Edwin C. Onwuka | Covenant University Canaanland, Ota. (original) (raw)

Papers by Edwin C. Onwuka

Covenant Journal of Language Studies, 2022

This study examines how history has shaped social identity and the impacts of both on Caribbean e... more This study examines how history has shaped social identity and the impacts of both on Caribbean experience in Derek Walcott's poetry. Using New Historicism as theoretical framework, it critiques some Caribbean historical realities highlighted in the selected poems and their impacts on society at individual and societal levels with particular emphasis on identity. Four poems from different collections of Walcott are analyzed in this paper, which are "Codicil", "The River", "Love after Love" and "The Sea is History". The conclusions of this critical engagement show clearly that identity in Caribbean reality is inescapably tied to the traumatic history of displacement, enslavement, migration and alienation of the Caribbean peoples.

Benin Journal of Literary Studies, 2022

This discourse explores the disruptive character of religiosity in the family in Chimamanda Adich... more This discourse explores the disruptive character of religiosity in the family in Chimamanda Adichie's Purple Hibiscus. The study appraises conflicts arising from religiously informed decisions of major characters in the novel and their consequences on their families. It also critiques characters' contempt for indigenous mores that have sustained family cohesion in African cultures, in this instance, the Igbo culture of Nigeria. Analysis in this discourse is from literary and sociological perspectives.

International Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Review, Jun 19, 2021

Explorations of indigenous African traditions in pre-colonial and colonial African societies in i... more Explorations of indigenous African traditions in pre-colonial and colonial African societies in imaginative literatures have historical and aesthetic values. Historical for the great insights they offer on the human condition and social experience in pre-literate communities; and aesthetic for the refreshing and exciting images of the African world recreated through the human imagination and the genius of gifted writers. Elechi Amadi's The Great Ponds is a quintessential novel that imaginatively recreates an authentic African community totally regulated by its tradition to the exclusion of any Western or foreign influence. This paper explores tradition as a central motif in the novel with an aim to highlight its centrality in regulating social existence and communal harmony in the society depicted in the text. It also interrogates leadership and the models reflected in the novel on political and military planes. The study is a qualitative and library based one limited to content analysis of the novel in focus. It therefore contributes to criticism on the nexus of history and literature. It highlights supernatural and mythical social experiences through analyses of traditional world-views about gods, ancestors, the dibia, and leadership in traditional Igbo societies. New historicism is the theoretical perspective deployed in the paper.

The novel in Africa plays a pivotal role in social re-engineering. By making its immediate societ... more The novel in Africa plays a pivotal role in social re-engineering. By making its immediate society its subject matter, it often achieves in one swift stroke a kaleidoscopic reflection of socio-political ills that hamper growth and development. In exploring these problems, the African novel not only illuminates them, but challenges society to surmount them. Military leadership is among the worst challenges in African countries; therefore, a deeper understanding of military characters and their conduct would aid society respond appropriately to it in future. This paper probes military characters in Chinua Achebe’s Anthills of the Savannah and Okey Ndibe’s Arrows of Rain in order to highlight the personality traits associated with soldiers in politics.

The learning of complex syntactic structures of English by L2 learners have not been systematical... more The learning of complex syntactic structures of English by L2 learners have not been systematically dealt with in the available literature. This study investigated this problem, with the aim of replicating some works done in the L1, in order to determine their feasibility in the L2 perspective. Limited to a small sample, the study examined the developmental stages in the acquisition of English syntactic structures in 7 to 10-year-old children learning English as a second language. Six test constructs were used to examine linguistic competence over a wide range of surface structures, and statistical analysis provided the basis for interpretation of the general pattern of acquisition. The findings of the study show that the process of acquisition of syntactic structures continues actively during and after the primary school years among L2 learners, and they have implication not only for syntactic acquisition, but for language theory in general and L2 theory in particular.

International Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Review, 2017

This study is an analysis of ‘The Trial of Dedan Kimathi’, a play co-authored by Ngugi wa ‘thiong... more This study is an analysis of ‘The Trial of Dedan Kimathi’, a play co-authored by Ngugi wa ‘thiongo and Micere Mugo. The analysis focuses on the use of theatrical devices, especially dance and gesture as message media in the play. The theme of the play is the resilience of the human spirit in the face of oppression and injustice. As a fictional dramatization of the struggle of Kenyans under colonial rule, it carries a prophetic and triumphant message, especially in view of the recent admission by the British government of culpability in the horrific torture and murder of indigenous Kenyans during the insurgency of the fifties, known as the Mau-Mau. Existing analyses of the play have examined the use of language and thematic directions, but none of these documents the semiotic use of dance and speech as parallel message media. The research employs internet, library and archival search as well as the main text as sources of data. Viewed from the technical angle, the work validates the ...

International Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Review, 2016

In a typical patriarchal African setting, women are usually relegated to the background. They are... more In a typical patriarchal African setting, women are usually relegated to the background. They are seen, not heard in a man’s world. In the religious circle, for instance, women are not expected to preside over men; they are not expected to be ordained as Priests, Pastors, etc. in most church denominations. Politics in Nigeria has always been a turbulent terrain. There is the usual male chauvinism that the male counterparts don’t yield an inch to the opposite sex. The general age-long belief and practice is that men must always lead and the position of the female invariably is in the kitchen. Could that be as a result of the fact that a woman was created out of a man, which smacks of superiority and inferiority syndrome, a weaker vessel as opposed to a stronger vessel? Undoubtedly, as a result of man’s dominance in the political space of our national life, in Nigeria, men have been able, for some-time, to garner economic power which they use to fight or bargain for political power. ...

SAGE Open

An essential feature of Nigerian literatures is their capacity to exploit history and social expe... more An essential feature of Nigerian literatures is their capacity to exploit history and social experience to bring to light the human condition in society without compromising literary aesthetics. Thus, Nigerian novels often appear to be more educative than entertaining by their ability to illuminate social realities far more effectively than historical or sociological texts. This is evident in the representations of soldiers in Nigerian novels which are highly influenced by historical and social circumstances. This paper carries out a comparative and descriptive analysis of portrayals of Nigerian soldiers in Isidore Okpewho’s The Last Duty and Festus Iyayi’s Heroes from a new historical perspective. Most studies on the military in Nigerian novels often focus on their actions in war situations and their disruptive and undemocratic activities in politics. However, these studies frequently explore the military as a group with little attention to the texts as expositions on character typ...

Sage Open, 2021

An essential feature of Nigerian literatures is their capacity to exploit history and social expe... more An essential feature of Nigerian literatures is their capacity to exploit history and social experience to bring to light the
human condition in society without compromising literary aesthetics. Thus, Nigerian novels often appear to be more
educative than entertaining by their ability to illuminate social realities far more effectively than historical or sociological
texts. This is evident in the representations of soldiers in Nigerian novels which are highly influenced by historical and social
circumstances. This paper carries out a comparative and descriptive analysis of portrayals of Nigerian soldiers in Isidore
Okpewho’s The Last Duty and Festus Iyayi’s Heroes from a new historical perspective. Most studies on the military in Nigerian
novels often focus on their actions in war situations and their disruptive and undemocratic activities in politics. However,
these studies frequently explore the military as a group with little attention to the texts as expositions on character types
in the Nigerian military. This study therefore contributes to criticism on the nexus between literary representation, history,
and society. It further highlights historical and social contexts of military explorations in Nigerian novels and their impacts
on the perception of the Nigerian soldier in society. These are aimed at showing that depictions of the military in Nigerian
novels go beyond their capacities for disruptions and destructions in society; they represent artistic probing of the nature
and character of persons in the Nigerian military.
Keywords
Nigerian soldier, military, literary representation, Nigerian novels, history, society, Okpewho, Iyayi

International Journal of Social Sciences Humanities Review, 2021

Explorations of indigenous African traditions in pre-colonial and colonial African societies in i... more Explorations of indigenous African traditions in pre-colonial and colonial African societies in imaginative literatures have historical and aesthetic values. Historical for the great insights they offer on the human condition and social experience in pre-literate communities; and aesthetic for the refreshing and exciting images of the African world recreated through the human imagination and the genius of gifted writers. Elechi Amadi's The Great Ponds is a quintessential novel that imaginatively recreates an authentic African community totally regulated by its tradition to the exclusion of any Western or foreign influence. This paper explores tradition as a central motif in the novel with an aim to highlight its centrality in regulating social existence and communal harmony in the society depicted in the text. It also interrogates leadership and the models reflected in the novel on political and military planes. The study is a qualitative and library based one limited to content analysis of the novel in focus. It therefore contributes to criticism on the nexus of history and literature. It highlights supernatural and mythical social experiences through analyses of traditional world-views about gods, ancestors, the dibia, and leadership in traditional Igbo societies. New historicism is the theoretical perspective deployed in the paper.

International Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Reviews, 2016

In a typical patriarchal African setting, women are usually relegated to the background. They are... more In a typical patriarchal African setting, women are usually relegated to the background. They are seen, not heard in a man's world. In the religious circle, for instance, women are not expected to preside over men; they are not expected to be ordained as Priests, Pastors, etc. in most church denominations. Politics in Nigeria has always been a turbulent terrain. There is the usual male chauvinism that the male counterparts don't yield an inch to the opposite sex. The general age-long belief and practice is that men must always lead and the position of the female invariably is in the kitchen. Could that be as a result of the fact that a woman was created out of a man, which smacks of superiority and inferiority syndrome, a weaker vessel as opposed to a stronger vessel? Undoubtedly, as a result of man's dominance in the political space of our national life, in Nigeria, men have been able, for sometime , to garner economic power which they use to

Sage Open, 2019

Abstract The symbiotic relationship between literature and history is most visible in the writer’... more Abstract
The symbiotic relationship between literature and history is most visible in the writer’s deployment of his or her art to
document experiences of the past and their impacts on the feelings and well-being of his or her people in the periods
represented in the work(s). This article explores the historical content and significance of Tanure Ojaide’s The Endless Song
from a new historical perspective. Most studies on Ojaide’s poetry often focus on his critique of bad leadership and his
denunciation of exploitation and pillaging of Nigeria’s Niger Delta region with little attention paid to his poems as history in
verse form. This article therefore contributes to criticism on the interface between literature and history. This study further
highlights significant motifs in Nigeria’s history in the periods documented in The Endless Song and analyses the traumatic
impacts of the events on the well-being of Nigeria and her people. These are aimed at showing that Ojaide’s The Endless Song
is more than an outcry against the plundering of the Niger Delta region; it represents the spatiotemporal record of Nigeria’s
turbulent history.
Keywords
Tanure Ojaide, Nigerian poetry, history, national trauma, literary criticism

Covenant Journal of Language Studies, 2017

The learning of complex syntactic structures of English by L2 learners have not been systematical... more The learning of complex syntactic structures of English by L2 learners have not been systematically dealt with in the available literature. This study investigated this problem, with the aim of replicating some works done in the L1, in order to determine their feasibility in the L2 perspective. Limited to a small sample, the study examined the developmental stages in the acquisition of English syntactic structures in 7 to 10-year-old children learning English as a second language. Six test constructs were used to examine linguistic competence over a wide range of surface structures, and statistical analysis provided the basis for interpretation of the general pattern of acquisition. The findings of the study show that the process of acquisition of syntactic structures continues actively during and after the primary school years among L2 learners, and they have implication not only for syntactic acquisition, but for language theory in general and L2 theory in particular.

International Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Reviews, 2017

This study is an analysis of 'The Trial of Dedan Kimathi', a play co-authored by Ngugi wa 'thiong... more This study is an analysis of 'The Trial of Dedan Kimathi', a play co-authored by Ngugi wa 'thiongo and Micere Mugo. The analysis focuses on the use of theatrical devices, especially dance and gesture as message media in the play. The theme of the play is the resilience of the human spirit in the face of oppression and injustice. As a fictional dramatization of the struggle of Kenyans under colonial rule, it carries a prophetic and triumphant message, especially in view of the recent admission by the British government of culpability in the horrific torture and murder of indigenous Kenyans during the insurgency of the fifties, known as the Mau-Mau. Existing analyses of the play have examined the use of language and thematic directions, but none of these documents the semiotic use of dance and speech as parallel message media. The research employs internet, library and archival search as well as the main text as sources of data. Viewed from the technical angle, the work validates the universality of the use of dance as the bedrock of African drama.

Benin Journal of Literary Studies, 2019

This study examines Edward Kamau Brathwaite’s exploration of migration and social experience in h... more This study examines Edward Kamau Brathwaite’s exploration of migration and social experience in his poetry as a vehicle of appraising Caribbean realities. Brathwaite’s poems will be interpreted using New Historicism as literary tool with a view to highlighting migration/journey motif as fundamental in exploring social realities as well as the human condition in the Caribbean society. This paper is a qualitative and library-based study of Brathwaite’s poems as literary art, focussing specifically on interpretation of their content which explores migration and social experience in the Caribbean world. Four selected poems are engaged in the study for their distinction in reflecting core concerns of the Caribbean enclave specifically dealing with social conditions and migration. These four poems are also used to highlight Brathwaite’s style to enhance the forcefulness of his message in them.
Keywords: Caribbean literature, poetry, social experience, migration/journey motif

