human resource if immediate strategies are not put in place to
revamp the teaching and learning of the English language from the elementary stage to the
tertiary level.

Keywords
English Language, Academic Performance, Tertiary Institutions and Students
Introduction

English language is the globally adopted language for formal learning. The aspects of
understanding and expression appear to be in constant evolution because of the changing nature
of language in the society. Consequently, various forms of the language have emerged over
centuries. In an article entitled “Is English Changing?” Birner opines that „language will never
stop changing. It will continue to respond to the needs of the people who use it. She concludes
that like everything else in nature, the general perception of scholars of English is that English
language is a work in progress because of its changing nature. However, According to Aitcheson
(1991) newly evolved expressions and words have to undergo a process of standardization to
qualify for use in formal settings. Trudgill (1992) defines standardization as consisting of the
processes of language determination, codification and stabilization. Language determination
“refers to decisions which have to be taken concerning the selection of particular language or
varieties of language for particular purposes in the society or nation in question” .Codification is
the process whereby a language variety “acquires a publicly recognized and fixed form”. The
results of codification “are usually enshrined in dictionaries and grammar books”. Stabilization is
a process whereby a formerly diffuse variety in the sense of Le Page and Tabouret-Keller,
(1985)”undergoes focusing and takes on a more fixed and stable form” Until then, new
expressions and words may only fit into informal and other social settings as influenced by its
environment or society. For spoken English, the Received Pronunciation (RP) is the acceptable
way of speaking in formal settings especially in the academic community. Simple expressions of
English language in today‟s society have become comprehensively complex as a result of
language diffusion and hybridity as influenced by socio-cultural values, social and entertainment
media and religiosity. Outright wrong forms and formally unacceptable expressions used by
English learners: unsuitable for formal learning have become a source of concern as this has
been proven to have a direct negative effect on learning, research and publications of students in
higher institutions of learning in Nigeria. It is common place to find people in an attempt to
express themselves in English language consciously or unconsciously introduce
incomprehensive words mostly drawn from their mother tongue. For instance the Igbo man in
the eastern part of Nigeria makes a caricature of English language when attempting to ask the
question “why” by saying “Maka why, Nna Men” which directly translated means “why-why,
Man Men”. This interpretatively makes no sense as they are mere repetitions without connotative
meanings or explanations. Blending of non-English words with English words to form
expressions like “Kilon-Happen?”; Kilon as derived from the Yoruba language to produce a
hybrid that simply means “what happened?” or “shebi you understand me” meaning “I guess you
Understand me”.

Other factors bedeviling the proper use of English Language is the poor foundation of the
elementary/formative years of English language learners. The teaching of English language in
Kindergarten and Nursery/Primary years are poorly executed by teachers and this creates a poor
and uninteresting learning environment for young learners to assimilate language accuracy and
proficiency. The quality and qualification of English Language teachers together with the
necessary teaching aid have been compromised over the years as a result of the presence of
unqualified teachers who are not interested in the teaching profession and who are no motivation
to the pupils going into the classroom to learn. Outdated curriculum, government negligence and
failure to provide the necessary teaching aid are contributory to the poor performance of students
in English Language. The adverse effects of these challenges if not controlled might stampede
the technical-know-how and overall productivity of students in tertiary institutions. It is on this
premise that this study becomes necessary.

Overview of the Significance of the use of English

There are various aspects to the English Language as it relates to academic activities in
Universities. These include writing and oral communication, data documentation, presentation,
research and publication. The ability of a student to effectively carry out the various aspects
highlighted above depends significantly on the level of learning and exposure acquired from the
student‟s formative years. In an attempt to address these issues, this paper critically examines the
above mentioned English Language aspects:

Historicity of English Language in Nigeria:

English Language is a foreign language in Nigeria. This is in the sense that it is not an
indigenous language. English is however widely used in Nigeria and is a national language and a
language of political unity of the country. It is the generally acceptable language of use in formal
settings like commerce, media, government, religious and educational institutions. English
language was introduced in Nigeria in the early nineteen century by the British colonial
administration. Since its introduction, it has survived many decades and to date it still assumes a
more vital status in Nigeria. Bamgbose (2005) views English language in Nigeria as one of the
leagues of colonial administration which has succeeded in eliminating the problem of multiple
languages in Nigeria.

