Learning and Language

Learning and language are two inseparable processes..
For complete learning to take place, there must be communication..
For communication to be successful, language is mostly used
One of the factors that barriers learning is language..
If a learner cannot understand the language used to teach, then learning is distorted.
Teachers are supposed to be Language models because the children often listen to us qnd imitate what we say and how we say them if they understand it

I am from Nigeria..
If you were to travel around Nigeria, you would observe that different groups of Nigeriabs speak different languages. Here in Nigeria, we speak many languages even though the major ones are ignoring, Hausa, Yoruba and efik/ibibio.
For successful learning in Nigeria, the national policy on education states that every Nigerian child must learn with his mother tongue and English.. That is, every child has to be at least bilingual
This means that the teacher either uses English or the mother tongue of the majority learners to teach in class thereby making teaching and learning more effective
For this to be effectively implemented, the teacher must know the different nature of languages and how to use them

Photo source : @estherekanem

nature of languages
There are diverse nature of languages viz;
• language is a collection of symbols which each distinct group of human beings has put together for the primary purpose of communication among it's members
• language uses two processes- listening and speaking.. Understanding is involved in listening while producing is involved in speaking
•language has two levels- the surface structure and the deep structure
•language is made up of four components- sound, grammar, meaning and function

For learning to successfully take place, a teacher must understand the nature of language.
He must know the language that the learner is conversant with
Not just knowing it, he must make use of it..