Empirical studies reveal the impact of multilingualism and language policy on education and governance in Nigeria, indicating significant socio-political implications.
This special issue investigates Nigeria’s intricate multilingual landscape, shaped by colonial legacies and indigenous diversity, with a particular focus on language use, policy, and education. Through five empirical studies, the issue examines the functional, legal, educational, and political roles and functions of English, French, and indigenous languages in Nigerian communities. One study highlights the role of forensic linguistics in multilingual legal discourse and examines the challenges resulting from monolingual policies in Africa’s pluralistic legal systems. Another examines cross-linguistic variation and code-mixing among Yoruba-English bilinguals, emphasizing their implications for language teaching and indigenous language preservation. Also, the issue investigates how political discourse, through the lens of Critical Discourse Analysis, reveals the way language reflects and reinforces power structures in governance. Additionally, another study assesses the use of ICT in teaching spoken English in ESL classrooms, underlining the need for digital integration in modern education. Finally, the adoption of French as Nigeria’s second official language is discussed, particularly in light of the socio-political tensions surrounding language policy. Collectively, these studies illuminate how multilingual realities intersect with issues of education quality, equity, governance, and cultural identity, aligning with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) such as Quality Education, Reduced Inequalities, and Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions.
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Julianah Ajoke Akindele (2023) studied this question.