Department of English

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Department of English

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Open Access
Bilingualism-Biculturalism and the Utilization of African Languages for the Development of African Nations
(2004) Adegbite, Wale
The slow rate of development of African nations vis-a-vis their counterparts all over the world has been a major concern throughout the 21st c. As we enter the century, it behoves African scholars and intellectuals and other non-Africans who have some goodwill for Africa to rise up and challenge this ugly situation. This paper argues that the lack of development of African nations can be mainly linked to the lack of recognition and underutilization of African languages and cultures. It has consistently escaped the attention of African policy-makers planners that language has the greatest potentials and capacity to enhance the development of human beings, as individuals or societies, hence their consistent neglect and silence about language when discussing matters of development. Using Nigeria as a point of reference, the study observes the patterns of social and language policies in Africa. It then examines the basis of government policies in order to identify the sources of socio-linguistic problems militating against national development. Lastly, it suggests the application of a bilingual-bicultural policy towards tackling the problems facing the nations of Africa. The key principles of bilingualism-biculturalism, viz (i) the conception of societal bilingualism-biculturalism, (ii) appropriate integration of tradition and modernity, and (iii) adequate utilization of mother-tongue and second language resources are explained and related to three key areas of national development -- politics, language choice and development, and education. The paper concludes by suggesting that new comprehensive language policies be formulated in African nations which will incorporate all features pertaining to the principles of bilingualism-biculturalism stated above.
Open Access
Book Review Guy Cook. Discourse. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989, vi + 165pp.
(1997) Adegbite, Wale
Discourse introduces the reader to the theories properties and presentation of the communication phenomenon known as discourse in language learning and teaching. The book is divided into three sections; theory and properties of the discourse, demonstration of discourse in language learning and teaching, and exploration of discourse development in the classroom. The first and second sections are equally developed in six chapters each while the third section has only one chapter.
Open Access
Curriculum Development and English Studies in Nigerian Secondary Schools
(2005) Adegbite, Wale
This study points out some inadequacies in the English studies programme in secondary schools and suggests ways to collect them. The paper observes that in spite of the vital role that English plays in the lives of Nigerians, learners have not been able to use the language to communicate as effectively as they should. One reason for this is that there is yet to be a viable curriculum of English studies in the schools. Since the bulk of English learning takes place in school, it becomes essential to improve on the curriculum by identifying its inadequacies and suggesting ways of correcting them. The inadequacies pointed out in the work are mainly in respect of the syllabus and teaching methods. Suggestions are given in respect of the rectification of these and some other problems of the English studies curriculum in Nigerian secondary schools
Open Access
Discourse Features of Feminism in Some of Flora Nwapa's Novels
(2003) Adegbite, Wale; Kehinde, Ayo
This study describes the discourse features of feminism in some of Flora Nwapa's novels, while focusing on two of them. Efuru (1966) and Women are Different (1981). The study identifies the discourse features in the texts and describes them under relevant discourse categories. Lastly, it interprets the messages of the texts by relating them to the social context of the Igbo/African reader. The findings of the study reveal several features pertaining to narrative technique, interaction, transaction, presence/absence/silence, turn taking and contributions of characters, moves and acts. For example, they reveal the following features under the narrative technique: the third-person omniscient narrator, collective heroinism and documentation/historicization. The above features and others which present control, dominance, as well as sex and social roles in the texts are illustrated, and some of them are discussed in order to foreground the literary-linguistic and feminist consciousness of Nwapa.
Open Access
Discourse Tact in Doctor-Patient Interactions in English: An Analysis of Diagnosis in Medical Communication in Nigeria
(2006) Adegbite, Wale; Odebunmi, Akin
This study describes discourse tact in diagnoses in doctor-patient interactions in English in selected hospitals in South-western Nigeria. Using recorded conversations between doctors and patients in those hospitals as data, the mutual contextual beliefs of participants, speech act patterns, including linguistic patterns, and other pragmatic features are analyzed from the perspective of the pragmatics of discourse. The findings indicate the predominance of doctor-initiated spoken exchanges in which doctors elicit and confirm information and give directives to patients, while the patients give information and attempt to respond appropriately to the doctors' moves. It is also observed that conversation maxims are flouted and politeness maxims exploited in order to enhance successful diagnosis in the interaction. Finally, it is observed that doctor-patient interaction is only one out of many aspects of medical communication that require the attention of language scholars in order to gain insight into language as an act of social behaviour and action, especially with respect to the institution of medicine.
