Journal of Integrated Civil and Structural Engineering
Mother-tongue instruction in early grades and later English literacy: evidence from a four-year cohort
- Blessing N. Okonkwo Institute of Education, University of Benin ORCID 0000-0002-3345-1180 Search for this author on: Google Scholar
- Peter O. Adeleke Faculty of Education, Obafemi Awolowo University Search for this author on: Google Scholar
Article Number - CAFB48F70DD7 Vol.7(2), pp. 55-72 , June 2026 https://doi.org/10.71234/ijedr.2026.0702.06
Received: 21 January 2026 Accepted: 21 May 2026 Published: 20 June 2026
Copyright © 2026 The Author(s). All rights reserved by the authors.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0.
Abstract
Policy has mandated mother-tongue instruction in the first three primary years for four decades, yet implementation is uneven. We followed 1,640 pupils across 52 schools from primary one to primary four, classifying schools by observed rather than declared language of instruction. Pupils in genuinely mother-tongue classrooms scored 0.31 standard deviations higher on primary-four English reading comprehension, with the advantage concentrated in decoding rather than vocabulary.
Keywords: Mother-tongue instruction, Early literacy, Bilingual education, Cohort study, Nigeria
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Authors
Institute of Education, University of Benin
ORCID 0000-0002-3345-1180
Search on Google ScholarFaculty of Education, Obafemi Awolowo University
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Since publication on 20 June 2026.
How to Cite this Article
Okonkwo, B. N., & Adeleke, P. O. (2026). Mother-tongue instruction in early grades and later English literacy: evidence from a four-year cohort. Journal of Integrated Civil and Structural Engineering, 7(2), 55-72. https://doi.org/10.71234/ijedr.2026.0702.06
Okonkwo, Blessing N., and Peter O. Adeleke. "Mother-tongue instruction in early grades and later English literacy: evidence from a four-year cohort." Journal of Integrated Civil and Structural Engineering, vol. 7, no. 2, 2026, pp. 55-72. https://doi.org/10.71234/ijedr.2026.0702.06.
Blessing N. Okonkwo, Peter O. Adeleke. "Mother-tongue instruction in early grades and later English literacy: evidence from a four-year cohort." Journal of Integrated Civil and Structural Engineering 7, no. 2 (2026): 55-72. https://doi.org/10.71234/ijedr.2026.0702.06.