In The Life Changer by Khadija Abubakar Jalli, Ummi emphasizes on the learning of language among her children to a great degree. In her opinion, the most critical step that they need to master in order to succeed at school and develop, in general, is the English language. Filling in her roles of being a mother and a narrator in the novel, she urges her children to use the right language, which is English; and the importance of good communication skills on their future.

Ummi does not only view language as a means of getting through exams, but as a permit to elation, improved articulation and assimilation into a larger, competitive society. Such attitude can be described as the wider social significance that English knowledge has in Nigerian society, in the wider sense of education and employment.