THE ACQUISITION OF ENGLISH POLAR (YES NO) QUESTIONS BY NIGERIAN LEARNERS

This paper reports a study which investigated the acquisition of the E nglish polar question, otherwise known as the Yes/No question type, by Nigerian secondary school learners of the language. It is noted that this category of questions often constitutes a considerable amount of problems for Nigerian learners. The developmental stages the learners pass through before the mastery of a target-like form of English polar questions are identified, thus showing that a systematic order underl ies their acquisition of this category of questions. The study notes t hat learners' first languages do not seem to influence their learning and use of the English polar question, while their use of the Yes/No q uestion type in the written mode is better than in the spoken mode due possibly to the higher chances of motoring in the former. The paper s uggests that in teaching this category of questions to Nigerian learne rs the natural order of acquistion should be followed, and efforts sho uld be made to teach it through communicative language activites.