English

The study of the English language is important, given the five hundred-year history of English as a language of contact, commerce, administration and education. The national aspirations for unity, intergroup understanding and tolerance and the development needs of access to information as an essential medium for the production, transmission and access to modern knowledge, have continued to give English a central national and international role.

The degree of Bachelor of Arts (B. A.) in English offers the holder a very wide array of job or entrepreneurship opportunities within the Nigerian economy and internationally. In terms of job opportunities, it is unarguable that, English being a global tool for communication, a degree in the language provides access to every industry where the language is used, particularly for formal communication purposes.

The Department of English was established in 2011, following the approval by the National Universities Commission for the department to undertake academic activities in a full time mode. At the inception of the department in the 2011/2012 academic session, 18 students were admitted for the Bachelor of Arts (B. A.) English Programme. At present, the Programme is in its ninth year. It had 58 students in the just concluded 2018/2019 academic session and had graduated 84 students so far.

In 2014, the B.A. English undergraduate programme was given an interim status by the National Universities Commission, being the outcome of the Commission’s Initial Accreditation Visit. In 2016, the programme was given a full status, based on the Second Accreditation Visit by the Commission. To date, five sets of students have completed their studies successfully in the following order: 2014/2015, 2015/2016, 2016/2017, 2017/2018 and 2018/2019.

In addition to ongoing teaching and research activities, monthly departmental seminars are a key feature of the department. The seminars are usually well attended by faculty members and students of the department, as well as members of cognate departments. The seminars are avenues for faculty members to share their research and engage critical and expert views to discover gaps and facilitate outstanding research outcomes. Aside this, research clinics have been organised for 300 and 400 level students since 2016/2017 with the aim of providing guide to them in the writing of their long essays which is a key requirement for the completion of the Bachelor of Arts Programme and for grounding their feet in research, as a key factor to the success of any chosen career. As part of integrating the culture of research in our students, many of them have been encouraged to join learned societies and are currently student members of Pragmatics Association of Nigeria and Poetics and Linguistics Association (PALA, UK).

During the 2018/2019 academic session, the department hosted the second conference of the Pragmatics Association of Nigeria, from 28^th April to 1^st May, 2019. The conference was very successful, and well attended by delegates from the southern, northern, eastern and western areas of Nigeria. One of the highlights of the conference was the very commendable performance of four students of the department, who were awarded prizes for achieving the first, third, fourth and fifth positions in a test on the principles of research in the field of pragmatics. The test was administered on student delegates who came from all the regions of the country.

With the continual, global advancement in technology, the importance of the English language as a global tool of communication continues to be emphasised, in terms of its key roles in various communicative activities, including different areas of national and world economies, as well as issues of education and governance. In view of the foregoing, the Bachelor of Arts (English) programme has a very bright future, in that it provides, and will continue to provide, the vital source and means of training students and equipping them for the all-important task of injecting the rich resources of the English language into various spheres, where it serves as a vital tool of effective communication. On this ground, the department continues to update its course contents and methodologies of knowledge delivery, in the effort to make the programme a cutting-edge model. In line with this goal, for example, the Programme continues to expand its curriculum to accommodate courses such as The Making of the Reading Public; Books and the Making of Public Opinion; Business and Vocational English; English and the Media; and Creative Writing which are able to equip students with basic skills for high functionality in the current techno-savvy global economy.

Equally, the programme gives credence to the study of Literature in English which is one field Nigeria has distinguished itself internationally. Although this alone is sufficient justification for the intensive study of the literature, there are even more radical and compelling political, socio-psycholinguistic justifications in its historical, post-colonial role, which includes cultural liberation and the evolution of a modern African identity. Literature in English is studied because, as an important tool for adapting the English language for the representation of African traditions and social realities, it is a key source of cultural renewal and social regeneration. English is particularly important at this time when the quality of language use in schools and in the media is in need of improvement or enhancement.

With its transition into its ninth year, one of the milestones the Programme plans to reach before its first decade is to commence the Master of Arts programme in (a) Language and (b) Literature. Already, a proposal for this has been submitted for approval.