Acculturation Programme in Yoruba Language: A Tool for Sustaining Yoruba Culture among the L2 Students of Federal College of Education, Yola

Abstract

This study examined the effect of the Acculturation programme in sustaining Yoruba culture using Yoruba L2 students from the Federal College of Education, Yola as a case study. The study was guided by four research objectives which include: to examine the effect of acculturation programme on the spoken language of L2 Yoruba; to investigate the influence of acculturation programme on L2 students in sustaining Yoruba culture, to investigate factors that can make the acculturation programme have positive effects on L2 Yoruba students and to find out factors that are hindering the effectiveness of acculturation programme. The study randomly sampled forty students that is, NCE 1, NCE ll and those that have passed through the programme at Federal College of Education Oyo (special) Oyo. The study used the questionnaire to obtain data and analyzed the data using mean and standard deviation statistics. The study found that acculturation is a tool for sustaining Yoruba culture. Also, the study revealed that lacks of money, stress, acceptance problem, insecurity are factors hindering the effectiveness of the acculturation programme. The study recommended that government should look for a way of subsidizing the tuition fees and transportation fare of the acculturation students to create interest for sustainment of Yoruba culture. Also, the host communities should be accommodative enough so that the non- speakers of the language may have interest in their culture. The research concluded that acculturation should be maintained because it serves as a measure for integration and custodian of culture, especially in a multi-ethnic and multi-lingual nation.