MAJELS, 2020

The traditional teaching strategies adopted by many phonology teachers in Nigeria are teacher-cen... more The traditional teaching strategies adopted by many phonology teachers in Nigeria are teacher-centric; students in this mode scarcely get the main idea, rarely interact with the supporting ideas, and seldom grasp the general message of the lesson. Consequently, the average Nigerian student studying English is scared of phonetics and phonology, such that it appears he or she necessarily have to divide his or her attention between the content of the lecture and interest cultivation. Thus, he or she finds it difficult to flow with the lesson as understanding is often sacrificed. It is for this reason that attention must be shifted to searching innovative approach to creating and sustaining learners' interest in phonology. This paper, therefore aims to foreground the use of concept maps as alternative phonology teaching strategy. Based on reflective practice, the paper experiments with six concept maps, namely: the big question map, Venn diagram, web and details, equation block, segmented hierarchy, and sequence flow chart; with each tested against a specific phonetic and phonology topic as a way illustration. The paper concludes that concept maps are capable of stimulating students' desire to learn phonetics and phonology.

MAJELS, 2016

Studies on Tanure Ojaide's poetry have focused more on his denunciation of bad leadership, exploi... more Studies on Tanure Ojaide's poetry have focused more on his denunciation of bad leadership, exploitation and despoliation of the Niger Delta, poor socio-political conditions in society and exploration of the oral culture in that order with only tangential attention given to the resolutions or solutions he proffers in the poems to counter or overcome the conflicts he critiqued.

Sage Open, 2017

Abstract Graphic organizers (GOs) are fast becoming acceptable standard instructional tools acros... more Abstract
Graphic organizers (GOs) are fast becoming acceptable standard instructional tools across subjects in the education arena
globally. However, this visual representation of information is yet to be recognized and integrated into the teaching methods
in Nigerian schools. This study, therefore, presents a research-based investigation of the usefulness of GOs in the appreciation
of prose literature in Nigeria, with a view to foregrounding their use in Nigerian schools. Specifically, the study seeks to find
out whether senior secondary students in prose literature-in-English in Nigeria who are taught with GOs perform better
in prose and comprehension assessments. Four project secondary schools with total of 100 students were purposively
selected for the study. The schools were grouped into two: graphic-based schools (GBS) and non-graphic-based schools
(NGBS). Whereas the GBS was exposed to instruction via eight graphic organizers, the NGBS served as control. Subjected
to descriptive statistics and one-sample t test analysis, the investigation reveals that graphic organizers make students take
charge of the learning process in prose literature classes, and it concludes that these visual instructional elements guarantee
student understanding and achievement. The study, thus, recommends the incorporation of graphic organizers in the teaching
and learning processes across subjects in Nigerian schools.
Keywords
graphic organizers, prose literature, Nigerian schools, teaching and learning literature, ESL

Wole Soyinka and the Poetics of Commitment, 2018

This paper examines Wole Soyinka's representation of man's duality and his perception and attitud... more This paper examines Wole Soyinka's representation of man's duality and his perception and attitude towards the earth and his fellow man in society in Madmen and Specialists. It argues that an exploration of man's dual nature would aid our understanding of his bizarre urge to destroy the natural environment and inflict pain on his kind at times and preserve both at other times. Through contrastive analysis, it scrutinizes Wole Soyinka's portrayal of characters with negative and positive tendencies toward mother earth. Those with negative desires are constructed in the male-dominated destructive cult of 'AS' while those with positive ones are healers populated by women. This study also explores the tension between the sexes in a patriarchal society where men's sole motivation is a depraved exploitation of human and natural resources of the earth, while women work hard at preserving and sustaining the earth and its assets. Reader-Response and Eco-Feminism are deployed as theoretical framework in this study. The study concludes that Madmen and Specialists is a satiric comment on the perennial conflict between pro-nature, earth-preserving human forces and anti-nature, earth-exploiting persons. It is also a moral condemnation of man's irrational craving for power, domination and exploitation. It is a subtle micro construction of the universal tragedy of man's gradual self-annihilation disguised as wanton exploitation of the earth's resources.

Covenant Journal of Language Studies, 2022

This study examines how history has shaped social identity and the impacts of both on Caribbean e... more This study examines how history has shaped social identity and the impacts of both on Caribbean experience in Derek Walcott's poetry. Using New Historicism as theoretical framework, it critiques some Caribbean historical realities highlighted in the selected poems and their impacts on society at individual and societal levels with particular emphasis on identity. Four poems from different collections of Walcott are analyzed in this paper, which are "Codicil", "The River", "Love after Love" and "The Sea is History". The conclusions of this critical engagement show clearly that identity in Caribbean reality is inescapably tied to the traumatic history of displacement, enslavement, migration and alienation of the Caribbean peoples.

