Promoting Learning through Interaction: Examples from the English Language Classroom

Classroom interaction is helpful for language learning. Every learner is expected to develop competence in English language learning, in order to function effectively in the multilingual Nigerian setting. English as the official language in Nigeria occupies an important position. Considering the importance, role and functions of English in Nigeria the primary goal of the English language curriculum is that learners should acquire communicative competence in English. From our observation we found that learners learn more comprehensively through classroom interaction. This research also discovered that applying the basic principles of interactive language teaching can promote learners initiative and autonomy, which in turn begets linguistic and communicative competence. To achieve this goal, the curriculum recommends the communicative language teaching approach for teachers of English; to enable learners achieve communicative competence in the use of the English language. Teaching through interaction enhances observation, using apt methods, strategies and resources which in turn promote learners autonomy and initiative. This study thus, emphasizes the need to use interactive strategies in order to enable students to use, practice and achieve fluency in the language. This paper therefore, explores some interactive strategies applied in the classroom with a focus on re-tooling English language teachers for more productive teaching and learning. Keywords: Learning, Interaction, English Language and Classroo

IMPACT OF ECLECTICISM ON NIGERIAN ESL LEARNERS’ COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

This study adopted three practical teaching strategies intended to positively affect learners’ writing skill while neutralising negative factors affecting their writing competence. To achieve the study objective which aimed at the assessment of the best teaching strategy to enhance learners’ writing proficiency, a comparative study of three teaching methods (namely communicative, eclectic and task-based methods) was used over a 6-week period as a treatment on three experimental groups A, B, C respectively and a control group (D) was taught using the conventional method. A pre-test was administered on two hundred (200) freshmen/subjects purposively selected from different Departments at the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO). A post-test was used to ascertain the outcome of the six weeks period of treatment on their essay writing. Results varied according to groups but, most importantly, Group B showed very significant improvement and control group D showed no significant improvement at all in the post-test assessment while groups A and C’s writing ability improved just marginally at best post-test. Our findings suggest the need to pay attention to eclectic teaching techniques as a crucial element in enhancing writing proficiency among learners. The implications and limitations of this research in addition to guidelines for future research are discussed.  Article visualizations

Apology and Linguistic Politeness Strategies in English among Igbo Native Speakers in Nigeria: an Inter-language Study

The study sought to explore the conversational English politeness strategies used by Igbo learners of English in Nigeria. Through a purposive sampling process, a total of 3000 copies of questionnaire in the form of Discourse Completion Task (DCT) consisting of 10 different apology discourse situations positing extent of familiarity, hierarchy and degree of infraction were distributed to undergraduates of Igbo extraction at seven universities systematically selected from the South-East and South-South zones in Nigeria. In all, 2748 copies of questionnaire representing 92 percent were duly completed, returned, coded and analysed using the quantitative tool for analysis of production data. Findings demonstrated that the samples used politeness strategies very significantly in apology discourse. Also, the study revealed that apologies are conversational habits of Igbo bilinguals as the offenders willingly made an apology regardless of social differences and context which were also reflected in their choice of strategies as there was obvious transfer of the nuances of the first/native language/mother tongue to their target language production. The study established that apology realisation in an interlanguage context i.e. Igbo speaking learners of English necessarily bears the burden of native language transfer into target language. In conclusion, this study showed that because of the Igbo understanding that in human interactions, there are possibilities of instances of affront or outrage Igbo bilinguals adopted mainly the positive and negative forms of politeness strategies in apology discourse as the case may be to accomplish a conversational demand. The study found evidence to further dispute the universality of politeness and argued that politeness is culture-specific

Emerging Trends in English among Youths in Nigeria – An Exploratory Study

The study explored the potential impact of emerging trends in the formal written English language of youths which hitherto is uninvestigated in South-east Nigeria. Through a random sampling process, 2000 copies of pretested and validated questionnaire written in English were administered to undergraduates at five federal universities in south-east Nigeria. In addition, print-out of a couple of group conversations on Facebook and WhatsApp and Key Person Interview (KPI) was used to supplement the questionnaire data. In all, 1940 copies of questionnaire representing 97.00% were completed and returned for analysis. Results showed that emerging trends in written English conversation as social media convention is common among students in tertiary institutions. Findings revealed that 98.87% of participants used emerging trends during classes which indicates a massive infiltration of formal written English with social media trivialities while a statistically significant 34.54% have had to use these emerging trends though unconsciously during exams which reflects their deep and deliberate learning of these most potentially contentious tools of informal written conversation. Ultimately, the study confirmed that activities on social media was taking its toll on the students’ performance in written English as they can no longer tell the appropriateness of one variety or another. In conclusion, the study established that emerging trends have profound negative impact on written English and recommends that teachers/instructors must make purposeful efforts to unteach that which has been wrongly learned by insisting that students begin to imbibe the culture of standard and formal writing regardless of the purpose of the writing

The English Language and the Second Language Learners’ Perception in a Multicultural Nigeria: An Appraisal

The objective of the study was to evaluate the impact of English as language of formal learning using some schools from the three senatorial zones in Imo State as well as teachers’ challenges in the use of this target language as a pedagogical tool. Through a random sampling process, 1200 copies of pretested and validated questionnaire written in English were administered to selected students from these regions. Key Persons Interview was also used to supplement the questionnaire data. 895 copies of questionnaire representing 74.6% were duly completed and returned for analysis. Studies showed that students’ perception of English as a language of education is one in which they feel compelled and have rather come to terms with its usage as a result of its imposition by the British colonialists, acceptance by the Nigerian government and general implementation as an official language. Findings revealed that 68.5% feel the need to fall back on their local language for clarification of some sort while 14.5% of the respondents have little or no need to use the mother tongue but 17% have occasional inkling to resort to their mother tongue for proper understanding. This interference is expected in a multilingual nation like Nigeria which has instituted bilingualism and multilingualism to her citizenry. The study established that the use of English accounts for some of the challenges in academic performance of students and therefore recommends that teachers, parents and government must strive to reiterate the need to inculcate and acculturate this official language as an ineluctable tool for academic success and societal integration