Open Access
Enlightenment and Attitudes of the Nigerian Elite on the Roles of Languages in Nigeria
(2003) Adegbite, Wale
This study describes the effect of enlightenment on attitudes of the Nigerian elite to the roles assigned to English and indigenous languages in Nigeria. From the results of a preliminary investigation into the attitudes of undergraduate students in a Nigerian University, it was presumed that enlightenment of citizens on the importance of indigenous languages vis-a-vis English in Nigeria might bring about a positive shift in their attitudes towards their mother tongues. The study then delves into available literature on enlightenment efforts and shifts in attitudes of Nigerians towards their indigenous languages and examines these issues in the wider context of language planning and national development. From all indications, it seems that, although a greater number of the elite class still do not have favourable dispositions towards their indigenous languages as they do towards English, the seed of the positive realisation of the complementary roles of indigenous languages and English in national development has been sown among a few Nigerians. What remains is for these few people to water this seed so that it can germinate and spread among all Nigerians in order to enhance collective participation towards national developmental efforts.
Open Access
Face Threats in Conversational Interactions in Orthodox and Traditional Medicines among the Yoruba in Southwestern Nigeria
(2010) Adegbite, Wale; Odebunmi, Akin
This study describes face-threatening acts (FTA) in conversational interactions between medical practitioners and patients in orthodox and traditional medical practice among the Yoruba in Southwestern Nigeria. It utilizes as data base tape recorded conversations collected from doctors and patients in selected hospitals in the area, on the one hand, and conversations between practitioners (herbalists and divination priests) and patients in their consulting places, on the other hand. The findings reveal that language use in interactions between practitioners and clients in both Yoruba traditional medicine (YTM) and orthodox medicine (OM) features instances of FTA with redress (positive politeness) and FTA without redress (bald-on-record). YTM has more of the former features while OM has more of the latter features. Also, while the data do not show any instances of FTA with redress (negative politeness) and non-performance of FTA, there are however 'off record' strategies utilized in divination as an indirect means of diagnosing illnesses in YTM, while instances of non performance of FTA are observed in situations where doctors take notes, without making verbal responses to clients, while the latter are making complaints. It is further observed that expectations of indirectness in communication and social familiarity are carried into the consultative context of YTM and that clients are sometimes disappointed by the social distance and scary bluntness of communication in orthodox medicine.
Open Access
Grammar and Meaning in Two Yoruba Texts: A Systemic Linguistic Description
(1991) Adegbite, Wale
A piece of language use or "text" can be described from different points of view using different levels of language as tools of description. A description of text along a semiotic dimension is perhaps the widest viewpoint of studying language use in social situation, a study along this dimension will cater for all features of language pertaining to the pragmatic, linguo-pragmatic and linguistic levels of a text. At the level of pragmatics, relevant features of situation(s) and uses of the text are accounted for as they can relate to and stimulate the selection of formal items of language in the text. At the level of linguistics, the meaning and form of the text are focused as they can respectively represent and realise the features of situation and use mentioned above. Lastly, at the linguo-pragmatic level, the message content and communicative functions of the text are the point of attention as they represent the interaction of the pragmatic and linguistic features in socio-communicative transactional events.
Open Access
Language, Culture and Local Government Administration in Nigeria
(2004) Adegbite, Wale
This study describes the role of language as an agent of effective communication in local government affairs in Nigeria. First, the paper establishes the relationship between language and culture and describes language as the most vital but neglected tool for cultural development. Second, with a conception of the local government as a cultural, albeit politico-cultural institution in the Nigerian nation, the paper then describes the patterns of language choice for communication in local government affairs in Nigeria. The paper specifies the domains of language use in local government affairs in Nigeria and observes the patterns and problems of language choice for effective communication in these domains. Then adopting some principles of bilingualism-biculturalism as a theoretical base, the paper suggests ways of promoting efficient language choices in order to enhance efficient local government administration. The paper suggests that for external communication the English language should be used for local-local, local-state and local-federal intergovernmental interactions. However, at the internal level, the indigenous language(s) should be used for official and public functions, while the room is also created for alternation between languages in cosmopolitan areas. Furthermore, interpretation and translation are useful interlingua facilities that can enhance the projection and modernization of languages in external communication and also in cosmopolitan internal communication. From the bilingual-bicultural perspective, it is observed that both the indigenous and second languages have vital roles to play in the evolvement of cultural identity at the local government level in Nigeria. However, the primacy of mother tongues must be recognized.
