Abstract

This study was carried out to examine the barriers to students' performance in indigenous languages in senior secondary schools in Lagos State. It investigated different barriers- globalization and home background as factors that hinder the effective teaching and learning of indigenous languages-Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba in Lagos State public schools. The research was carried out in three randomly selected public senior secondary schools in Ojo Local Government. The participants were drawn from these schools through random sampling technique. A total of nine (9) indigenous language teachers and 150 students who offer Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba were randomly selected for this study. Two instruments were administered and three research questions were answered. For analysis, the descriptive and inferential statistics were used to determine the composite and relative contribution of the barriers to students' performance in indigenous languages. The study discussed the result of findings ranging from the significant relationship, to the most potent barrier and composite contribution of the barriers and students' performance in indigenous  languages. The study concluded on some recommendations and implication of the study which could help to ameliorate the observed wide spread apathy towards indigenous languages in Lagos State schools.