LANGUAGE EDUCATION IN NIGERIA: PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS FOR NIGERIAN INDEGENOUS LANGUAGES

Language education is the teaching and learning of foreign language or second language. It is a branch of applied linguistics. Language education has many unique functions among which are that it plays dual roles in most known formal education systems. It is featured as a subject on the school curriculum just as we have history education, economics education, chemistry education etc. On the other hand and completely unlike any of the other subjects on the curriculum, it serves as the medium of instruction in all subjects including itself. This paper wants to capture and examine the indigenous languages in school environment. The paper also examines the prospects of using the indigenous languages for education and the problems associated with it. Finally, a conclusion was made on the stand of the paper.