Socio-cultural competence in ESL education: a focus on Nigeria

Abstract

Until recently, Foreign Language Teaching (FLT) failed to give sufficient emphasis to cultural specificity and its linguistic reflections. Emphasis was just on the mechanical learning of the traditional components of the language system without reference to their functional usefulness. This, at times, has led to abysmal performance of the students in the target language. For functional education in Nigeria, English as a Second language (ESL) pedagogy requires developing socio-cultural competence in the learners. This paper examined the components of socio-cultural competence in the English language which should form a significant part of ESL teaching with the aim of achieving effective communication. This is because full proficiency in English is critical for long-term personal, social and economic development of all students in Nigeria and the linguistic, cognitive, and socio-cultural competences that ESL students bring to school are solid base for building their future, in terms of educational and career success.