On Philipson’s Early-Start and the Maximum-Exposure Fallacies: A Case Study of Selected 100 Level Students of the University of Ibadan

Ajayi Temitope Michael

doi:doi:10.11648/j.hss.20130103.14

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On Philipson’s Early-Start and the Maximum-Exposure Fallacies: A Case Study of Selected 100 Level Students of the University of Ibadan

Ajayi Temitope Michael

Published in Humanities and Social Sciences (Volume 1, Issue 3)

Received: 3 September 2013 Accepted: Published: 10 December 2013

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Abstract

The English language is undoubtedly a force to be reckoned with in the polity called Nigeria. In fact, as shall be soon made clearer in this paper, the language has been accorded so much power that it has relegated many of the country’s indigenous languages to the background; a linguistic situation that is commonly and generally referred to as linguistic imperialism(see Philipson 1992). Many parents are under the false assumption that the acquisiton of the language is the main (and most times the only) means of measuring a child’s intelligence and how well a child is positioned to face future challenges in the country. Such parents, mostly the educated ones, therefore would desist from communicating with their children in their local languages, and sometimes frown at the efforts of such children to mumble some words of their local languages, for fear that its knowledge might affect their acquisition of the English language, hence their poor performance in the language as a subject in school. It is therefore not surprising to see such parents exposing their children to the language from day one after birth at the expense of their local languages. This work gives insights to the performance of children from English-oriented homes vis-a-vis their counterparts from indigeneous language-oriented homes in the English language, as it concludes that there is no significant difference in the performance of these two categories of children in the administered English language test. It therefore renders invalid the early start and the maximum exposure tenets in line with the position of Philipson (1992).

Published in	Humanities and Social Sciences (Volume 1, Issue 3)
DOI	10.11648/j.hss.20130103.14
Page(s)	101-107
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Philipson, Tenets, English Language, Performance, Children, Nigeria

References

[1]	Adelabu, S,T. 2006. The impact of the English language on the performance secondary school students: a case study of some selected secondary schools in Ibadan. An M.A. Project. Department of Linguistics and African Languages . University of Ibadan
[2]	Adegbija, E.1994. Language attitude in sub-saharan African. A sociolinguistic overview. Clevedon, Multilingual matters.
[3]	Brosnahan, L. 1963. Some historical case of language imposition in Spencer, J. (ed.) Language in Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
[4]	Crozier, D. and Roger Blench (1992). An Index of Nigerian Languages. Texas and Abuja: SIL and the NERDC.
[5]	Egbokhare, Francis. (2004). ‘Language and Politics in Nigeria’ pp. 507-522, in eds. Owolabi, Kola and A. Dasylva. Forms and Functions of English and Indigenous Languages in Nigeria. A Festschrift in Honour of Ayo Banjo. Ibadan: Group Publishers.
[6]	Folarin, A.T. 2008. Attitude of secondary school students towards English and Yoruba language: a case study of public and private secondary schools in Ibadan. An M.A Project, Department of Linguistics and African Languages. University of Ibadan
[7]	Hansford, K.J. et al (1976). An Index of Nigerian Languages. Studies in Nigerian Languages 5. Summer Institute of Linguistics, Jos and Accra: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
[8]	Igboanusi, H and Peter, L. 2005. Languages in competition: the struggle for supremacy among Nigeria’s major languages, English and Pidgin. Frankfurtan Main: Peter Lang, Europaischer Verlag der Wissenshaffen
[9]	Kassal,B. 2000. An application of the Bernstein’ hypothesis to the study of Yoruba-English bilingual acquisition and learning in selected secondary schools in Ogun state. A P.hD. Thesis. Department of Linguistics and African Languages . University of Ibadan
[10]	Mckay,W.F. 1965. Language teaching analysis. London, Longman, Green & Co
[11]	Oyetade, S.O. 2001. Attitude to foreign languages and indigenous language use in Nigeria in Igboanusi, H. (ed) Language attitude and language conflict in West Africa. Ibadan
[12]	Philipson, R.H.L 1992. Linguistic imperialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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Ajayi Temitope Michael. (2013). On Philipson’s Early-Start and the Maximum-Exposure Fallacies: A Case Study of Selected 100 Level Students of the University of Ibadan. Humanities and Social Sciences, 1(3), 101-107. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20130103.14

