At present, English language plays leading role in education, it is the medium of instruction from the upper primary school to the tertiary level (National Policy on Education; 2013). Also, it is a compulsory subject from the primary to tertiary levels of education. Thus, the language serves as a language of instruction as well as being a school subject on its own. This then means that a failure in English language at any level will hinder the movement to another level especially in secondary schools.
The role assigned to English language is great and that is why it is taught more frequently than any subjects in the curriculum. For instance in the bot primary and secondary schools, English language is taught almost every day unlike other subjects with fewer periods per week. Also, all other subjects other than the Indigenous languages are also taught using English. All examinations in other subjects are written using English language (Oyesakin 1999). Mohammed (1995) stated that “the most central among these (schools subjects) is the English language, because of its pivotal role as the most versatile means of’ communication and as the principal medium for knowledge in other subjectsâ€.
English language is greatly rated as being preferred to the indigenous languages. Oyetade (2001) affirmed that many parents. especially, the elites, send their wards to fee-paying primary schools where the medium of instruction is English. This is based on the fact that the earlier a child begins to learn English. the higher his chances of better mastery of the language which will ultimately guarantee good performance at succeeding levels of education. Olagoke (1979) added that the language is regarded to be very prestigious, so that English is used in place of mother tongue at the initial stage of a child’s development. Admission to secondary school depends on a child’s performance in English. It is because of this that he stated that many parents, especially in the town and cities spend a lot of money sending their children to nursery and primary schools where fees is paid and where more committed teachers teach them.
The National Policy on Education, according to Adeniyi (2011) does not state explicitly what the medium of instruction is for primary school education, but stated that the aim of language teaching is to enable the learners use the language in communication both orally and literally (written).
Denga (1990) indicated the importance of language of instruction to achievement when he opined that language is a unique property of human beings as the means of identification, categorization, memorization, transmitting knowledge across space and time and grasping the abstract and the: supernatural. The capacity of language is a peculiarity of human beings. Language is such a common daily event or phenomenon that people tend to take it for granted.
The high status assigned to English therefore makes it to become necessary for every individual in the country to speak it with a high level of proficiency, fluency and intelligibility in order to communicate effectively in trade, politics, education, government and indeed social activities (Egbokhare 2004).
As a result of the many roles and importance assigned to English language, it therefore becomes necessary for any Nigerian that wants to be relevant to his social, economic and political environment to learn and acquire some appreciable knowledge of English. Oyesakin (1992) stated that it is a prerequisite for better condition of life recognized by everybody both literate and non-literate. He further stated that every parent ensures that his children speak fluent English so that they would be qualified for admission to higher schools or institutions and eventually get job that will be lucrative.
Importance of Teaching and Learning of the Four Language skills of English Language
According to Kolawole (1998) a mastery of written and spoken language is highly desirable, yet it’s teaching and learning is beset by a myriad of problems at the primary school levelâ€.
The question of whether language ability is a single, unitary trait or whether it is divisible, into distinct, components has been of interest to applied linguists for decades. Recently researchers have concluded that there are multiple components to language skills, and that the so-called factors represent both a prominent general language ability that is common to all domains, as well as specific abilities that are unique to each of the four domains.
Donald (2003) stated the four skills are strongly correlated, but not to the degree that a measure of one can substitute perfectly a measure of another. The language skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing are distinct enough both logically and empirically, that they have to be measured separately. Failing to 1-neasure all of these important aspects of proficiency therefore, may leave critical gaps in a test taker’s language proficiency profile.
The decline of grammar- translation method in the 1 960s proved that
Language learning might not the limited to reading and writing or literacy. The continuation of direct method confirmed too that†listening and speakingâ€, “oracy†is not all that is language. Language must be taught in an integrative way where all four skills are focused.