English in recent times has been rated as the world‟s most popular language which is
characterized by active communication from one continent to another. As a language of formal
education in Nigeria, English is an important aspect of formal acquisition of knowledge. In other
words without English formal education would have been impossible to acquire in Nigeria.
Despite the importance of English Language, the performance and proficiency of students in
written and spoken English is generally poor. Damilola Jagun (2014) in his online post of
October 6th, entitled “How does this Primary School expect to attract People when it can‟t even
spell?” further revealed the status of supposed models of English Language in one of the schools
hand advert flyers. The error in the advert flyer of a certain “City of Wisdom International
School” reads: “INROLL YOUR, CHILD HORRY UP NOW”. The words “enroll” and “hurry”
is wrongly spelt and the punctuation is inappropriately placed. According to Jagun (2014),
Education in Nigeria is in dangerous waters, as a result of outdated curriculum, poor
infrastructure and facilities, and worse of all, incompetent teachers. Similarly, the period of
Secondary Education is more often an aggravation of the previous factors militating against the
proper acquisition of English Language. Most Post-Primary schools today consist of teachers
who like the student they teach lack mastery of the use of English. It is common to find in the
junior and Secondary School students, who cannot properly construct a good English sentence,
compose or write a letter, and have illegible and terrible writing skills with improper
pronunciation ability not an exemption. The social and entertainment media is another influencer
of students in their adolescent years. This factor is another determinant of the changing linguistic
structure of English. It appears however that this particular change largely tramples on the
grammatical rules and use of English, especially in formal settings. The adverse effect of these
factors is that, student graduate into the higher institution without the basic knowledge of the
language of general communication, teaching and learning, interaction, research and publication
in the Nigerian Universities.

Below is an excerpt of a formal letter written by a pre-degree student.

Wukari General Hospital

PMB 109
Wukari
Taraba State
Dear Sir,

Calvary greetings from the most precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ.I hope all is well with you and your
family?If so,doxology.

The purpose of writting this letter is to request for your approval for the yearly excursion to the Nationa; Gumti
Park in Gashaka, Taraba State to be included in the Foundation Curriculum of Kwararafa University,Wukari.

First and fermous, if this yearly excursion to the National Gumti Park is approved, it will help the students to know
the theory aspect of what they have being taught by the lecturer.
Finally, it also help students to know places were they have never being before and the level of there brain will be
advancing till they get what they want from the lecturer.

I will be very greatful if my request will be approve.

Thanks

The above excerpt has almost become the typical level of mastery of the English Language by
most students who have supposedly passed through the elementary and secondary phases of
formal education and who are looking to go through the more advanced use of English in
Nigerian Universities. The above letter shows poor expressions including wrong spellings of
words, wrong use of tenses, as seen in the underlined words. Also, the technicalities of writing a
formal letter are poorly expressed; no receivers address, lack of formalities as greetings and
pleasantries are used, and poor subscript. How would such a student survive the rigors of tertiary
education? A student with this level of proficiency in English language would encounter
difficulties in the acquisition of tertiary education.

Research in academic setting cuts across existing departments and faculties such as Accounting,
Sociology, Medicine, Law, History, Economics, Biology, Education etc. Despite the variations
among departments and Faculties, the process of conducting any research is mostly influenced
by the use of English language. Research which is simply a process of seeking with the intent of
improving upon existing knowledge about a definite condition, situation, and/or phenomenon is
not carried out in a vacuum. The process entails investigations and documentations of findings.
The process of investigations and documentations involves oral and written expressions and
these expressions are technically guided by defined grammatical expressions and delivered using
appropriate tenses and/or language of reporting. The language of reporting varies depending on
the nature of research. Present tenses are used to express general truth, facts or conclusions
supported by research results that are unlikely to change in order words, something that is
believed to be always true or a theory. Consistency of verb tense helps ensures smooth
expression in writing. The practice of the discipline for which you write typically determines
which verb tenses to use in various part of scientific document. For most Disciplines in Nigerian
Universities, the following steps serve as a guide in identifying when to use past and present
tense.
Use Past Tense:

