IGBOSCHOLARS INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF IGBO SCHOLARS FORUM, NIGERIA

The teaching of the Igbo language has been described as fraught with traditional pattern practice of the formalists’ orientation. Positive dispositions indicate a need to inculcate current learnercentered approaches to language teaching and learning. This paper sets out to propose the tenets of TBLT in an Elementary Igbo language classroom, such that learners’ pragmatic use of Igbo would be achieved in a natural context right from the classroom to the real Igbo world. The study used a three-stage TBLT framework to attempt aredesigning of an existing content of an Elementary Igbo course. Though the study encountered a myrriad of problems in this endeavour, it discovered that the grammatical patterns could be adapted to serve as communicative tasks and then be (re)constructed to teach required or desired skills. Such practices would move learners of Elementary Igbo to a more practical focus on accuracy which flows into fluency. Teaching and learning Igbo would also be moved more conveniently away from heavy emphasis on traditional focus on form, which prescribes fluency before accurate production. It is believed that this learnercentered movement would consequently stimulate in the learners a need and desire to learn Igbo in an enjoyable, facilitative and effective manner, as well as engender vibrant needs analyses processes in teaching and learning Igbo.

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