EFFECTS OF BILINGUAL INSTRUCTION ON THE PERFORMANCE OF SOME INTERNALLY DISPLACED PRIMARY SCHOOL PUPILS IN BASIC SCIENCE IN NIGERIA: A CASE STUDY OF SOKOTO STATE

Abstract

Effective language planning is crucial to the success of primary education in a multi-lingual setting like Nigeria in which the language of the home – mother tongue is quite often different from that of the school. The mode of instruction used by teachers in teaching seems to be contributory to the performance of pupils in the school. This study investigated the “Effects of Bilingual instruction on the Performance of Internally Displaced Primary school pupils in Basic science in Nigeria” with the view to improving such. The research adopted the pre-test, post-test and post-test approach. Subjects for the study were selected to form two groups. Basic science Achievement test was used to collect data. Five hypotheses were tested and data were analysed using inferential statistics of the independent t-test. The result of the study showed that there was significant effect of treatment (Bilingual instruction) on Internally Displaced Primary school pupils’ performance in Basic science. The research, therefore, recommends, among other things that Bilingual education system should be practiced in all the primary schools in the Internally Displaced persons areas to cushion their social predicament in Nigeria particularly beginning at the transitional level (Primary 4) and which would serve a measure of rescuing the deteriorating standard of Primary education for the smooth transition from first language (mother tongue) to second language (official language) thereby enhancing pupils’ academic performance.