Open Access
Language, Gender and Politics: a general perspective
(Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilization, 2009) Adegbite, Wale
The requirements of this short introduction to a festschrift on language, gender and politics are to provide scholarly definitions of the terms, explain the connection between the terms and justify the necessity for research in these areas and examine approaches to research in the areas.
Open Access
The Limitations of Yoruba-English Bilingual Undergraduate Students in the Expression of Yoruba Greetings
(Linguistic Association of Nigeria, 2008) Adegbite, Wale; Akinwale, Layi
This study investigated the limited ability of some Yoruba-English speakers to express Yoruba greetings in either Yoruba or English. The responses of 120 Yoruba-English bilingual undergraduate students in a Nigerian university were elicited via the questionnaire and interview techniques and then analysed to determine, first, the strategies employed by the students in the expression of greetings and, second, their levels of competence in expressing greetings in both languages. The findings revealed that the students expressed the greetings via specific or general (socially acceptable), individual non-acceptable, and silence (no response) forms in both Yoruba and English; and that they found it more problematic to express greetings in English than in Yoruba. It was concluded that the non-expression of greetings as well as inability to express greetings appropriately is fast becoming a habit among the youths and that education and enlightenment efforts should be made to reverse this retrogressive trend.
Open Access
The Pragmatic Relevance of Ironical Utterances in Yoruba Interactive Discourse
(1999) Adegbite, Wale
In this paper we have maintained that ironical utterances are features of communicative interaction generally. They characterize conversations, interviews, drama dialogues, orations and stories. We thus observed the need to collect and study the occurrences of the utterances both within and outside literary studies. It was observed that ironical utterances performed referential, expressive, conative and phatic functions; did not perform poetic and metalinguistic functions. The utterances were also used to give remarks, scold, warn, tease, assure, tickle and greet. Thus, contrary to earlier impressions about what ironical utterances were used for, it was observed that these utterances were used to express both contemptuous and salutary intentions. It was observed that the utterances revealed a lot of cultural stereotypes among the Yoruba regarding the fear of the evil eye, sociability and social control and morality. They thus serve as a linguistic window through which attitudes and beliefs of the society can be viewed.
Open Access
Pragmatic tactics in diplomatic communication: a case study of Ola Rotimi's Ovonramwen Nogbaisi
(2005) Adegbite, Wale
This paper describes the features of pragmatic tactics in diplomatic communication in Ola Rotimi's play, Ovonramwen Nogbaisi. The paper observes that even though some major characters employ various pragmatic tactics to achieve successful communication in the play, the tragic conclusion of the play derives mainly from a breakdown in communication between some other major characters. Using relevant extracts of dialogue from the text for illustration, and principles deriving from linguistic and literary pragmatics as analytical tools, the paper describes the features that enhance successful diplomatic communication in the play and also identifies those features that lead to breakdown in communication. Finally, the paper makes out a case for the pedagogical relevance of pragmatics to the understanding of the complexities of social interaction and literary interpretation.
Open Access
Pragmatics: Some Basic Principles and Procedures
(2000) Adegbite, Wale
The importance of pragmatics to language studies is that it enables scholars and students to understand the principles and procedures guiding the interpretation of socio-cultural and contextual meanings of utterances. In this paper, we describe certain terms, principles and procedures of the pragmatics of language while exemplifying the discussion with some English utterances.
Open Access
Problems of Message Preservation in Simultaneous Translation from Yoruba into English
(1988) Adegbite, Wale
The study of translations into English whether based on the description of the implicit natural (psychological) predisposition of speakers or on the analysis of explicit parallel spoken or written texts, has much relevance for the Nigerian speaker of the language. The Nigerian speaker of English as a Second Language (ESL), consciously or unconsciously, is a natural translator into the language. Any time he uses English to express ideas which derive from his own native culture, he employs the means of translation. And the translation, whether efficient or not, at least affords him the opportunity to convey ideas from his primary culture in a language that does not belong to that culture. Even, then, a very efficient translation will further enable the speaker to participate more meaningfully in the society by fulfilling the most sophisticated communicative obligations which he needs to perform in English.
