Russian Language Acquisition Challenge among Learners in Nigeria
Keywords:
Russian Language, Acquisition, Challenges, Nigeria, LearnersAbstract
Russian Language is one of the widely learnt foreign languages in the Nigerian Universities. Apart from various languages and dialects in Nigeria which made Nigeria a multilingual society, there has been increased urge to bring some other foreign languages such as French, German, Russian, among others for acquisition principally for specific purposes. Since Nigeria's Independence in 1960, indigenous education system in the country has been preoccupied by the use of English as the medium of instruction. In the Nigerian higher institutions where some foreign languages are taught either as courses or as degree awarding programmes, there has been considerable influences that the English language officialisation has on the acquisition of these foreign languages. This paper thus, discusses the acquisition challenges that the learners of Russian language encounter in an English base language of instruction environment. Language Acquisition Theory is used as the theoretical framework of the study. Observational method is used. Related literatures that are directly or indirectly related to the study are reviewed. The study reveals that there are some challenges that learners of Russian language encounter in the course of learning the language. The study also substantiates that the ability of a learner to overcome the challenges makes him to function effectively in the Russian language. Thus, it is therefore recommended that teachers of Russian should take note of the findings of this paper in the course of teaching their students and familiarize their students with the likely challenges they would encounter during the teaching and learning processes.