NIGERIAN LEARNERS ENGLISH AND NIGERIAN LANGUAGE TRANSLATIONS AN

NIGERIAN LEARNERS’ ENGLISH AND NIGERIAN LANGUAGE TRANSLATIONS: AN INNOVATION IN LANGUAGE USE FOR LITERACY DEVELOPMENT by Umolu, J. , Olatunji Hughes, J. , Ijimbli, O.

HOW DID IT ALL START? WHEN DID IT ALL START? ØAlarming rate of reading failure in schools in Plateau State in the 1980 s. ØWe were working with schools in Plateau State. ØWe saw need to develop materials and methodology that would work.

WHAT WAS THE PROBLEM IN THE SCHOOLS? ØTaught to read in English before they could understand or speak it. Ø“read after me” Ø“reading off head” Øreading was disconnected from anything personally meaningful to the pupils.

MEANINGFUL READING INSTRUCTION BASED ON LANGUAGE MATCHING ØLeaners must recognise that print is speech written down. Ø Language-matched text is semantically and syntactically the same as that of a learner’s spoken language. Ø The closer the text matches the learners own speech the more meaningful and the more predictable it is. Ø The children who speak “childish language “ learn to read best with texts written in “childish language”.

BEGINNING READING METHODOLOGY BASED ON LANGUAGE MATCHING Language Experience Approach News on the Board

DEVELOPMENT OF LANGUAGE-MATCHED BOOKS, KARATU ØChildren in Jos were beginning to read based on the language-matched methods. ØNow they needed to read books § To practice reading and develop skills § To develop a love of reading § Not only textbooks! ØBut only foreign Lady. Bird books were available for emergent readers. § Didn’t reflect Nigerian children’s experiences § Didn’t reflect Nigerian Children’s spoken English, e. g. not language-matched

EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF KARATU BOOKS Ø Graded reading series of languagematched books with a controlled vocabulary. ØBased on tape recordings of 7 -year old children in Jos by Olatunji Hughes. Ø Later children’s retellings of traditional West African stories, e. g. Ananse the Spider Ø Gradually “Nigerianised” retellings of traditional European folk tales. § Jack and the Beanstalk became Izang and the Magic Mango Tree Ø Other books were based on children’s dictated items from News on the Board, such as stories about accidents and getting an injection.

HOW WE RECORD THE CHILDREN’S LANGUAGE ØWe read a simple story to the children while showing them the illustrations. Ø Then we encourage the children to retell the story while we write down the retellings in the children’s exact words. ØWe write on a chalkboard or large sheet of paper so children see what we are writing.

In The Last Three Years We Have Used A Computer To Write.

AFTER THE RETELLING IS COMPLETE ØChildren comment on drawings. (Should Ananse look like a spider or like a person with additional arms and legs ? ) ØWe edit retellings, but do not change children’s retellings to standard adult English. ØWe take stories back to the children to read their own retellings and talk about the new pictures. ØThis results in structure sequencing and pagination of the final version.

RESPONSE TO THE NEW KARATU BOOKS NO to language-matching ØParents Ø administrators Ø English language lecturers YES to language- Ø Teachers

DEVELOPMENT OF KARATU BOOKS IN NIGERIAN LANGUAGES ØStarted with retellings by Hausa speaking children. ØAdded retellings by children speaking Berom, Mwaghavuul, Taroh, Burra, . Idoma, Tiv and Urhobo Ø Now seeking to produce Karatu books in more Nigerian languages.

HOW WE GET RETELLINGS IN NIGERIAN LANGUAGES ØTeam of about three working with group of children telling the stories in their local language. ØTell children the main point of the story briefly in their language. ØHelp the children to dictate brief versions of the story in their language using the picture sequence as a guide for retelling. ØFacilitators write using letter-sound relationships in the English as used in their schools.

UNIQUE FEATURES OF KARATU BOOKS: LAP TEXT

SURMOUNTING THE CHALLENGES OF USING LOCAL LANGUAGE FOR LITERACY DEVELOPMENT 1. Accessibility 2. Ownership

ACCESSIBILITY CHALLENGES ØReluctance to participate because books based on children’s retelling is an unfamiliar procedure. ØSuspicion of governmental and even non-government activities in some crises-prone communities. ØDifficulty of creating access to the emergent literature. §Books are expensive to print commercially. §We have put some on CDs to be printed out by schools. §Exploring e-books to be read on cell phones.

OWNERSHIP: WHOSE DIALECT? ØDialectical differences in the spoken forms of many language groups. ØWe produce whatever dialect our children speak regardless of whether or not it is “standardised”. § The communities from which these translations emerge accept and use the books produced by their communities. We hope this will promote literacy development in their language. § When we produce books to be printed from a CD, we have flexibility to produce books in more than one dialect. Ø We hope to produce books in minority languages such as Akweya, Nyifon, Etulo. This will help preserve those languages. .

CONCLUSION Based on a firm belief in the importance of language-matching of text for beginning and emergent readers, we are excited about the fact that the innovative method of generating the text of Karatu books using children’s dictated retellings of stories has resulted in successful and enthusiastic readers. Now the challenge is how to expand extend all we have learned so that appropriate reading material will be freely available, widely used, and wholeheartedly embraced by teachers and students alike.