DIFFICULTIES OF TEACHING AND LEARNING OF ENGLISH IN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Language has always performed vital roles on a daily basis in the life of 
human beings. It has been a major instrument of communication and 
development in every era of civilization. In recent times language has best 
been regarded as a tool for creation and reconstruction of every society. One 
of the languages that perform these roles is the English language, as it is the 
most widely spoken across the continents of the world. Therefore, much 
importance has been placed on its teaching and learning towards re-inventing 
the public mission of higher education. The paper discussed the difficulties of 
English language teaching among students 100 and 200 levels of English 
languagein the department of Arts Education, Faculty of Education of Prince 
Abubakar Audu University, Anyigba, Kogi State, towards achieving the 
functional goals of language education. It equally highlighted the difficulties 
encountered in the teaching process and offered suggestions towards 
improving the teaching and learning of the English Language in Nigeria. Some 
of the suggestions are; always make sure the students are effective in the use 
of the rules of grammar taught in the class and that they use them in 
appropriate communicate contexts or situations, periodic evaluation of the 
pedagogy process must be undertaken using both achievement and diagnostic 
tests. This is to monitor both the teachers’ and the students’ progress in the 
teaching/learning of the English language, practical and theoretical teachers of 
phonology must be done by making phonemic distinctions through drilling 
exercises and listening to tapes from good models to stem phonological 
interference in the students’ oral English.