 To describe your methodology and report your result

 When referring to the work of previous researchers
 To describe a fact, law or finding that is no longer considered valid

Use Present Tense:

 To express findings that continue to be true

 To refer to the article, thesis or dissertation itself
 To discuss your finding and present your conclusion
 And also to discuss your result and their implications
it is not uncommon to find students exhibiting common errors in an attempt to carrying
out a research documentation and presentation. In the view of David R. Carrette , the
common errors in student research work include:
 Use of wrong verb tense to describe or analyze data.
 Improper sentence structure and spelling errors
 Inaccurate words or phrases

From the errors made by students carrying out research documentation and presentation, we can
deduce that in all research work, whether scientific or literature, the lack of proficiency in
English Language translates to poor academic expression and performance.

Challenges of Learning and use of English Language

Language Diffusion

Throughout early history of man, languages diffused from one geographic area to another
adjacently. With the invention of printing press in 1440, Language, in the form of writing,
became abundant over large spatial areas with little or no cost. Later through colonization,
language was implemented on a mass global scale. Much of Africa was compelled to adopt the
language of their colonizers after their independence for the sake of unity, since national borders
were drawn haphazardly by European colonizers. Such colonizers did not recognize the ethno-
linguistic and tribal diversity of their ex-colonies. Nigeria for example has over 500 different
languages, agglomerated into arbitrary borders. Consequently, the government of Nigeria uses
English as its standard language. With the diffusion of languages comes the emergence of
blends. In a multi-lingua society like Nigeria, blends have resulted in the emergence of sectional
or regional lingua franca like the “Warri Pidgin English “commonly associated with people from
the Niger Delta Area, “Engli-Igbo (a combination of Igbo and English Language)” associated
with Eastern Nigeria and currently the “Gha-Naija” (a Combination of Ghana and Nigerian)
blend of English expressions common among entertainers and several others to mention but a
few.

The effect of language diffusion can be seen when comparing the accent and pronunciation of
two British Colonies like Ghana and Nigeria. A close study shows a clear distinction and
uniqueness born out of close affinity by the former and multi-lingua interferences by the later.
While Ghana appears to show much allegiance and affinity to her colonizer, Nigeria on the other
hand is an epitome of multiple cross cultural language affiliations. By implication, Ghanaians are
likely to excel in spoken and written English and Nigerians most likely to suffer a dearth in
correct spellings, pronunciation and communication because of existing socio-cultural
interferences. The consequences of cross cultural language interference otherwise known as
language diffusion in present day society explains the level of the growth of hybrid expressions
among users of English. Incidentally because these hybrid languages have not found their ways
into the parlance of Standard English expressions, the academic environment tend to bear the
brunt of misconceptions, misrepresentations, and/or wrong use of the language in formal
settings.

Social Media:

The emergence of the social media brought with it a trend that is indeed a major challenge
militating against the proper use and expressions of English language by learners and users of the
mode of expression. Incidentally these unstandardized modes of expression even though they
appear to be in line with evidential evolution of modern English Language, but because they fall
short of the objective and technical mode of expression, tend to create a pitfall for students
performance in academic institutions. Facebook, WhatsApp Messenger, Twitter, Black Berry
Messenger (BBM), Yahoo Messenger, Google+, YouTube, ToGo etc are some of the popular
social media platforms currently trending the globe. The emergence of sophisticated
communication gadgets like iPads, Tablets, iPhones and Andriod devices have created frenzy in
the communication and interactive activities on the social media. Recent statistics of the
Macworld Socialnomics, (2014) reveals that over 40% of people worldwide now use social
media. In Nigeria, there are over Five Million Three Hundred and Fifty Seven Thousand Five
Hundred (5,357,500) social media users.

