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PROBLEMS AND
INFLUENCES OF MOTHER TONGUE ON ENWANG SECONDARY SCHOOL CHILDREN LEARNING
ENGLISH
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.0 Preamble
This
research sets out to investigate, describe, and analyze the problems and
influence of Enwang mother tongue on Enwang Secondary School children
attempting to learn English as a foreign and target language. This chapter is
concerned with introductory matters such as the preamble to the study,
background to the study, statement of problem, research questions, purpose of
the study, significance of the study, scope and limitation of the study. In
fact, it is under this introductory chapter that we are going to state the
problems and situations which triggered off this research.
1.1 Background to the Study
It is under
this sub-section of chapter one that we are going to explain the background of
the people and children whom this study is specifically concerned, which are
Ebughu people, and children in secondary school, specifically.According to Uya
(1984:21), the Enwang, one of the group that inhabit the Mbo littoral called
Effiat Mbo, today live principally in the villages of Eyukut, Ejejai, Ubotuong,
Ukoakpan, Ekiebongs, Eyudombo, Uba, Ibete, Ibot Ikot and Udingi. Except for
Ibot Ikot and Udingi, the other villages are contiguous, and generally referred
to as “Atai Enwang” (real Enwang) was estimated at about 25,000 making Enwang
the largest group in the Effiat Mbo area. Initially grouped in the Effiat Clan,
Enwang is now grouped with villages of Afaha Okpo, and there have been
intermittent moves to have Enwang carved out as a separate clan.There are
basically two competing traditions on the origin and migrations of the Enwang
to their present location (Uya, 1984:22).
The first of
this two traditions associates Enwang with the alleged movements of the Oron
Ukpabang from “Usiak utin” (the East) to the Cameroons area. From there, along
with the Ukpabang, the emigrants entered Nigeria in the Andoni region where
they stayed for a while. Subsequent migration from Andoni brought the Enwang
and the Oron to the present areas they occupy. This tradition thus associates
Enwang with the Oron group, especially the Okpo group/clan and this explains
the recent inclusion of Enwang in the Okpo clan. One informant, Chief Okwong
Otioro aged 65 years claims that Enwang was the grandson of Okpo, founder of
the Okpo clan in Oron. He said that his parents told him that Enwang people
came to settle at Calabar after they had lived at Ibom near Arochukwu.
The second
tradition links the Enwang people with the Efik of Old Calabar. Indeed, there
has been the tendency to see the Enwang as one of the original Eburutu clans
that dispersed from Ibom to Uruan. According to this tradition, the four
Eburutu clans that arrived Uruan from Ibom were Abayen, Usuk Akpan, Enwang and
Iboku. It is further claimed that the Enwang, along with Abayen and usuk-Akpa
actually left Uruan before the final exit of the Iboku to Creek Town area. The
Enwang are unanimous in linking their ancestory to that of the Efik. One of our
informants declared:Enwang was one of the Efik clans before the Europeans came
to their area. We have always been known as Enwang. The father of the Efiks and
Enwangs was Eburutu. We all settled at Igboland and Uruan before we left and
settled at Calabar because of trouble and war.
(Chief Okwong Otioro from Enwang Uda)The details of Enwang migrations
from Uruan are rather full. Like the Efiks the Enwang refused to be absorbed
into the Uruan society.
The Enwang
left Uruan before the Efik and followed the Cross River until they reached
present day, Henshaw Town in Calabar. This claim of prior settlement of the
Enwang in Calabar before the arrival of the Efik was the basis of a 1916 court
judgment by Justice A. F. Webber (Uya, 1984: 23-24). It is more probable, he
wrote, “that as far as Calabar land is concerned, the Efik when they came from
Creek Town met the Kwas and the Enwangs. The Enwangs, an Efik tribe, must have
come before the other Efiks. This is traditional history as given by the
Henshaws, the Enwangs and the Kwas. Eyo Okon Akak, according to Uya (1984:25),
has also concluded in a recent study that “the Akpas, Abayens and Enwangs were
the first setters mainly on the coast as fishermen and traders and they were
all of Efik stock and family”.Further evidence of Enwang early presence in the
area is that the most powerful deity among the Enwang, Anantigha is still
located at present day Efut beach. Indeed, Chief Isemin Abia insists that in
the past an Enwang Chief had to be present during the installation or burial of
any Obong of Efikland. Be that it may, Enwang residence in present day Calabar
was not without incidence.
The Enwang
people were generally believed to have magical powers capable of turning them
into crocodiles to kill their neighbours in the adjacent rivers. It was
reasoned that this was why they would not let their young girls to fetch water
from the streams. Finally, matters came to a head when the Enwang popular
masquerade, Etok Udo Ekang, drove a non-initiate into the house of an Nsidung
woman, knocked down a door which fell on a sleeping baby who was killed
instantly. War broke out between the Nsidung and the Enwang and after an
initial victory, the Enwang were deflated and forced to migrate once again.This
movement led them to cross the river to Oron where they landed at present day Esuk
Oron. Feeling still threatened by possible Efik pursuers from Calabar, the
Enwang left Esuk Oron towards the estuary of the Cross River where they settled
at Mkpang Utong, so called according to Udo (1983:16), because from there they
could listen to news and observed movements of the Efik who were still pursing
them. Mkpang Utong proved inhospitable and further movement brought the Enwang
along the Mbo river to Ebughu. Apparently, the ruler of Ebughu refused to give
them land to settle.
