Linguistic Repertoire of Undergraduates in Ekiti State Tertiary Institutions: Codeswitching and Its Implications (Published)
This study deals with the linguistic repertoire of undergraduates in Ekiti State tertiary institutions. This study also takes a specific interest in examining the linguistic status of the undergraduates in terms of monolingualism, bilingualism and multilingualism. The descriptive design was used for the study. The population for the study were undergraduates’ students from three tertiary institutions in Ekiti State; College of Education, Ikere Ekiti, University of Nsukka, Ikere campus and Crown Polytechnic, Ado Ekiti. The data was collected by administering a structured questionnaire on the selected sample. 180 questionnaires were administered, while 153 questionnaires were returned by the respondent. Five research questions were raised and analysed with SPSS 20. Results of the study revealed that the extent of undergraduates being multilingual was insignificant; about 98% undergraduates were bilingual while a significant number of the undergraduates were not multilingual. Hence, about 1% speak more than two languages, including English as a second language. Furthermore, the extent of code switching and code mixing among the bilingual undergraduates was significant at .038 level of significance. Also, undergraduates tend to code switch from the L1 to the L2 during communication at home as shown by the level of significance being 0.05. Based on the findings of the study, recommendations were made which included, proper implementation of the Language Policy on Education at all levels of education, the administrative resurrection of acculturation programmes in tertiary institutions with emphasis on undergraduates studying Language Education and governments’ intervention in the increase of admission quota of applicants intending studying Nigerian Languages in Nigerian Universities and Colleges of Education.
Keywords: Acculturation, Dialect, Multilingualism, Undergraduates, code-switch, linguistic repertoire
The Effectiveness of English Language Courses as EFL in Undergraduate Level at Jahangirnagar University (Published)
This paper reports on an effectiveness of English Language Courses as EFL at the tertiary level, offered to first year undergraduate students of some departments of Jahangirnagar University. It aims to establish the case for using evaluation as a means for curriculum development. Currently, the EFL course is considered important for Bangladesh in general, and Jahangirnagar University students in particular, since our graduates face problems not only in coping with the demands of their respective academic disciplines. (e.g. the majority of academic texts are in English) , but also in finding suitable employment because of their lack of English skills. Since the newly introduced EFL course is still in its developmental phase it is necessary to find out the effectiveness to evaluate it and to see whether it fulfils student needs and course objectives. Datas for this study are collected from undergraduates who are currently studying EFL and some other who have recently completed their courses. This investigation reveals that students are not much benefited in learning English. There are number of limitations, which make these EFL courses ineffective. The investigation concludes with several implications and suggestions for those concerned for EFL learning.
Keywords: EFL, Effectiveness, Jahangirnagar University, Tertiary level, Undergraduates