Speaker
Description
Barka, M. H.
College of Education Waka-Biu, Borno State
fasahasa@gmail.com
Track: Digital Pedagogy and Teaching Innovation
In an increasingly globalized academic landscape, indigenous languages face structural maginalisation within higher education, often restricted to informal discourse, while English, Chinese, Arabic, French and other European languages dominate formal instruction and research. This systemic sidelining threatens linguistic diversity and limits cultural relevant pedagogy. This paper examines how higher education institution leverage digital innovation to actively preserve, document and teach indigenous languages. Specifically, the investigate the implementation of localized digital content such as speech-to-text technologies, mobile –assisted language learning (MALL) applications, and collaborative open –access digital dictionaries within higher education curricula. Using case study approach combined with linguistic text analysis, this study evaluates the development and deployment of digital tools designed to translate, digitise and analyse complex morpho-syntactic and phonological structures of local language within higher language programs. The study analyse student engagement, translation accuracy and oral proficiency across experimental cohorts utilising these localized platforms. Preliminary results indicate that incorporating interactive digital interfaces significantly enhances student motivation, deepens morphological comprehension and democratise access to rare linguistic archives. Furthermore, the study demonstrates that digital localization empowers native- speaking students to conduct high-level academic research in their mother tongue, bridging the gap between traditional cultural knowledge and modern technological frameworks. Ultimately, this research provides a sociable blueprint for College administrators, linguist, and educational technologist to deconolise the curriculum. The study argues that strategic investment in language technologies can transform higher education institutions into vital sanctuaries for linguistic preservation, ensuring that digital innovation serves to celebrate, rather than erase regional cultural identities.
Keywords: language preparation, digital localization, HEIS (Indigenous Languages in Higher Education), Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL)