ABSTRACT This study analyses the power relations, ideologies and persuasive techniques employed through language in the selected campaign speeches of two presidential candidates – Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and John Dramani Mahama during the 2012 general elections in Ghana. The linguistic and textual features of the selected speeches and the socio-cultural situations that influence the speeches are considered in the analysis. The analysis employs analytical frameworks mainly in a Critical...
ABSTRACT Womanism as a variant of African feminism provides the platform for a holistic analysis of the works of African female writers. In this work, Ogunyemi’s womanist theory is read into the works of two Nigerian female writers, Chimamanda Adichie and Buchi Emecheta, authors of Purple Hibiscus and The Joys of Motherhood respectively. Undertaking a womanist reading of these two novels is aimed at ascertaining the different and similar ways these female novelists articulate womanist theor...
ABSTRACT This study is a structural examination of Ga-English code-switched utterances among native Ga speakers. It seeks to find out the nature and structure of code-switching as it occurs among family members within the family setting. As such, data for the study was collected from selected people within a family. All the participants are balanced bilinguals and literate in both languages. The analysis involved mainly an examination of the morpheme distribution patterns within the Nominal a...
ABSTRACT This study is a discourse analysis of selected Pentecostal sermons in Lagos, Nigeria.
ABSTRACT This research work is an examination of the use of English Language in the Nigerian Federal Civil Service before and after Nigeria's independence on October 1st 1960.
ABSTRACT The low performance of students in government schools in the area of English Language during the Basic Education Certificate Examination has been a source of worry to all educational stakeholders. The study therefore was aimed at investigating the low performance of students’ English in the Basic Education Certificate Examination in the Sunyani municipality. The study examined the factors that impede the acquisition of English as a second language leading to dismal performance in ...
ABSTRACT Since Simon De Beauvoir’s Second Sex (1949), various debates have taken place concerning feminism and its objectives. The definition of feminism and what it means to a group of people or region has also been very controversial. In Africa, feminism has been received with mixed feelings leading to the proposal of alternative terms and definitions in a bid to clearly define the struggle of African women. The search for diversity in feminism that is responsive to the different needs an...
ABSTRACT There is the general perception that the standard of English among students in Ghana at all the levels of education is falling in recent times. Chief Examiners’ reports received from the West Africa Examinations Council (WAEC) from 2005 to 2012 have regularly indicated that most students in Senior High School who fail in English, lack in-depth knowledge of the rudiments of the English language. Students’ lackadaisical approach to the teaching and learning of the language may be a...
ABSTRACT Politics is one vocation which is indispensably yoked with language. Politicians need to be at their persuasive best to win voters over. The best speakers stand the best chance of getting elected or swaying the opinions o f others one particular way or the other. Oratory is about the best endowment in politics. This thesis is based on the part metaphors played in the political speeches of Nkrum ah and Rawlings. Nkrumah and Rawlings’ long reigns can be attributed to their oratory, t...
ABSTRACT The Transformational Generative Grammar (TGG) has been established as a pedagogical aid in teaching native speakers of English; as these native speakers have an implicit knowledge of grammatical rules. This current study is aimed to examine how the same TGG could be used as a pedagogical aid in teaching non-native speakers of English since English is their second language (L2) and they might not have the implicit knowledge of English grammatical rules. The study adopted mixed methods...
ABSTRACT Since Simon De Beauvoir’s Second Sex (1949), various debates have taken place concerning feminism and its objectives. The definition of feminism and what it means to a group of people or region has also been very controversial. In Africa, feminism has been received with mixed feelings leading to the proposal of alternative terms and definitions in a bid to clearly define the struggle of African women. The search for diversity in feminism that is responsive to the different needs an...
ABSTRACT Drawing on Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) as theorized by Fairclough, Van Dijk, and Wodak, this thesis attempts a detailed analysis of proverbs in Ewe which describe, prescribe and circumscribe ways of being male and female. Forty (40) selected proverbs, grouped into four categories, are analysed under three stages in Fairclough’s model: the Descriptive, Interpretive and Explanational stages. The literary and linguistic features of the proverbs and their socio-cultural contexts ...
Abstract The thesis is a feminist stylistic study which used the works of Ifeoma Okoye as a case study for a reassessment of the feminist discourse. It aimed at examining and unravelling how Ifeoma Okoye deployed language and style in her works to establish a non- radical and non-rebellious feminist message which preached complementarity of the sexes. It could be said that radical feminism had yielded little dividends in Africa and this was not unconnected with the fact that female radicalis...
ABSTRACT This study examined the way in which socio – cultural identities and ideological motivation permeate English language learning and the effect on language competence. The investigation looked at two diametrically distinct schools (i.e. a Grade A and a Grade C school) particularly in the area of the students` background and motivation, to ascertain the effect of these socio – cultural and motivational factors that impinge on the learning of grammar and vocabulary, which reflects in...
ABSTRACT The study investigates the performance of students in Colleges of Education in the English language.The researcher is an English language tutor at the SDA College of Education and has observed over a period that the students perform poorly in the English language examinations. The study is guided by four research questions. They are (1) Are trainee teachers’ performance in the English language affecting pupils’ performance at the basic school level? (2) What are the causes of tra...