Benin Journal of Literary Studies, 2022

This discourse explores the disruptive character of religiosity in the family in Chimamanda Adich... more This discourse explores the disruptive character of religiosity in the family in Chimamanda Adichie's Purple Hibiscus. The study appraises conflicts arising from religiously informed decisions of major characters in the novel and their consequences on their families. It also critiques characters' contempt for indigenous mores that have sustained family cohesion in African cultures, in this instance, the Igbo culture of Nigeria. Analysis in this discourse is from literary and sociological perspectives.

International Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Review, Jun 19, 2021

Explorations of indigenous African traditions in pre-colonial and colonial African societies in i... more Explorations of indigenous African traditions in pre-colonial and colonial African societies in imaginative literatures have historical and aesthetic values. Historical for the great insights they offer on the human condition and social experience in pre-literate communities; and aesthetic for the refreshing and exciting images of the African world recreated through the human imagination and the genius of gifted writers. Elechi Amadi's The Great Ponds is a quintessential novel that imaginatively recreates an authentic African community totally regulated by its tradition to the exclusion of any Western or foreign influence. This paper explores tradition as a central motif in the novel with an aim to highlight its centrality in regulating social existence and communal harmony in the society depicted in the text. It also interrogates leadership and the models reflected in the novel on political and military planes. The study is a qualitative and library based one limited to content analysis of the novel in focus. It therefore contributes to criticism on the nexus of history and literature. It highlights supernatural and mythical social experiences through analyses of traditional world-views about gods, ancestors, the dibia, and leadership in traditional Igbo societies. New historicism is the theoretical perspective deployed in the paper.

The novel in Africa plays a pivotal role in social re-engineering. By making its immediate societ... more The novel in Africa plays a pivotal role in social re-engineering. By making its immediate society its subject matter, it often achieves in one swift stroke a kaleidoscopic reflection of socio-political ills that hamper growth and development. In exploring these problems, the African novel not only illuminates them, but challenges society to surmount them. Military leadership is among the worst challenges in African countries; therefore, a deeper understanding of military characters and their conduct would aid society respond appropriately to it in future. This paper probes military characters in Chinua Achebe’s Anthills of the Savannah and Okey Ndibe’s Arrows of Rain in order to highlight the personality traits associated with soldiers in politics.

The learning of complex syntactic structures of English by L2 learners have not been systematical... more The learning of complex syntactic structures of English by L2 learners have not been systematically dealt with in the available literature. This study investigated this problem, with the aim of replicating some works done in the L1, in order to determine their feasibility in the L2 perspective. Limited to a small sample, the study examined the developmental stages in the acquisition of English syntactic structures in 7 to 10-year-old children learning English as a second language. Six test constructs were used to examine linguistic competence over a wide range of surface structures, and statistical analysis provided the basis for interpretation of the general pattern of acquisition. The findings of the study show that the process of acquisition of syntactic structures continues actively during and after the primary school years among L2 learners, and they have implication not only for syntactic acquisition, but for language theory in general and L2 theory in particular.

International Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Review, 2017

This study is an analysis of ‘The Trial of Dedan Kimathi’, a play co-authored by Ngugi wa ‘thiong... more This study is an analysis of ‘The Trial of Dedan Kimathi’, a play co-authored by Ngugi wa ‘thiongo and Micere Mugo. The analysis focuses on the use of theatrical devices, especially dance and gesture as message media in the play. The theme of the play is the resilience of the human spirit in the face of oppression and injustice. As a fictional dramatization of the struggle of Kenyans under colonial rule, it carries a prophetic and triumphant message, especially in view of the recent admission by the British government of culpability in the horrific torture and murder of indigenous Kenyans during the insurgency of the fifties, known as the Mau-Mau. Existing analyses of the play have examined the use of language and thematic directions, but none of these documents the semiotic use of dance and speech as parallel message media. The research employs internet, library and archival search as well as the main text as sources of data. Viewed from the technical angle, the work validates the ...

International Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Review, 2016

In a typical patriarchal African setting, women are usually relegated to the background. They are... more In a typical patriarchal African setting, women are usually relegated to the background. They are seen, not heard in a man’s world. In the religious circle, for instance, women are not expected to preside over men; they are not expected to be ordained as Priests, Pastors, etc. in most church denominations. Politics in Nigeria has always been a turbulent terrain. There is the usual male chauvinism that the male counterparts don’t yield an inch to the opposite sex. The general age-long belief and practice is that men must always lead and the position of the female invariably is in the kitchen. Could that be as a result of the fact that a woman was created out of a man, which smacks of superiority and inferiority syndrome, a weaker vessel as opposed to a stronger vessel? Undoubtedly, as a result of man’s dominance in the political space of our national life, in Nigeria, men have been able, for some-time, to garner economic power which they use to fight or bargain for political power. ...