Rather, he
directed them to the other side of the Mbo river where Uba Mbe, swamp land
suitable for settlement. Once settled, the advance party sent word to others
who had been left behind to join them. As the population grew, the children of
Ating Anua fanned out and established new settlements which soon grew into the
present day villages in Enwang.As pointed out earlier, this tradition of origin
and migration of Enwang from Ibom to Uruan to Calabar to their present Oron
locality is widely accepted by all Enwang families that conforms to most known
historical facts about the Enwang people. There is little doubt that the Enwang
are more related in origin to the Efik than their other oron neighbours. It was
not until 1926, according to Uya (1984:26), that the Enwang people, for
administrative convenience, soft pedaled on their relationship with the Efik
and accepted brotherly association with their Oron neighbours.
1.2 Statement of Problem
One of the
problems which triggered off this research is the fact that the Enwang language
is threatened of extinction and also lacks an approved orthography and written
materials. It is also a problem that the Enwang language is not studied in
Enwang schools, even in their primary schools. This lack of written materials
made the Department of Linguistics and Nigerian Languages of the University of
Uyo to devote this academic year to investigation, description and analysis of
the different aspects of the Orthography, writing system, and grammar of the
Enwang language.
This
researcher therefore decided to focus attention on the problems and influence
of Enwang as a mother-tongue to the attempt by Enwang children in Secondary
Schools to learn English language.There was also this problem of attempting all
righteousness in the process of fulfilling all requirements for the award of a
degree in Linguistics. We also observed that Enwang children in secondary
schools were finding difficulty in pronouncing certain sounds in words and were
also making unnecessary pronunciation and grammatical errors in their attempt
to master English language as a target and foreign language.
Hence, we
are hereby attempting to find out the peculiar problems of Enwang learners of
English which might be caused by their mother tongue.
1.3 Research Questions
This work
will attempt to provide answers to the following research questions:
- Is the mother tongue one of the major
problems of Enwang learners of English?
- Is Enwang and English related languages, or
not?
- Are there areas of similarities and
differences between Enwang and English languages?
- Are there similar sounds in the sound
inventories of Enwang and English?
- What does this area of similarity signify?
- Are there sounds in English that are strange
to Enwang learners?
- What does this strange sound signify or
portray?
In addition
to answering the above research questions, the researcher intends to proffer
solutions and suggestions to aid future researchers.
1.4 Purpose of the Study
One of the
purposes of this study is to fulfill all requirements for the award of a degree
in Linguistics. We also intend to attempt to investigate to see whether there
is a reasonable data on the percentage of phonological similarities in types of
sounds and their distribution in Enwang and the English language. We will do
this by attempting to identify where there are sound correspondences which may
be easy for Enwang children learning English to master and become competent.
The purpose
is also to present a bulk data or relevant linguistic data which highlights and
illustrates these areas of similarities between Enwang and English.This study
was also undertaken as the researcher’s contribution to the development of a threatened
language such as Enwang. The study will also contribute to the introduction of
the teaching and learning of Enwang in schools, and will also help and ease the
learning of English by Enwang students in secondary schools.
This work will also enlighten and mobilize
speakers of Enwang about the need to offer any sacrifice necessary to aid the
introduction of the teaching and learning of Enwang in schools, and will also
point out the areas for emphasizes in an attempt to help Enwang children in
secondary schools to learn English easily.Material and data from this work will
help to update reading, material, curriculum, and learning drills for Enwang
children attempting to learn English.
1.5 Significance of the Study
This study
is significant in the sense that it will help to highlight the sounds (vowels
and consonants) which are common in Enwang and English and those sounds that
are in English but strange to Enwang learners of English. It is mainly in those
areas of differences and strange sounds that the real learning task of Enwang
learners of English lies.It will also help in answering to the clarion call for
the development of Nigerian indigenous languages or mother tongues.
This study,
therefore, is an input to the development and enrichment of learning material,
teaching aids and the literacy base of Enwang learners of English. Feedback
from this research will act as a guide to teachers of English language in
secondary schools in Enwang land. It will also
increase and update available written materials on Enwang and materials
for teaching English as a second and foreign language in secondary schools in
Enwang land.
1.6 Scope and Limitation of the Study
The scope of
this work is limited to the phonological level of the problems and influence of
the mother tongue (Enwang) on Enwang learners of English at the secondary
school level. The scope is also limited to the pronouncement domain of the
learning process where phonological features of the mother tongue of Enwang
filters into Enwang children pronounciation of English words.The scope is also
limited to Enwang among all the lower-cross languages.
This
limitation in scope is due to the following reasons:
- The limited time available for a more
thorough and exhaustive investigation as this.
- The cost of attempting to take all the
lower-cross languages in Akwa Ibom State, as this would have entailed traveling
to all the nooks and crannies of Akwa Ibom State, and many or several more
trips for contacts, and interviews.
- The disparity between the distinction of
varieties and dialects and languages would certainly be more controversial if
more languages in Akwa Ibom State were involved within the short time allocated
for the research.
Finance was
another area of limitation as the researcher needed more instruments and even
an equipped language laboratory and several more trips for interviews of
informants to elicit among reliable data for analysis. But this research was a
self-sponsored one with limited finances.
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