The general use of English by way of expression allows the use of short codes and acronyms.
Acronyms are used across every industry, in all walks of life. These acronyms are logically
acceptable universally and also appear in dictionaries. Examples of such acronyms are:

ATM: Automated Teller Machine

WHO: Meaning World Health Organization
UN: United Nations
EU: European Union
AU: African Union
FIFA: Federation of International Football Association
IMF: International Monetary Fund
AIDS: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
SARS: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
HR: Human Resources
WWW: World Wide Web
On the contrary, the social media is associated with common creative acronyms that do not
conform to standardized and universally acceptable means for formal communications in English
Language. These acronyms incidentally have become a centralized mode of communication
amongst students especially those in tertiary institutions: An approach that makes it rather
difficult to examine students‟ interactive capabilities in simple and correct written and spoken
English. Some of these acronyms include the following:

LOL: Laugh Out Loud

Gr8:Great
OMG: Oh My God
NOYB: None Of Your Business
BRB: Be Right Back
BTW: By The Way
TTYL:Talk To You Later
SMH: Shaking My Head
LMHO: Laughing My Heart Out
HBD: Happy Birth Day
IMO: In My Opinion
IJN: In Jesus Name
These acronyms, apart from being grammatically incorrect, do not have a stable format as they
are also used as abbreviations and thus sometimes written in small letters. Some are written in
capital letters to show intensity e.g when showing the intensity of laughing out loud, it is written
LOL but if not that ”loud”, it is written lol (in small letters)

Texting and chat abbreviations have almost created a whole new dialect- that poses difficulties
for examiners to clearly understand and evaluate students‟ academic abilities especially as it
relates to responding clearly to examination questions and make logical meaning out of every
sentence, phrasal expression, lexicon or explanations given during examinations. As you read,
kindly and logically make meaning out of these expressions and see how these relate to effective
English Language:

143: I love you

2morow: Tomorrow
2nite: Tonight
Pls: Please
Ppl: People
Ur: Your
U: You
Msg: Message
gr8: Great
4eva: Forever
10q: Thank you
Me2: Me too
4: For
?4U: Question for you
Abt: About
b4: Before
b: Be
b/c: Because
As strange as these may appear, they are commonly used expressions by the current generation
of students and they find their way into the formal settings of classroom note taking,
examinations and research papers. Facilitators and examiners are caught in the web of trying to
figure out these expressions because they do not conform to standard mode of expressions.
Consequently modern day students are faced with challenges of poor performance stemming
from incomprehensible language expressions. Although many a person would applaud the advent
of social media as a means of global communication, the fact remains that, the process is devoid
of a recognized or specified language mode or restrictions to expressions and as such individual
users are liable to use and misuse language as long as it satisfies their individual or sectional
group interest without taking into cognizance the general and acceptable language structure.

Entertainment Media:

The growth and development of any language begins from the act of listening and attempt to
mimic expressions that have been heard. Logically, the generality of what humans hear forms
their basic mode of expression. It is on this premise that the quality or choice of words or lyrics
used by entertainment practitioners becomes relevant to the primary consumers of the
entertainment media (elementary, post elementary and tertiary students). However, poetic license
has created avenues for entertainment broadcasters to adopt and invent languages beyond the
generally acceptable mode of communication. The advent of these languages create an intriguing
factor for listeners who in turn strategically role-play in similar manner in order to conform to
existing trends thereby violating acceptable protocols. Ideologically, humans respond easily to
word power (spoken expression) and tend to adopt what they say in writing even if it does not
agree with standard procedures. The acceptable mode of spoken English for second language
learners of English language in Nigeria is the Received Pronunciation (RP).However, famous
presenters, anchors and media artistes who have adopted certain „foreign‟ pronunciations and are
widely viewed on popular entertainment programmes that are appealing to young viewers are a
source of bad model for their audience who mimic them. Hence on a general scale, the
entertainment media as a result of their poetic license have grossly influenced negatively the
proper use of English Language and have aided and abated language hybridity to the detriment
of global effective English.

Mother Tongue Interference:

Most societies in both developed and developing worlds are heavily accented. These accents
stem from their indigenous language otherwise known as mother tongue. Mother tongue refers to
the first language acquired by an individual. There are over 500 different indigenous languages
in Nigeria. These languages, one way or another, interfere with the acquisition of a second
language (English language) .According to Adedimiji (2007)‟ Interference is the negative
transfer of what obtains in the source languages or Nigerian languages to the target language‟. In
the view of Osaisanwo (2009) cited Egbokhare (2007) interference „has to do with the carryover
of the linguistic habits of an individual‟s first language to the second language‟. It is a transfer of
features from the first language of the learner to the target language or second language due to
differences in the structures of both languages. The features of the dominant languages are
transferred to the subordinate or target language at the phonological and other levels such as
grammatical, discourse, lexical. Errors as generally believed by linguists, were due to
interference from the mother tongue. Krashen et al (1982) posits that interference has been used
to refer to two very distinct linguistic phenomena, one that is essentially psychological and
another that is essentially sociolinguistic. The psychological use of the term interference refers to
the influence of old habits when a new language is learnt, whereas the sociolinguistic use of
interference refers to language interactions such as linguistic borrowing and language switching
that occur when two language communities are in contact.

