Barriers to child language performance: The case of Yoruba

Abstract

The main thrust of this paper is to examine critically the barriers to child performance in Yoruba language, employing a post-colonialist theory as our theoretical framework. Of recent, the interest of some African Literary scholars has been focused on the purported neglect of African indigenous languages by the generality of the people. Therefore, effort has been greatly intensified to alert the stakeholders on the grave consequence of this ugly development. Notable among these scholars is ‘wa Thiong’o (1994:17) who describes the colonialist imposition of foreign language on African nations as unfortunate. He says “Learning, for a colonial child, became a cerebral activity and not an emotionally felt experience”. Reason being that the language of his conceptualization and the thought in him, take the visible form of a foreign language. In the same vein, since the colonizers have succeeded in imposing their language on Nigeria, we have perceived our indigenous languages as being inferior to the English Language. Hence, English Language has become the main determinant of a child progress up the ladder of formal education. However, this paper delves into factors that hinder the good performance of a Yoruba child in using his mother tongue and also suggests some solutions to the barriers.