SAGE Open

An essential feature of Nigerian literatures is their capacity to exploit history and social expe... more An essential feature of Nigerian literatures is their capacity to exploit history and social experience to bring to light the human condition in society without compromising literary aesthetics. Thus, Nigerian novels often appear to be more educative than entertaining by their ability to illuminate social realities far more effectively than historical or sociological texts. This is evident in the representations of soldiers in Nigerian novels which are highly influenced by historical and social circumstances. This paper carries out a comparative and descriptive analysis of portrayals of Nigerian soldiers in Isidore Okpewho’s The Last Duty and Festus Iyayi’s Heroes from a new historical perspective. Most studies on the military in Nigerian novels often focus on their actions in war situations and their disruptive and undemocratic activities in politics. However, these studies frequently explore the military as a group with little attention to the texts as expositions on character typ...

Sage Open, 2021

An essential feature of Nigerian literatures is their capacity to exploit history and social expe... more An essential feature of Nigerian literatures is their capacity to exploit history and social experience to bring to light the
human condition in society without compromising literary aesthetics. Thus, Nigerian novels often appear to be more
educative than entertaining by their ability to illuminate social realities far more effectively than historical or sociological
texts. This is evident in the representations of soldiers in Nigerian novels which are highly influenced by historical and social
circumstances. This paper carries out a comparative and descriptive analysis of portrayals of Nigerian soldiers in Isidore
Okpewho’s The Last Duty and Festus Iyayi’s Heroes from a new historical perspective. Most studies on the military in Nigerian
novels often focus on their actions in war situations and their disruptive and undemocratic activities in politics. However,
these studies frequently explore the military as a group with little attention to the texts as expositions on character types
in the Nigerian military. This study therefore contributes to criticism on the nexus between literary representation, history,
and society. It further highlights historical and social contexts of military explorations in Nigerian novels and their impacts
on the perception of the Nigerian soldier in society. These are aimed at showing that depictions of the military in Nigerian
novels go beyond their capacities for disruptions and destructions in society; they represent artistic probing of the nature
and character of persons in the Nigerian military.
Keywords
Nigerian soldier, military, literary representation, Nigerian novels, history, society, Okpewho, Iyayi

International Journal of Social Sciences Humanities Review, 2021

Explorations of indigenous African traditions in pre-colonial and colonial African societies in i... more Explorations of indigenous African traditions in pre-colonial and colonial African societies in imaginative literatures have historical and aesthetic values. Historical for the great insights they offer on the human condition and social experience in pre-literate communities; and aesthetic for the refreshing and exciting images of the African world recreated through the human imagination and the genius of gifted writers. Elechi Amadi's The Great Ponds is a quintessential novel that imaginatively recreates an authentic African community totally regulated by its tradition to the exclusion of any Western or foreign influence. This paper explores tradition as a central motif in the novel with an aim to highlight its centrality in regulating social existence and communal harmony in the society depicted in the text. It also interrogates leadership and the models reflected in the novel on political and military planes. The study is a qualitative and library based one limited to content analysis of the novel in focus. It therefore contributes to criticism on the nexus of history and literature. It highlights supernatural and mythical social experiences through analyses of traditional world-views about gods, ancestors, the dibia, and leadership in traditional Igbo societies. New historicism is the theoretical perspective deployed in the paper.

International Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Reviews, 2016

In a typical patriarchal African setting, women are usually relegated to the background. They are... more In a typical patriarchal African setting, women are usually relegated to the background. They are seen, not heard in a man's world. In the religious circle, for instance, women are not expected to preside over men; they are not expected to be ordained as Priests, Pastors, etc. in most church denominations. Politics in Nigeria has always been a turbulent terrain. There is the usual male chauvinism that the male counterparts don't yield an inch to the opposite sex. The general age-long belief and practice is that men must always lead and the position of the female invariably is in the kitchen. Could that be as a result of the fact that a woman was created out of a man, which smacks of superiority and inferiority syndrome, a weaker vessel as opposed to a stronger vessel? Undoubtedly, as a result of man's dominance in the political space of our national life, in Nigeria, men have been able, for sometime , to garner economic power which they use to

