THE INFLUENCE OF SOCIO-PSYCHOLOGICAL VARIABLES ON ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY AMONG YORUBA-ENGLISH BILINGUAL STUDENTS

Nigeria is a multilingual and multicultural nation where hundreds of indigenous languages are spoken. In practice, however, the nation is largely bilingual, as many Nigerians—especially educated ones—speak only their mother tongue and English. While every child typically acquires a first language with relative ease, learning a second language successfully is not guaranteed. Achieving proficiency, defined as mastery of communicative competence, remains a challenge for many Nigerian learners of English as a second language. Existing studies on bilingualism in Nigeria have largely focused on the effects of bilingualism on education or the influence of the first language on second language learning, with little attention to socio-psychological variables. This study investigates whether environmental and parental factors, individually or in combination, determine the English proficiency of Yoruba-English bilingual students. A survey design was adopted, using bilingual proficiency tests and participant observation as instruments. Data from the tests were analyzed using the t-test, while observational data were explained qualitatively. Findings indicate a significant difference in English proficiency between urban and semi-urban respondents, but no significant difference between students from literate and non-literate homes. The study concludes that second language proficiency is influenced by the interplay of socio-psychological variables rather than isolated factors. It recommends that stakeholders design targeted strategies to enhance English proficiency among Yoruba-English sequential bilingual students