Identified Pattern of Needs in Learning Basic Igbo Language Skills: An Empirical Report
Abstract
This article focuses on pattern of needs for basic Igbo skills as identified by teachers and
learners of General Igbo courses (Igbo for General Studies: Igbo GS) in Nigerian tertiary
institutions. With one research question, one null hypothesis, the article creates awareness
on the importance of needs-based course designs on/of Nigerian languages for GS for
greater learner effectiveness. The article was culled from the 2015/2016 study of Igbo GS
programme of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria. With survey design, data were
collected from a sample of 2 Igbo native-speaking teachers and 200 non-Igbo indigenous
undergraduates in Igbo GS/L2 cluster. Validated structured questionnaire with open and
closed ends formed instrument of data collection administered to respondents. Data were
descriptively analysed with statistical package of social sciences version 20.0 to get mean,
standard deviation, correlation and t-test. Findings: For students, order of importance of
basic Igbo skills is: listening, speaking, reading and writing. For lecturers, the order is:
listening, speaking, reading and writing. Lecturers’ and students’ results correlated
significantly with no significant difference. There were implications for pedagogical
enhancement. The article advocates for implementation of findings and recommendations
from Nwankwere (2019) in establishing Nigerian languages as GS/L2 courses in tertiary
institutions for optimal national development.
Keywords: Second Language Learning; General Igbo; Course Designs; Needs Analysis;
National Development.
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