Classroom Discussion as a Development Tool: Useful English Language Teaching Techniques to Encourage Sustainable Citizenship in Nigerian Secondary School Students (Published)
Citizens who are capable of engaging in civic discourse, resolving conflict, and negotiating meaning are essential for sustainable development. However, the classroom is often disregarded as a primary location for the development of communicative competence in Nigeria’s development communication models. This paper applies pragmatics and discourse analysis to classroom interaction in Nigerian secondary schools to situate English language teaching within the broader discourse of national development. The study investigates teacher-student interactions in six public secondary institutions in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, utilising Austin’s Speech Act Theory and Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis. During the 2024/2025 academic session, 18 hours of transcribed classroom discourse, teacher interviews, and student writing samples were collected. The analysis indicates that teachers primarily employ directive and representative speech acts, while commissive and expressive acts that demonstrate civic responsibility, empathy, and deliberation are uncommon. Mitigation strategies, turn-taking negotiation, and contextual inference exercises are also infrequently employed in classroom discourse. As a result, students are able to memorise language forms but do not possess the inferential and civility skills necessary for participatory development activities, such as community meetings, advocacy, or conflict mediation. This paper suggests a pragmatics-based instructional framework that includes Speech Act Repertoire Building, Development Scenario Simulation, Discourse-Based Feedback, and Cross-Cultural Pragmatics. It posits that the English classroom can be repositioned as a development communication laboratory, thereby advancing SDG 4 and SDG 16.
Keywords: Nigeria, Pragmatics, SDG 16, SDG 4, Speech Acts., and English language teaching, classroom discourse
Covid-19 Pandemic Blessing or Affliction: Reflection on the Qur’ānic Imperative Acts in Their Pragmatic Perspective (Published)
The recent Coronavirus disease Covid-19 is the illness caused by a novel coronavirus and now called Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2; formerly called 2019-nCoV). The main focus of the present study is reflection on the Qur’ānic imperative acts in their pragmatic perspective. This global pandemic encompassed the whole world swiftly hence the world’s natural reaction to this epidemic is to guess and explore the root causes of this infectious disease. Different people have different opinions according to their religious teachings, experience, observation, background knowledge, social, and cultural perspectives. None can give a final word about its reasons as all such epidemics are Allah’s ‘Hikmah’ (wisdom) and only Allah Subhanahu wata’ala (SWT) knows His own intentions in such catastrophe and vast disaster. They may be interpreted as punishment of our evil deeds and at the same time realization and a reminder to return to the teachings of the Supreme Being and ultimate reward. Moreover, the suffering that reminds us of Allah (God) is better for our soul than His Blessings that result in His disobedience and thanklessness due to our love and attachment to this ephemeral world ignoring Allah Almighty’s guidance. The Holy Qur’ān and the Bible make it clear implicitly and explicitly that the disbelievers are generally punished and at the same time believers are tested. The disease of Hazrat Ayub (Job), a just man, is the best example (Al-Qur’ān 21:83). God allows natural disasters to happen because, in His infinite Wisdom, He knows that they can serve His purpose of bringing souls to eternal success. Out of evil Allah brings good.
Keywords: Pragmatic, Qur’ānic imperative, Reflection, Speech Acts., affliction, blessing, pandemic