English Language and Communication Barrier in Primary and Post Primary School: A Case Study of Yobe State Nigeria

Abstract

Introduction: In Nigeria, English remains the undisputed language of school instruction, governance, administration, legislation, judiciary, international relations, unification of the country’s numerous ethnic constituents and social prestige. Aim: the study aimed at examining the role of local language in communication in primary and post primary schools within Yobe state, Nigeria. Methodology: Multi-stage random sampling techniques was adopted to select the respondent for the study.  In the first stage, the state was divided into three zones in which two local governments were selected from each of the zones, giving six local government areas, in the third stage two communities were randomly selected from each of the local governments, making twelve communities. In the final stage, thirty respondents were selected from each of the selected communities making 360 respondents for the research. Results: 254(70.45%) of the participants were male while 106(29.55%) were female. The highest number of participants were in the 16-20 years’ age group, while the least number were derived from age group of less than 10 years. In terms of gender, male represented most of the participants. Furthermore, more than half of the participant’s averagely understand English language as means of teaching. English language was found to was found to be a significant communication barrier for the students under study, with far-reaching implications for academic achievement and future educational outcomes. Conclusion: finding suggests that English language difficulty is not just a communication barrier but also a major academic barrier, influencing overall school performance and academic progression.

Keywords: English; Language; Communication; Primary; Post primary; Yobe and Nigeria.

DOI: 10.7176/JLPG/149-13

Publication date: December 28^th 2025