Fostering Ethnic and Religious Harmony through Classroom Language Experiences

Abstract

This paper explores ways the classroom environment can fertilise ethnic and religious tolerance in students. In a pre/post test design, 76 students  at  a university secondary school in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria were randomly selected to respond to a twenty-item survey. Afterwards, the experimental group was exposed to a critical thinking game that focused on rational appraisals of ethnic and religious prejudices. A t - test analysis indicated a significant difference in prejudice between the experimental and the control group.  It was concluded that classroom language experiences could foster positive changes in ethnic and religious prejudices

Keywords: ethnic, religious prejudice, conflicts, tolerance

“Ignorance and prejudice are the handmaidens of propaganda. Our mission, therefore, is to confront ignorance with knowledge, bigotry with tolerance, and isolation with the outstretched hand of generosity. Racism can, will, and must be defeated.” (Kofi Annan, quoted by Living Life to the full (2012) http://www.livinglifefully.com/prejudice.htm)