Sage Open, 2019

Abstract The symbiotic relationship between literature and history is most visible in the writer’... more Abstract
The symbiotic relationship between literature and history is most visible in the writer’s deployment of his or her art to
document experiences of the past and their impacts on the feelings and well-being of his or her people in the periods
represented in the work(s). This article explores the historical content and significance of Tanure Ojaide’s The Endless Song
from a new historical perspective. Most studies on Ojaide’s poetry often focus on his critique of bad leadership and his
denunciation of exploitation and pillaging of Nigeria’s Niger Delta region with little attention paid to his poems as history in
verse form. This article therefore contributes to criticism on the interface between literature and history. This study further
highlights significant motifs in Nigeria’s history in the periods documented in The Endless Song and analyses the traumatic
impacts of the events on the well-being of Nigeria and her people. These are aimed at showing that Ojaide’s The Endless Song
is more than an outcry against the plundering of the Niger Delta region; it represents the spatiotemporal record of Nigeria’s
turbulent history.
Keywords
Tanure Ojaide, Nigerian poetry, history, national trauma, literary criticism

Covenant Journal of Language Studies, 2017

The learning of complex syntactic structures of English by L2 learners have not been systematical... more The learning of complex syntactic structures of English by L2 learners have not been systematically dealt with in the available literature. This study investigated this problem, with the aim of replicating some works done in the L1, in order to determine their feasibility in the L2 perspective. Limited to a small sample, the study examined the developmental stages in the acquisition of English syntactic structures in 7 to 10-year-old children learning English as a second language. Six test constructs were used to examine linguistic competence over a wide range of surface structures, and statistical analysis provided the basis for interpretation of the general pattern of acquisition. The findings of the study show that the process of acquisition of syntactic structures continues actively during and after the primary school years among L2 learners, and they have implication not only for syntactic acquisition, but for language theory in general and L2 theory in particular.

International Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Reviews, 2017

This study is an analysis of 'The Trial of Dedan Kimathi', a play co-authored by Ngugi wa 'thiong... more This study is an analysis of 'The Trial of Dedan Kimathi', a play co-authored by Ngugi wa 'thiongo and Micere Mugo. The analysis focuses on the use of theatrical devices, especially dance and gesture as message media in the play. The theme of the play is the resilience of the human spirit in the face of oppression and injustice. As a fictional dramatization of the struggle of Kenyans under colonial rule, it carries a prophetic and triumphant message, especially in view of the recent admission by the British government of culpability in the horrific torture and murder of indigenous Kenyans during the insurgency of the fifties, known as the Mau-Mau. Existing analyses of the play have examined the use of language and thematic directions, but none of these documents the semiotic use of dance and speech as parallel message media. The research employs internet, library and archival search as well as the main text as sources of data. Viewed from the technical angle, the work validates the universality of the use of dance as the bedrock of African drama.

Benin Journal of Literary Studies, 2019

This study examines Edward Kamau Brathwaite’s exploration of migration and social experience in h... more This study examines Edward Kamau Brathwaite’s exploration of migration and social experience in his poetry as a vehicle of appraising Caribbean realities. Brathwaite’s poems will be interpreted using New Historicism as literary tool with a view to highlighting migration/journey motif as fundamental in exploring social realities as well as the human condition in the Caribbean society. This paper is a qualitative and library-based study of Brathwaite’s poems as literary art, focussing specifically on interpretation of their content which explores migration and social experience in the Caribbean world. Four selected poems are engaged in the study for their distinction in reflecting core concerns of the Caribbean enclave specifically dealing with social conditions and migration. These four poems are also used to highlight Brathwaite’s style to enhance the forcefulness of his message in them.
Keywords: Caribbean literature, poetry, social experience, migration/journey motif

MAJELS, 2020

The traditional teaching strategies adopted by many phonology teachers in Nigeria are teacher-cen... more The traditional teaching strategies adopted by many phonology teachers in Nigeria are teacher-centric; students in this mode scarcely get the main idea, rarely interact with the supporting ideas, and seldom grasp the general message of the lesson. Consequently, the average Nigerian student studying English is scared of phonetics and phonology, such that it appears he or she necessarily have to divide his or her attention between the content of the lecture and interest cultivation. Thus, he or she finds it difficult to flow with the lesson as understanding is often sacrificed. It is for this reason that attention must be shifted to searching innovative approach to creating and sustaining learners' interest in phonology. This paper, therefore aims to foreground the use of concept maps as alternative phonology teaching strategy. Based on reflective practice, the paper experiments with six concept maps, namely: the big question map, Venn diagram, web and details, equation block, segmented hierarchy, and sequence flow chart; with each tested against a specific phonetic and phonology topic as a way illustration. The paper concludes that concept maps are capable of stimulating students' desire to learn phonetics and phonology.