Open Access
Problems of Perception of Rhythm in English Poetry by Nigerian Undergraduate Students
(2005) Adegbite, Wale; Adejuwon, Anthony O.
This study aims to investigate the problems of perception and description of rhythm in English poems by Nigerian undergraduate students. The examination scripts of 200 third-year undergraduate students of English language in Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, were scrutinized and their responses to some questions pertaining to rhythm in the stylistics course analyzed. The problems identified in the study include: (a) lack of proper understanding of the concept of rhythm and its application, (b) communication distance between the poet and the analyst and (c) lack of knowledge of relevant poetic conventions, periodic styles and peculiarities and innovations of individual poets. The study concludes that for a proper mastery of the concept of rhythm and its application to take place, students have to learn and understand the essential categories, viz, stress, syllable, foot and metre and also be familiar with some conventional patterns pertaining to the periodic and individual styles in poetic discourse.
Open Access
The Psycholinguistics of English Language in Nigeria
(Kraft Books, 2009) Adegbite, Wale
The book - The Psycholinguistics of English Language in Nigeria - is one of such efforts at meeting the needs of students taking courses in psycholinguistics, second language learning and English language teaching in Nigeria. Apart from providing the general theoretical background to the relationship between language and the human mind in terms of general principles of learning as well as learning a language, the book identifies and elaborates on the psycholinguistic bases of performance and usage of the English language in Nigeria, focusing on the factors that influence the Nigerian learners and the problems they encounter in the process of learning the language.
Open Access
Question and Answer Forum: The Place of Literature in the Use of English Programme
(1997) Adegbite, Wale; Onukaogu, Chukwuemeka
The question and answer forum for this issue of JESEL is a particularly interesting one in both context and content. Contextually, it is interesting that a question and answer could come from two members of the JESEL editorial board an in house affair you may say. As a departure from the usual system of answering questions from JESEL readers outside the board, we feel that this issue could reflect at least one of the various kinds of robust and serious academic discussions that take place among members of the board. The interesting context examines a vital area of English studies in Nigeria which deserves scholarly attention, the place of literature in the use of English programme in Nigeria tertiary institutions. Let us look at the exchange between Chukwuemeka and Wale below on the programme.
Open Access
The Relevance of the Discourse to ESL Studies: a Review of T. A. Van DIJK's Text and Context: Explorations in the Semantics and Pragmatics of Discourse
(1991) Adegbite, Wale
This paper reviews T. A. Van Dijk's Text and Context: Explorations in the semantics and pragmatics of discourse by summarising the main issues discussed in the work and observing the relevance of the discussion to studies on English as a Second Language (ESL). The review observes that although Van Dijk's work does not provide an adequate theory of English discourse since it only describes the underlying structures of the discourse, and also because it deliberately neglects certain features that are regular to discourse production and interpretation and which are especially of particular interest to discourse studies in an ESL situation, it no doubt provides a good starting point for an adequate theory of English discourse. It also provides a base for more comprehensive studies on the discourse which will have relevance to the pedagogy of English and communication in the language in a natural ESL environment.
Open Access
Sequential Bilingualism and the Teaching of Language Skills to Early Primary School Pupils in Nigeria
(2000) Adegbite, Wale
This paper argues that the poor mastery of language skills in Nigeria's educational system can be attributed partly to the poor methods of teaching language skills in the system especially in early primary education. Given the fact that the bilingual concept is entrenched in the 1977 (revised 1981) Nigerian National Policy on Education, the approach of simultaneous bilingualism has been utilised in teaching mother tongue and English language skills - listening, speaking, reading and writing - in the primary schools for a long time now. The use of this approach is noticeable, especially, in classroom presentation and text book development. However, it is apparent that the approach has not been effective and, thus, has not enhanced the inculcation of permanent literacy which is a major objective of the educational policy. Using illustrations from some common Yoruba (mother tongue) and English course books for pupils in early primary education in Nigeria, the paper observes some of the limitations of simultaneously presenting language skills to children in early primary education, and suggests that the sequential presentation of skills be done to promote efficient bilingual education in the school system. The paper suggests that teachers and writers of course books of Yoruba and English should present language skills in a way in which some skills learnt earlier will facilitate the learning of later ones.