Yoruba speakers of English, like other second language speakers, have the problem of
interference. For instance, sounds such as /tᶴ/,/ᶿ/,/p/,/ᶞ/,/ᶟ/ and /ᵊ/ are not easily articulated because
of their absence in the first language(Yoruba).Words such as cheat and wash are therefore
pronounced as /ᶴit/ and /wᵓs/. Careful study of students especially from underdeveloped and
developing societies revealed that indigenous language because of its originality tend to affect
students expressions when it comes to translating and interpreting their thoughts from mother
tongue to English language. In most cases the direct translations often results in establishing
different interpretations and meanings and consequently makes students work incomprehensible
and eventually results in students earning poor marks or scores from examiners. On the part of
English language teachers, the attempt at understanding students‟ thought flow as influenced by
mother tongue interference drastically affect their input and limits their level of commitment
towards expanding students horizon in effective English.

Students who are caught in the web of mother tongue interference are most likely to make
fundamental mistakes in spelling and pronunciation. This fundamental error contributes grossly
in impeding the chances of student‟s advancement when it comes to learning and using English
language in formal settings.

Religiousity:

Another factor that militates against students‟ performance especially in the use of English is
Religion. It has been revealed that some religions are practiced using customized language with
standardized written and spoken mode of expression. In this regard, religious leaders and clerics
in a bid to clearly express their faith and intensively indoctrinate followers, apply strict measures
to ensure total acceptance and adherence to the creed of their faith. One of such measures is to
groom followers to express themselves in the language of the religion. The language of religion
is introduced to the individual at a very early stage in life. The elementary and sometimes post
elementary stages of formal education are taught and acquired in the language of the religion. A
good example of this religion is Islam. Islam is practiced specifically using Arabic mode of
expression and scholars of this religion profess their faith with strong attachment to Arabic
writings and communications. In Nigeria, most children from Islamic homes attend the Almajiri
schools as an intrinsic part of their elementary and sometimes post elementary education. Like in
the case of mother tongue interference, these religions with customized languages are also
influenced by accents and relative writing formats that are not generally acceptable To this
effect, a child who has been groomed to read and write in Arabic will encounter challenges
adjusting to the grammatical, lexical, discourse and phonological structures of English language
in the later stages of life and learning.

Resultantly, their level of comprehension becomes faulty thereby causing them to have
difficulties coping with learning and representing themselves before examiners.
Conclusion

In conclusion, this paper has contributively laid credence to the effects of poor performance in
English Language on the performance of Nigerian University students. It has highlighted and
attempted to give a historic overview of the causes of the problem, using error analysis to
establish the fact in issue that there exist several factors militating against the effective
performance of students in English language. Based on this assertion, this paper concludes by
stating that formal institutions are prone to failing in their attempt to developing society if
immediate strategies are not put in place to revamp the teaching and learning of effective English
Language from the cradle of education to the height of professing academic excellence.

Recommendations

Following the body of information backed up by the papers conclusion, the paper came up with
the following recommendations:

 That the curriculum on the use of English be reviewed to reflect current trends and
practices
 A policy enacting a monitoring mechanism for the employment, training and retraining of
English teachers, instructors and /or facilitators be established
 Programmes that encourages improvement in writing and reading culture be reviewed
and included in elementary and post elementary schools syllables
 The Course “Use of English language” in Universities be extended beyond the fresh or
sophomore year
 Social and entertainment media should operate within the ambit that restricts poor
language expressions and relicensed to promote proper and approved use of English
language skills in communication
 Reforms in the educational sector should be carried out and most especially, stringent
rules applied in approving schools in Nigeria
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