Impact of social media language on writings of the undergraduates of university of Nigeria, Nsukka

This paper investigated the impact of social media language on writings of the undergraduates of University of Nigeria, Nsukka. The aim of this paper was to identify the extent to which SMS language has influenced the writings of undergraduates. Also, to confirm or refute the arguments and counteraugments that had raised dust in the academics over the presupposed negative effects of this form of media discourse on students’ academic writings. This study draws insights from Corder’s Error Analysis. The corpus of this study was gotten from an eight-item-questionnaire and confirmatory essay test administered to forty students selected at random. Data elicited from the questionnaires were  analyzed quantitatively using the simple percentage and represented in bar charts and lines respectively; while the students’ essays were scanned for linguistic features of SMS. The findings revealed that students’ use of SMS is pervasive but it does not significantly impact writings negatively. The researchers, therefore, concluded that SMS language does not pose major threats to students’ formal writings. Thus, they suggested that users of SMS should try as much as they could to always check their works carefully in order to avoid committing errors in formal writings.Keywords: Error Analysis, impact, linguistic features, social media language, and writin

The Production and Perception of the Affricate /tʃ/ and the Fricative /ʃ/ by Igala ELS Users

A second language user is one who has his own language (L1) and probably mastered all there is to the sound system of his L1. The already existing language system makes second language learning difficult thereby resulting in what is called ‘errors’ as an effect of interference. Phonologically, it is a hard task learning a second language because each language has its unique phonology. This paper x-rayed the difficulties encountered by Igala L2 users with reference to the production and perception of the affricate /tʃ/ and the fricative /ʃ/. The study used carefully prepared sentences containing the two sounds under study to elicit data from the target population. The data were analyzed using frequency and percentage counts. From the analysis it was discovered that there exist production problems in the use of the affricate /tʃ/ and the fricative /ʃ/ by Igala users of English as a Second Language where /tʃ/ is substituted for /ʃ/ and vice versa.  Conclusion drawn from the result was the need for Igala users to aspire for competence in their use of English as a second language particularly the phonological aspects because being proficient in any language begins with good understanding and correct usage of the sound systems thereby bringing about intelligibility

Lexico-grammatical Analysis of AdaOkere Agbasimalo’s The Forest Dames

The importance of language in literary discourse can never be over-emphasized. Halliday and Matthiessen (2014), in broad terms, contend that language is used to carry out interpersonal functions in speech and writing. Hence, literary writers use language creatively to communicate their intended messages to their readers. This study, therefore, explores the lexico-grammatical assessment of AdaOkere Agbasimalo’s The Forest Dames. The study aimed at identifying the prevalent linguistic tools deployed in the novel by the author, as a style index, for plot and theme developments. Also, to discuss logically how these tools contribute to project meanings in the novel. The study adopts Leech and Short’s checklist of linguistic and stylistic categories as its analytical tool. Data were extracted randomly from the novel and analyzed qualitatively at levels of lexis and structure using the checklist. The findings revealed that the authors deployed more of the major parts of speech; military registers; code mixing and switching and pidginized word/expressions to express the theme of hostility and futility of war. Also, at the grammatical level, sentences according to structure and function; inverted and elliptical sentences; adverbial and adjectival clauses were also used to expresses various themes and to develop the plots of the novel logically. It was concluded that Agbasimalo is a writer who used English creatively to express the consequences of Nigerian civil war on women and children. Conversely, it was suggested that scholars should conduct further studies on other aspects not covered in this research

Investigating the Impediments to Reading Comprehension in Junior Secondary Schools: Evidence from JSSII Students in Nsukka Metropolis

There has been an outcry concerning Junior Secondary School students’ abysmal performance in reading comprehension in internal and external examinations in Nsukka Metropolis; hence, the reason to investigate the factors responsible for this abysmal performance becomes necessary. We adopted a descriptive survey research design. The population of this study comprises one hundred (100) Junior Secondary School II students from five (5) randomly selected secondary schools in Nsukka Metropolis. The sampling technique which the researchers adopted was the simple random sampling and utilized questionnaire as research instrument which was developed on a 4-point scale of strongly agree, agree, strongly disagree and disagree. Again, a reading comprehension test was administered to the students for correlational purposes. Statistical analysis was used. The findings showed that students performed very poorly in reading comprehension as a result of inadequate and unqualified language teachers, inadequate instructional materials, poor educational background of both students and parents, and the language style and background of some comprehension texts. The implication is that students’ comprehension ability maybe determined by their ability to recognize individual words in a passage or text, group words into units and relate those units into meaningful sentences or paragraphs. When students are able to do the above, they will surely have a meaningful comprehension of a text at these three distinct levels of comprehension: (i) factual; (ii) interpretative; and (ii) evaluative. Thus the researchers made strong suggestions and recommendations that would mitigate these problems