Bilingual Teaching Approaches used by the Teachers to Promote Bilingualism in Enugu State, Nigeria

This paper discussed bilingual teaching approaches used to promote bilingualism of the students in selected secondary schools in Enugu East Local Government Area of Enugu State, Nigeria. The paper was anchored on two bilingual theories: Common Underlying Proficiency (CUP) and Development Interdependence Hypothesis (DIH) by Cummins. It adopted descriptive survey design, using mixed method of data collection and analysis in the form of structured questionnaire, interview guide and classroom observation schedule. It also employed simple random and purposive sampling techniques to select the participants and sampled six private and public secondary schools. The sample constituted 240 students of JSS and SSS, 30 teachers and 6 principals. The quantitative data was ordered, coded and analysed using descriptive statistic tools of Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) version 20 and presented in the forms of tables, frequencies and percentages. The qualitative data was recorded, transcribed, analysed and presented. The findings revealed that the bilingual teaching approaches were mixed up with other teaching and learning techniques. More so, the teachers lacked the knowledge of effective bilingual approaches that promoted bilingualism of the learners. The paper therefore recommends that the ministry of education should adopt and implement bilingual education language policy and train more bilingual teachers on effective bilingual teaching approaches to promote bilingualism. The school administrators should equally provide in-service trainings to empower the teachers to be able to meet the emerging bilingual needs in the classroom Key Words: Bilingual education, teaching approaches, bilingualism