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Ajayi Temitope Michael. On Philipson’s Early-Start and the Maximum-Exposure Fallacies: A Case Study of Selected 100 Level Students of the University of Ibadan. Humanit. Soc. Sci. 2013, 1(3), 101-107. doi: 10.11648/j.hss.20130103.14

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AMA Style

Ajayi Temitope Michael. On Philipson’s Early-Start and the Maximum-Exposure Fallacies: A Case Study of Selected 100 Level Students of the University of Ibadan. Humanit Soc Sci. 2013;1(3):101-107. doi: 10.11648/j.hss.20130103.14

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@article{10.11648/j.hss.20130103.14,
  author = {Ajayi Temitope Michael},
  title = {On Philipson’s Early-Start and the Maximum-Exposure Fallacies: A Case Study of Selected 100 Level Students of the University of Ibadan},
  journal = {Humanities and Social Sciences},
  volume = {1},
  number = {3},
  pages = {101-107},
  doi = {10.11648/j.hss.20130103.14},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20130103.14},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.hss.20130103.14},
  abstract = {The English language is undoubtedly a force to be reckoned with in the polity called Nigeria. In fact, as shall be soon made clearer in this paper, the language has been accorded so much power that it has relegated many of the country’s indigenous languages to the background; a linguistic situation that is commonly and generally referred to as linguistic imperialism(see Philipson 1992). Many parents are under the false assumption that the acquisiton of the language is the main (and most times the only) means of measuring a child’s intelligence and how well a child is positioned to face future challenges in the country. Such parents, mostly the educated ones, therefore would desist from communicating with their children in their local languages, and sometimes frown at the efforts of such children to mumble some words of their local languages, for fear that its knowledge might affect their acquisition of the English language, hence their poor performance in the language as a subject in school. It is therefore not surprising to see such parents exposing their children to the language from day one after birth at the expense of their local languages. This work gives insights to the performance of children from English-oriented homes vis-a-vis their counterparts from indigeneous language-oriented homes in the English language, as it concludes that there is no significant difference in the performance of these two categories of children in the administered English language test. It therefore renders invalid the early start and the maximum exposure tenets in line with the position of Philipson (1992).},
 year = {2013}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - On Philipson’s Early-Start and the Maximum-Exposure Fallacies: A Case Study of Selected 100 Level Students of the University of Ibadan
AU  - Ajayi Temitope Michael
Y1  - 2013/12/10
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JO  - Humanities and Social Sciences
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AB  - The English language is undoubtedly a force to be reckoned with in the polity called Nigeria. In fact, as shall be soon made clearer in this paper, the language has been accorded so much power that it has relegated many of the country’s indigenous languages to the background; a linguistic situation that is commonly and generally referred to as linguistic imperialism(see Philipson 1992). Many parents are under the false assumption that the acquisiton of the language is the main (and most times the only) means of measuring a child’s intelligence and how well a child is positioned to face future challenges in the country. Such parents, mostly the educated ones, therefore would desist from communicating with their children in their local languages, and sometimes frown at the efforts of such children to mumble some words of their local languages, for fear that its knowledge might affect their acquisition of the English language, hence their poor performance in the language as a subject in school. It is therefore not surprising to see such parents exposing their children to the language from day one after birth at the expense of their local languages. This work gives insights to the performance of children from English-oriented homes vis-a-vis their counterparts from indigeneous language-oriented homes in the English language, as it concludes that there is no significant difference in the performance of these two categories of children in the administered English language test. It therefore renders invalid the early start and the maximum exposure tenets in line with the position of Philipson (1992).
VL  - 1
IS  - 3
ER  -

