1 IMPLEMENTATION OF THE LANGUAGE POLICY AT THE JUNIOR PRIMARY LEVEL IN OWERRI EDUCATIONAL ZONE Joy N. Oruwari Abstract This study investigated the implementation of the language policy at the primary school level in Owerri educational zone three research questions and a hypothesis were formulated to guide the study. A purposeful sampling technique was used to sample 418 teachers from the area of study. The researcher made use of structured questionnaire as instrument for data collection. The data were analyzed using percentages, mean, Standard deviations and t-test statistics. From the results, it was discovered that apart from English, most teachers use Igbo to teach the various subjects which is in line with policy statement: textbooks are not written in the mother tongue: there is inadequate supply of teaching materials; this inadequacy is experienced by both rural and rural schools: teachers are not fully prepared for the implementation and seminar/workshops are not organized hence they need further training. Language is one of the symbols of a nation and it expresses the culture of the people. Language is the most important medium of communication. This is because it is the main process through which the teacher puts information across to learners, while the learner responds to teaching mainly by means of language (Ibukun, 1991). In our country today, emphasis is being laid on learning the three main Nigerian Languages as a means of preserving the three main Nigerian Languages as a means of preserving the people’s culture, Language policy is a deliberate, logical and systematic activity designed by a given government of a nation to select a language or languages from the many languages spoken by the people in the country and assign roles to them in other to organize and develop human and material resources of the country Njoku & Izuagba, (2004). With this in mind, the Federal Government of Nigeria came up with the National Language Policy which says that: In addition to appreciating the importance of language in the educational process, and as a means of preserving the people’s culture, they considers it to the interest of national unity that each child should be encouraged to learn one of the three major languages other than his own mother tongue. In this connection, the government considers the three major languages in Nigeria to be Hausa, Igbo and Yuroba. (FRN, 1981:8). This is to foster national unity and for intertribal communication among Nigerians. The policy also states that “Government will see to it that the medium of instruction in the Primary School in initially the mother tongue or the language of the immediate community and, at a later stage. English” (N.P.E 1981:113). Afolanyan (1989) asserts that the policy rather than being the basic of a dynamic educational programme that would result in greater growth and development of both the individual citizens and the nation as a whole… Thus, realizing the importance of mother tongue, Awoniyi (1980:29) says that “the first language of the child is part of his personality which no teacher can ignore”. He further maintained that the mother tongue is part of the stuff of which his mind is built. Mother tongue is the language through which the child acquires the earliest experiences of life which forms the Journal of Qualitative Education, Volume 8 No. 2, May, 2012, ISSN: 0331 - 4790