The English Language and the Second Language Learners’ Perception in a Multicultural Nigeria: An Appraisal

The objective of the study was to evaluate the impact of English as language of formal learning using some schools from the three senatorial zones in Imo State as well as teachers’ challenges in the use of this target language as a pedagogical tool. Through a random sampling process, 1200 copies of pretested and validated questionnaire written in English were administered to selected students from these regions. Key Persons Interview was also used to supplement the questionnaire data. 895 copies of questionnaire representing 74.6% were duly completed and returned for analysis. Studies showed that students’ perception of English as a language of education is one in which they feel compelled and have rather come to terms with its usage as a result of its imposition by the British colonialists, acceptance by the Nigerian government and general implementation as an official language. Findings revealed that 68.5% feel the need to fall back on their local language for clarification of some sort while 14.5% of the respondents have little or no need to use the mother tongue but 17% have occasional inkling to resort to their mother tongue for proper understanding. This interference is expected in a multilingual nation like Nigeria which has instituted bilingualism and multilingualism to her citizenry. The study established that the use of English accounts for some of the challenges in academic performance of students and therefore recommends that teachers, parents and government must strive to reiterate the need to inculcate and acculturate this official language as an ineluctable tool for academic success and societal integration

Politeness and Expressing Gratitude in English among Igbo Native Speakers in Nigeria: A Cross-sectional Survey

Using Brown and Levinson’s (1987) model of politeness as a framework for the analysis of data collected by means of Discourse Completion Task (DCT) from a total of 2748 respondents purposively drawn from the Igbo English speakers in Nigeria otherwise referred to as Igbo bilinguals, this study positioned itself to explore and analyse how Igbo English speakers express gratitude in the target languagemirroring parameters of social distance, social status and power as the case may be as variables that impel the choice of one strategy or the other.Findings showed that the Igbo routinely expressappreciation not only for acts of kindness, goodwill, favours received, but also for favours anticipated usually characterised by single word utterances such as: dalu/deme/imeela/ndewo/kaanka/anwuna – Thank you, which is simply a way of life for the Igbo. Also, results showed instances of elaborated and genuine show of gratitude which went beyond the usual ‘thank you’ phrase but extended to offer of prayer for acts of kindness largely made manifest by the receiver’s acknowledgment of such acts as uncommon. Results demonstrated that beyond the bounds of distance, status, age, power etc, the Igbo accomplish this interactional goal very seamlessly although not without transfer of the distinctions of the mother tongue to the target language.The study concluded that the culture of the study sample as well as the prevailing contexts in the DCT further affirms that expressing gratitude is an anticipated and acceptable behaviour and neither a face-threatening act for the Igbo. Keywords: Gratitude, Igbo Native speakers, Conversational English, Bilinguals, Nigeria. DOI: 10.7176/JLLL/93-02 Publication date: November 30th 202

Requests and Linguistic Politeness Strategies: A Case Study of Igbo English Speakers in Nigeria

This article examined the Igbo native speakers’ perception of request act as well as the linguistic politeness strategies used to achieve this communicative intention in their conversational English as bilinguals. The study participants were 2748 undergraduate Igbo native speakers purposively selected from different Federal and State Universities in the core Igbo-speaking states of South-east/South-south Nigeria. To elicit data, a 10-item discourse completion task (DCT) with guided options written in English and designed to evoke politeness strategies in request discourse projecting hypothetical situations was administered to the participants. The results showed that the study samples brought to fore their sociocultural expectations as Igbo by adopting principally the directness strategy in performing the request act. Also, findings revealed that the participants paid attention to certain sociolinguistic variables such as hierarchy, extent of familiarity, which contributed to the variance, observed in their choice of strategies in some contexts. Furthermore, the study noted a measure of linguistic transfer of a tinge of the native language to the target language (English language) as participants tried to fulfill the communicative goals of the request act in the target language. Notably, the findings demonstrated the possibility of communication breakdowns arising from grammatically correct but pragmatically inappropriate utterances from learners hence the need to further emphasize pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic consciousness - the dearth of which has been implicated in the study

Gender and Politeness/Hedging Strategies in English among Igbo Native Speakers in Nigeria: A Difference in Conversational Styles

Gender and language studies in general have not been fully explored in most parts of the globe particularly in Nigeria. The objective of the study therefore was to examine the politeness and hedging strategies in the English language conversation of Igbo native speakers in Nigeria as well as establish whether men and women’s conversational styles have been gendered As a cross-sectional questionnaire and interview-based survey, the sample population was studied by means of ten-item questionnaire in the form of Discourse Completion Task and structured interview at seven Universities systematically selected from the South-East and South-South geo-political zones in Nigeria. The study instruments were completed, returned, transcribed and statistically analysed using the quantitative and qualitative tools for analysis of production and perception data respectively. Results showed that politeness and hedging are indispensable sociolinguistic elements in the conversational English of the study sample. Also, results revealed that to accomplish a communicative goal, the samples adopted different politeness/hedging strategies given the discourse situation. Also, findings showed that the female respondents were found to adhere more to linguistic politeness principles than their male counterparts considering the context hence demonstrating a difference in conversational style. The study found evidence to establish that females are more polite than males in conversations. In conclusion, findings of this study showed that respondents yielded to certain sociolinguistic factors such as age, culture, hierarchy, disposition and religion as they were believed to inform the use of a particular strategy or another