Attitudes to Nigerian Englishes in higher education

Abstract

Although there is a bourgeoning of studies on attitudes towards Nigerian Englishes, there is limited research on the effects of participants’ discipline (STEM and non-STEM) and the type of secondary school (private and government) they attended in evaluating Nigerian Englishes. Examining these new variables is particularly critical in understanding how educational background impacts language attitudes, given the disparities in educational resources between government and private schools. Thus, this study uses a verbal-guise experiment to examine the attitudes of 406 Nigerian students towards three Nigerian Englishes (Hausa English, Igbo English and Yoruba English). The MANOVA results show that the STEM participants rated the varieties more favourably than the non-STEM participants. The results also indicate that participants who attended government secondary schools evaluated the varieties more favourably than those who attended private secondary schools. This study contributes to the literature on language attitudes and community of practice.