INFLUENCE OF FAMILY ON LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT OF PRIMARY SCHOOL PUPILS IN OBI LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF BENUE STATE

ABSTRACT This study investigated influence of family on language development of primary school pupils in Obi Local Government Area of Benue State. Four research questions guided the study while four hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. Related literature was reviewed under conceptual framnework, theoretical framework, empirical studies and summary which served as the road map to the study. Descriptive survey design was used for the study.The population of the study was 1,699 pupils from six (6) primary schools within eleven (12) council wards in Obi. The sample size of 212 respondents was used. Rating Scale titled;“Family and Language Development Rating Scale (FLDRS)” was used as instrument for data collection. Mean and standard deviation was used to answer the research questions and Chi-square(X2)test of goodness of fit to test the hypotheses. The study revealed among others that; there is a significant influence of parental communication, socioeconomic background, family literacy and environment on language development of primary school pupils in Obi Local Government Area of Benue State. The study recommended that; Parents should increase their level of interaction with their children in order to develop their language skills to be able to face even the community at large,parents should improve the socioeconomic background of their children by enrolling them in a well-organized schools where their language skills will be developed to fit to the society in which they live, families should start educating their children at home on how to develop their language skills by starting first with their local dialect before enrolling them in schools and school administrators should create a very good learning environment for pupils order to be able to interact with their peers for the purpose of development their language skills.