IMPLICATIONS OF NIGERIAN ENGLISH ON SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNERS OF ENGLISH IN NIGERIA

Abstract

This study examines the linguistic features and implications of Nigerian English on the learners of English as a second language in Nigeria. It looks at the levels of their differences from that of Standard English and how these differences affect the learning of English language by Nigerians. According to findings, Nigerian English is characterized by words and expressions that are contrary to those of the Standard Variety. Such deviations have some negative effects on the L2 learners. The researchers got data through discussions with different classes or categories of Nigerian users of English. Various literary works were also studied to have clear pictures of these linguistic features of Nigerian English. The features of Nigerian English discovered were classified according to phonological, slangy, syntactic, lexical, transliterational, and semantic variations. The major implication of Nigerian English features on the learners of English as an L2 is that the enormity of the deviations in all the linguistic levels could constitute serious problems to the learning of the Standard English. The work recommends that audio visuals materials should actually be used in teaching and learning for proper sound transmission and reception, and that curriculum planners, teachers, and the government, should all work towards attaining an acceptable degree of variation from the Standard Variety while choosing our ‘standard’. The standard should also be the one intelligible within and across the boundaries of Nigeria to avoid emerging with a variety understood only by Nigerians if not by some Nigerians.