ESL Curriculum in Secondary Schools in Nigeria: Issues and Challenges Towards Communicative Competence (English As a Second Language‪)‬

Abstract Determining the success or otherwise of the English curriculum aims, goals, objectives, methods and materials, which bother on the mass and accumulation of the four language skills [listening, speaking, reading and writing] as well as different language levels [phonetics and phonology, morphology, syntax, lexis and semantics] is an inevitable task. Most ESL curriculum reforms over the years have sought to strike meaningful balance between linguistic competence and communicative competence. Contrary to this expectation, communicative competence is regrettably lacking in several students that pass through the Nigerian secondary schools annually. ESL coursebooks, methods and contents are often mentioned as the most sources of the problems for unachieved ESL curriculum aims, goals and objectives at the secondary school level in Nigeria. This paper, therefore, critically looks at some issues and challenges in ESL curriculum towards achieving communicative competence and come up with a recommendation of providing enrichment materials, which newspapers and other media resources can suitably provide.