The Sociolinguistic Drawbacks in the English Learning Environment in a Multilingual Society

Abstract

This research paper focuses on barriers confronting learners of the English language in a multilingual setting specifically, a secondary school in Nigeria. Proficiency in English is used as a yardstick to measure the competency of students in Nigerian schools. Majority of students and graduates in Nigeria are not able to use standard English in their formal and informal discourse. The appalling situation of the educational sector is traceable to myriad of factors, but this paper focuses only on the sociolinguistic variables impinging on the Nigerian students’ effort to learn and use English. It therefore, examines the collective negative impact of linguistic interference, social environment, and the shift in values on the student’s learning and usage of English and recommends more effective measures on the damaging effects of illiterate English use on the learning efforts of students. This study adopted qualitative approach where the observation and interview methods were used to collect data. This paper urges the government to take strategic measures to control the usage of pidgin and vernacular dialects in schools and other elements that can weaken the effort to encourage the usage of standard English.

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