Sociopragmatic Differences and Behaviors in the Use of WhatsApp in Virtual Classrooms at a Public College of Education in Ghana

This study sought to establish how tutors at Komenda College of Education engaged students in virtual classroom during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study employed a qualitative approach through the descriptive design. Data was 462 conversations between tutors and students through the WhatsApp messaging application. To ensure anonymity and confidentiality, all personal names and other details were removed. The study established that while tutors posted more messages than students, messages of the tutors were made up of instructions, commands and directions. Students addressed their tutors with high respect. Female students sent more and longer messages and utilized more emoticons than their male counterparts. Contracted and non-conventional forms of speech were very common in students’ WhatsApp chats with their tutors. Both the tutors and students used persuasive words (e.g. please, and kindly) as a way of gaining approval from the other party. Verbal fillers in the WhatsApp group chats performed two macro-functions: interpersonal and textual. Based on the findings, the following recommendations were made.  First, institutions of higher learning should provide the instructional support to teachers and students on how to minimize or maximize their own speech differences while engaged in a virtual classroom. There should be pedagogical models in virtual classrooms that allow learners and facilitators to engage in more informal ways. Finally, for an effective online learning to take place, tutors and students should appropriately accommodate each other

“Money Doesn’t Like Noise”: Akufo Addo’s Pathos from A Metadiscoursal Perspective

Politicians create a political persona with their audience in mind, and their speeches are crafted to involve receivers in a promising future. They intentionally create a stream of ideas to engage the audience and arouse their emotions to make affective appeals. Using the frameworks of Hyland's Model of Metadiscourse and Aristotle's Rhetorical Persuasion Theory, the present study analysed Akufo Addo's address to the nation on October 30, 2022, when the country was facing economic difficulties. The study found that attitude markers, self-mentions, reader pronouns, and directives of metadiscourse markers are persuasively used in the data. The study concludes that Akufo Addo relied heavily on these metadiscourse markers to draw on pathos appeals, harmonise with the audience, and achieve the purpose of persuasion in the address. The findings of the study have implications for reflections on language and politics

HER2/neu expression status of post BCG recurrent non-muscle-invasive bladder urothelial carcinomas in relation to their primary ones

Background: Transurethral resection (TUR) followed by adjuvant therapy is still the treatment of choice of Non-Muscle-Invasive Bladder Urothelial Carcinoma (NMIBUC). However, recurrence is one of the most troublesome features of these lesions. Early second resection and adjuvant BCG therapy has been shown to improve the outcome. Objective: To evaluate the prognostic value of C-erbB-2 (HER2/neu) expression status in Non-Muscle-Invasive Bladder Urothelial Carcinoma cases, before and after intravesical Bacillus Calmette Guerin (BCG immunotherapy). Materials and methods: HER2/neu expression was studied in 120 (Ta-T1) Non-Muscle-Invasive Urothelial Carcinoma cases. The expression was evaluated and compared to the expression after Bacillus Calmette Guerin (BCG) immunotherapy. Results: HER2/neu expression in low and high grade of the Non- Muscle-Invasive Urothelial Carcinoma was (38%) and (83%) respectively. The difference of the expression rates by tumor grade was statistically significant. In recurring lesions post BCG therapy, C-erbB-2 expression was markedly decreased (31.6%) when compared to its expression before therapy (65%). Conclusions: The HER2/neu expression increased as the tumor grade rose. The reduction in expression following BCG treatment in Non-Invasive transitional cell carcinoma cases could reflect a reduction of the potential malignancy of the tumor

CULTURAL ELEMENTS AND AESTHETICS IN THE PLAY, IN THE CHEST OF A WOMAN.

In the C hest of a Woman is set in the Ghanaian society; the Akan cultural society to be exact and reads like a literary attack on cruelly erected male power structures that have confiscated and misused power for the sole glory of patriarchy. The play also discusses Ghanaian issues using folktale cultures; these Ghanaian issues in the play will be discussed to reflect the cultural issues of the society portrayed by the playwright. This paper seeks to investigate if contemporary writers have created a new form of writing by focusing on the indigenous African cultures (cultural issues) of their society or they are also following the practice of earlier writers. Hence, the study of Efo Kodjo Mawugbe’s In the Chest of a Woman to identify these cultural issues portrayed by the playwright. Keywords: Culture, Akan culture, indigenous knowledge, inheritance, chieftaincy DOI: 10.7176/JCSD/67-05 Publication date: April 30th 202