NIGERIAN PIDGIN ENGLISH AND ESSAY WRITING OF STUDENTS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN AKOKO SOUTH WEST LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, ONDO STATE

2.3.2 The influence of student pidgin at the University of Cape Coast in Ghana between 2011 to 2012 Rupp (2014) also looked at the function of student pidgin in Ghana. The data upon which the study is built come from research conducted at the University of Cape Coast (UCC) in Ghana between August 2011 and November 2012. The research consisted of a quantitative analysis of a questionnaire that was distributed to 191 UCC students: 106 male students and 85 female students. The empirical analysis of the questionnaire was followed up by a focus group interview with 17 students and supported by qualitative ethnographic data involving diary entries and short recordings made by three students. Omoniyi (2015) also examined pidgin as a national language in some African countries. The paper aimed at lending more weight to the efforts of the Pidgin positivists. The study reflected on the language situation in Africa, revisited the concepts of lingua franca, Pidgin and Creole, and paid attention to the use of Pidgin in Nigeria and Ghana as models of its briefs. The study further reviewed some hurdles peddled against the adoption of Pidgin, such as, the issues of stigmatization, attitudes, cultural base, indigenous status and lowlevel development in terms of corpus and status planning. However, this article contends that with the widespread use of Pidgin at the grassroots level, the increasing functions and domains of its use in many sectors of the society, the gradual and positive attitude being garnered, especially among the literate populations, all the hurdles are surmountable. The paper concluded by calling upon national governments in the respective African countries to officially recognize Pidgin and plan for its corpus and status development in order to enhance its official use. It also called upon all the positivists and other stake holders to