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Author Information

Ajayi Temitope Michael

Department of Linguistics and African Languages, University of Ibadan, Nigeria

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APA Style

Ajayi Temitope Michael. (2013). On Philipson’s Early-Start and the Maximum-Exposure Fallacies: A Case Study of Selected 100 Level Students of the University of Ibadan. Humanities and Social Sciences, 1(3), 101-107. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20130103.14

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ACS Style

Ajayi Temitope Michael. On Philipson’s Early-Start and the Maximum-Exposure Fallacies: A Case Study of Selected 100 Level Students of the University of Ibadan. Humanit. Soc. Sci. 2013, 1(3), 101-107. doi: 10.11648/j.hss.20130103.14

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AMA Style

Ajayi Temitope Michael. On Philipson’s Early-Start and the Maximum-Exposure Fallacies: A Case Study of Selected 100 Level Students of the University of Ibadan. Humanit Soc Sci. 2013;1(3):101-107. doi: 10.11648/j.hss.20130103.14

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@article{10.11648/j.hss.20130103.14,
  author = {Ajayi Temitope Michael},
  title = {On Philipson’s Early-Start and the Maximum-Exposure Fallacies: A Case Study of Selected 100 Level Students of the University of Ibadan},
  journal = {Humanities and Social Sciences},
  volume = {1},
  number = {3},
  pages = {101-107},
  doi = {10.11648/j.hss.20130103.14},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20130103.14},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.hss.20130103.14},
  abstract = {The English language is undoubtedly a force to be reckoned with in the polity called Nigeria. In fact, as shall be soon made clearer in this paper, the language has been accorded so much power that it has relegated many of the country’s indigenous languages to the background; a linguistic situation that is commonly and generally referred to as linguistic imperialism(see Philipson 1992). Many parents are under the false assumption that the acquisiton of the language is the main (and most times the only) means of measuring a child’s intelligence and how well a child is positioned to face future challenges in the country. Such parents, mostly the educated ones, therefore would desist from communicating with their children in their local languages, and sometimes frown at the efforts of such children to mumble some words of their local languages, for fear that its knowledge might affect their acquisition of the English language, hence their poor performance in the language as a subject in school. It is therefore not surprising to see such parents exposing their children to the language from day one after birth at the expense of their local languages. This work gives insights to the performance of children from English-oriented homes vis-a-vis their counterparts from indigeneous language-oriented homes in the English language, as it concludes that there is no significant difference in the performance of these two categories of children in the administered English language test. It therefore renders invalid the early start and the maximum exposure tenets in line with the position of Philipson (1992).},
 year = {2013}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - On Philipson’s Early-Start and the Maximum-Exposure Fallacies: A Case Study of Selected 100 Level Students of the University of Ibadan
AU  - Ajayi Temitope Michael
Y1  - 2013/12/10
PY  - 2013
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20130103.14
DO  - 10.11648/j.hss.20130103.14
T2  - Humanities and Social Sciences
JF  - Humanities and Social Sciences
JO  - Humanities and Social Sciences
SP  - 101
EP  - 107
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-8184
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20130103.14
AB  - The English language is undoubtedly a force to be reckoned with in the polity called Nigeria. In fact, as shall be soon made clearer in this paper, the language has been accorded so much power that it has relegated many of the country’s indigenous languages to the background; a linguistic situation that is commonly and generally referred to as linguistic imperialism(see Philipson 1992). Many parents are under the false assumption that the acquisiton of the language is the main (and most times the only) means of measuring a child’s intelligence and how well a child is positioned to face future challenges in the country. Such parents, mostly the educated ones, therefore would desist from communicating with their children in their local languages, and sometimes frown at the efforts of such children to mumble some words of their local languages, for fear that its knowledge might affect their acquisition of the English language, hence their poor performance in the language as a subject in school. It is therefore not surprising to see such parents exposing their children to the language from day one after birth at the expense of their local languages. This work gives insights to the performance of children from English-oriented homes vis-a-vis their counterparts from indigeneous language-oriented homes in the English language, as it concludes that there is no significant difference in the performance of these two categories of children in the administered English language test. It therefore renders invalid the early start and the maximum exposure tenets in line with the position of Philipson (1992).
VL  - 1
IS  - 3
ER  -

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