Author:Abdulwaheed Abiodun Abdulrahman
Date: 20/02/2026
Nigeria as a multilingual nation adopted English language as a unifying code among all the linguistic nationalities in the country. This has increased the status of English to the extent of tying success in Nigeria to impeccable use of English. This is with its attendant consequence on many of the indigenous languages which have been decimated with its cultural and indigenous knowledge systems. To salvage the situation, the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) institutionalized the use of indigenous languages both as medium and as subjects at the Basic level of the Nigerian Education. Despite this effort, teachers have been observed to lack translation competence in the classroom. This paper, therefore, examines the link between the Nigerian teacher education curriculum and the actual classroom practices in relation to translation for effective mother-tongue medium education. This is done through an explorative anlaysis of the Nigerian teacher education curriculum and National language Policy. The Paper concludes that the Nigerian teacher education curriculum and the provisions of National Language Policy are not capable of breeding teachers who would double as translators, thereby defeating the important role of translation in the bilingual education policy. It is therefore suggested that concerted and collaborative efforts need to be put in place among relevant stakeholders whose suggestions would make L1 and L2 effectively functional in the classroom through deliberate teacher-education training with a robust translation framework that will make the teachers become not just instructors but also translators.
Keywords: Bilingualism, Biliteracy, Classroom Practices, Teacher Education, Translation, mother-tongue medium.
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