Language Use, Literacy Practices, and Social Cohesion among Undergraduate Students in Nigeria: A Mixed-Method Study

This study investigates the role of language and literacy practices in promoting social cohesion among undergraduate students at a University in Nigeria. The university hosts students from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. This makes language use an important part of their everyday interactions. The study focuses on the sociolinguistic literacy of students, and how they use English and indigenous languages, particularly Hausa, to communicate and build social relationships on campus. The study is guided by sociolinguistic theory, drawing specifically on Fishman’s domain theory and Gumperz’s interactional sociolinguistics to explain language choice, interactional meaning, and group belonging in multilingual settings. A mixed-method approach was used to obtain both measurable patterns and personal insights and experiences of the participants. Quantitative data were collected through a structured questionnaire administered to 200 undergraduate students aged 18–30 years, selected using stratified random sampling across the university’s three campuses. Qualitative data were generated through semi-structured interviews that explored students’ experiences of multilingual communication. While the results of quantitative analysis show that students generally hold positive views about language use and campus unity, with high mean scores across the domains, the findings from the qualitative study indicate that managing multilingual literacy in formal settings supports equal participation, with informal literacy practices involving code-switching that help in building close social bonds. The overall evidence shows that multilingual practices strengthen cohesion more than they hinder it. The study concludes that supporting multilingual literacy through inclusive communication practices can strengthen students’ sense of belonging and social cohesion within the university community.