MAJELS, 2016

Studies on Tanure Ojaide's poetry have focused more on his denunciation of bad leadership, exploi... more Studies on Tanure Ojaide's poetry have focused more on his denunciation of bad leadership, exploitation and despoliation of the Niger Delta, poor socio-political conditions in society and exploration of the oral culture in that order with only tangential attention given to the resolutions or solutions he proffers in the poems to counter or overcome the conflicts he critiqued.

Sage Open, 2017

Abstract Graphic organizers (GOs) are fast becoming acceptable standard instructional tools acros... more Abstract
Graphic organizers (GOs) are fast becoming acceptable standard instructional tools across subjects in the education arena
globally. However, this visual representation of information is yet to be recognized and integrated into the teaching methods
in Nigerian schools. This study, therefore, presents a research-based investigation of the usefulness of GOs in the appreciation
of prose literature in Nigeria, with a view to foregrounding their use in Nigerian schools. Specifically, the study seeks to find
out whether senior secondary students in prose literature-in-English in Nigeria who are taught with GOs perform better
in prose and comprehension assessments. Four project secondary schools with total of 100 students were purposively
selected for the study. The schools were grouped into two: graphic-based schools (GBS) and non-graphic-based schools
(NGBS). Whereas the GBS was exposed to instruction via eight graphic organizers, the NGBS served as control. Subjected
to descriptive statistics and one-sample t test analysis, the investigation reveals that graphic organizers make students take
charge of the learning process in prose literature classes, and it concludes that these visual instructional elements guarantee
student understanding and achievement. The study, thus, recommends the incorporation of graphic organizers in the teaching
and learning processes across subjects in Nigerian schools.
Keywords
graphic organizers, prose literature, Nigerian schools, teaching and learning literature, ESL

Wole Soyinka and the Poetics of Commitment, 2018

This paper examines Wole Soyinka's representation of man's duality and his perception and attitud... more This paper examines Wole Soyinka's representation of man's duality and his perception and attitude towards the earth and his fellow man in society in Madmen and Specialists. It argues that an exploration of man's dual nature would aid our understanding of his bizarre urge to destroy the natural environment and inflict pain on his kind at times and preserve both at other times. Through contrastive analysis, it scrutinizes Wole Soyinka's portrayal of characters with negative and positive tendencies toward mother earth. Those with negative desires are constructed in the male-dominated destructive cult of 'AS' while those with positive ones are healers populated by women. This study also explores the tension between the sexes in a patriarchal society where men's sole motivation is a depraved exploitation of human and natural resources of the earth, while women work hard at preserving and sustaining the earth and its assets. Reader-Response and Eco-Feminism are deployed as theoretical framework in this study. The study concludes that Madmen and Specialists is a satiric comment on the perennial conflict between pro-nature, earth-preserving human forces and anti-nature, earth-exploiting persons. It is also a moral condemnation of man's irrational craving for power, domination and exploitation. It is a subtle micro construction of the universal tragedy of man's gradual self-annihilation disguised as wanton exploitation of the earth's resources.

Wole Soyinka and the Poetics of Commitment, 2018

This paper examines Wole Soyinka's representation of man's duality and his perception and attitud... more This paper examines Wole Soyinka's representation of man's duality and his perception and attitude towards the earth and his fellow man in society in Madmen and Specialists. It argues that an exploration of man's dual nature would aid our understanding of his bizarre urge to destroy the natural environment and inflict pain on his kind at times and preserve both at other times. Through contrastive analysis, it scrutinizes Wole Soyinka's portrayal of characters with negative and positive tendencies toward mother earth. Those with negative desires are constructed in the male-dominated destructive cult of 'AS' while those with positive ones are healers populated by women. This study also explores the tension between the sexes in a patriarchal society where men's sole motivation is a depraved exploitation of human and natural resources of the earth, while women work hard at preserving and sustaining the earth and its assets. Reader-Response and Eco-Feminism are deployed as theoretical framework in this study. The study concludes that Madmen and Specialists is a satiric comment on the perennial conflict between pro-nature, earth-preserving human forces and anti-nature, earth-exploiting persons. It is also a moral condemnation of man's irrational craving for power, domination and exploitation. It is a subtle micro construction of the universal tragedy of man's gradual self-annihilation disguised as wanton exploitation of the earth's resources.