Epistemic and Axiological Analyses of Nigeria's 2022 National Language Policy

As a heterolingual society, Nigeria’s language policy should focus on managing the country’s linguistic diversity while promoting unity and educational advancement. Thus, this study conducted an epistemic and axiological analyses of the language education provisions in the proscribed 2022 Nigerian national language policy by examining the philosophical assumptions about knowledge, learning, communication, cultural identity, values and ideological underpinnings that underlie the policy. To achieve the objectives of the study, focus group discussions and a review of the contents of the policy were used for data collection. An epistemic analysis of the proscribed policy reveals that it agrees that knowledge is best acquired in the learner’s first language during early education. The axiology of the proscribed policy is hinged on values like national unity, cultural identity, linguistic equality, educational accessibility, modernization, and social integration. However, majority of the respondents expressed a lack of preference for significant items in the language education provisions of policy and contended that they are not implementable based on existing realities. This study recommends that the provisions in the 2013 National Policy on Education should be retained in a way that would guarantee linguistic inclusion.