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This study adopted three practical teaching strategies intended to positively affect learners’ writing skill while neutralising negative factors affecting their writing competence. To achieve the study objective which aimed at the assessment of the best teaching strategy to enhance learners’ writing proficiency, a comparative study of three teaching methods (namely communicative, eclectic and task-based methods) was used over a 6-week period as a treatment on three experimental groups A, B, C respectively and a control group (D) was taught using the conventional method. A pre-test was administered on two hundred (200) freshmen/subjects purposively selected from different Departments at the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO). A post-test was used to ascertain the outcome of the six weeks period of treatment on their essay writing. Results varied according to groups but, most importantly, Group B showed very significant improvement and control group D showed no significant improvement at all in the post-test assessment while groups A and C’s writing ability improved just marginally at best post-test. Our findings suggest the need to pay attention to eclectic teaching techniques as a crucial element in enhancing writing proficiency among learners. The implications and limitations of this research in addition to guidelines for future research are discussed. Article visualizations

One defect that is easily noticed among some students of university, polytechnic or college of education in Nigeria in contemporary time is their inability to communicate effectively in both spoken and written English even though they are taught English for Academic Purposes (EAP) either in form of “Use of English” or “General English” depending on the institution before they graduate. Linguistic scholars have considered the defect as one of the major factors responsible for poor academic performance among some students of tertiary institutions in Nigeria. In recognition of this fact, this paper primarily reviewed the state of affairs with regard to the implementation of the EAP curriculum in tertiary institutions and pointed out some of the anomalies. The paper, however, highlighted some measures considered to be adequate and appropriate for the effective implementation of the EAP curriculum in tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

Research findings have consistently pointed to the fact that there is a correlation between extensive reading and proficiency in the target language, especially in a second language situation. Since reading is a process of habit formation, some linguistic scholars have argued that the primary school level is the most suitable for laying a strong foundation for the formation of extensive reading habits. Against this background, this study assessed the availability of extensive reading resources in public primary schools in Owerrri Municipal, Imo State, Nigeria. The objective was to assess the availability of extensive reading resources in the public primary schools to determine whether the school environment is conducive enough to enhance extensive reading culture. The Behaviourist Theory of language learning guided the research and the research design was a survey method. Out of a total of twenty-seven primary schools in the Municipal, fifteen were randomly selected and investigated. With the instrument of a questionnaire, data were collected from heads of the schools. The data were analysed, using frequency count and simple percentages. From the analyses, it was revealed that virtually all the schools investigated lacked adequate extensive reading resources. Consequently, it is concluded that the non-availability of the extensive reading resources in the schools investigated may be partly responsible for the seeming poor extensive reading culture which is noticed among some contemporary students. It is, therefore, recommended that efforts should be made by the Imo State Government and, by extension, other state governments to ensure that primary schools in their states are equipped with the necessary extensive reading resources in order to encourage the pupils to cultivate an extensive reading culture in the target language.

Gender and language studies in general have not been fully explored in most parts of the globe particularly in Nigeria. The objective of the study therefore was to examine the politeness and hedging strategies in the English language conversation of Igbo native speakers in Nigeria as well as establish whether men and women’s conversational styles have been gendered As a cross-sectional questionnaire and interview-based survey, the sample population was studied by means of ten-item questionnaire in the form of Discourse Completion Task and structured interview at seven Universities systematically selected from the South-East and South-South geo-political zones in Nigeria. The study instruments were completed, returned, transcribed and statistically analysed using the quantitative and qualitative tools for analysis of production and perception data respectively. Results showed that politeness and hedging are indispensable sociolinguistic elements in the conversational English of the study sample. Also, results revealed that to accomplish a communicative goal, the samples adopted different politeness/hedging strategies given the discourse situation. Also, findings showed that the female respondents were found to adhere more to linguistic politeness principles than their male counterparts considering the context hence demonstrating a difference in conversational style. The study found evidence to establish that females are more polite than males in conversations. In conclusion, findings of this study showed that respondents yielded to certain sociolinguistic factors such as age, culture, hierarchy, disposition and religion as they were believed to inform the use of a particular strategy or another.

One of the global concerns in contemporary times is COVID-19 pandemic, otherwise known as corona virus, which, according to available records, had its origin in China. The pandemic, from all indications, has had devastating effects in the areas of health, economy, education and socialisation globally. Against this background, this paper reviewed the outbreak of the pandemic and its devastating effects globally and noted that so far, there had not been any known cure. Although efforts had been made by some nations and pharmaceutical outfits to develop vaccines, the paper observed that there had been a whole lot of controversies surrounding the efficacy and side effects of the vaccines, and as a result, many people had avoided making themselves available for the administration of the vaccines. In view of the foregoing, the paper argued that the corona virus, for now, has come to stay with humanity as HIV AIDS and other terminal diseases such as cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes and the like. And as a result, it is suggested that the Nigeria Government should, in addition to other measures already put in place to combat the deadly virus, ensure that the literacy rate of Nigerians as regards reading-writing literacy, media literacy and health literacy is accelerated so that Nigerians will be equipped and empowered to cope with the devastating effects of COVID-19.

One of the global concerns in contemporary times is COVID-19 pandemic, otherwise known as corona virus, which, according to available records, had its origin in China. The pandemic, from all indications, has had devastating effects in the areas of health, economy, education and socialisation globally. Against this background, this paper reviewed the outbreak of the pandemic and its devastating effects globally and noted that so far, there had not been any known cure. Although efforts had been made by some nations and pharmaceutical outfits to develop vaccines, the paper observed that there had been a whole lot of controversies surrounding the efficacy and side effects of the vaccines, and as a result, many people had avoided making themselves available for the administration of the vaccines. In view of the foregoing, the paper argued that the corona virus, for now, has come to stay with humanity as HIV AIDS and other terminal diseases such as cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes and the like. And as a result, it is suggested that the Nigeria Government should, in addition to other measures already put in place to combat the deadly virus, ensure that the literacy rate of Nigerians as regards reading-writing literacy, media literacy and health literacy is accelerated so that Nigerians will be equipped and empowered to cope with the devastating effects of COVID-19. &nbsp

A close look at literature and language shows that the two are closely related. This close relationship is obvious because from all indications, literature presupposes language. It is inconceivable to discuss literature without reference to language. But going by the traditional practice at the secondary school level in Nigerian context, there are indications that Literature and English Language are treated as two separate school subjects. At the senior secondary school level, the subjects are taught in different classroom settings by teachers that are either designated Literature teachers or English teachers. By this dichotomy, the Literature teachers, to a large extent, pre-occupy their teaching period with the teaching of the stories, the contents and the socio-cultural, economic and religious implications of the prescribed literary texts without placing much emphasis on the language components of the texts. In the end, some students have been found to have done very well in the Literature exams but perform poorly in English Language. Against this background, this paper posited that the relationship between literature and language is symbiotic. It was, therefore, suggested that the relationship should be explored and exploited in order to enhance effective teaching and learning of Literature and English Language at the secondary school level so that the learners would possess high level of proficiency in the use of English Language, which would ultimately contribute immensely in addressing the seeming poor academic performance at the secondary and tertiary levels of education in Nigeria. Some suggestions for effective teaching and learning of Literature and English Language were made.