Omolara Daniel | National Open University of Nigeria (original) (raw)

Books by Omolara Daniel

The book is a collection of poems, inspired verses, as it is titled. The poems are meant to insp... more The book is a collection of poems, inspired verses, as it is titled. The poems are meant to inspire, encourage and hopefully correct the wrongs in the society as it comments. It is a tall hope; but it strives to bring this country into the fulfillment of its destiny by making it to value peace and tranquility as a prerequisite for political stability, justice and fair play as social purgatorial necessity.
The simple language is also hoped to make the poems both accessible and attractive to all.

Meditations is a collection of poems that present some topical issues in the Nigerian society as ... more Meditations is a collection of poems that present some topical issues in the Nigerian society as well as presents the poet’s personal experiences (these are few). It essentially states some attitudinal postures and the expectation of the poet to these national and social issues written about.

Papers by Omolara Daniel

The paper investigated the implications of the transcription systems of the English vowels for th... more The paper investigated the implications of the transcription systems of the English vowels for the Nigerian learner of English. It did a comparative analysis of some transcription systems of the English vowels. It found that many of the scholars of English phonetics tend to write out the symbols of the English sounds in different forms, largely dependent on their regional background. This, it was observed, usually leads to a multiplicity of symbols to represent the same sound. The paper noted that this usually causes confusion for the Nigerian L2 learner of English. It therefore suggested that an attempt should be made to create a uniform format of vowel representations in English to help the Nigerian EL2 learner have a better and easier mastery of the English sound system.

Abstract- The society is a unit. The literature of any people reflects this reality. To an extent... more Abstract- The society is a unit. The literature of any people reflects this reality. To an extent, Saadawi tries to do this in presenting the woman question in her two fictions here considered. It is however observed that she fails to reflect the truth holistically in her one dimensional characterization structure. She whole-heartedly condemns the male characters and brazenly justifies the female ones. This paper is therefore a critique of her anti-sexist sexism. Not overlooking the fact that Saadawi’s concerns are real, the paper tries to show that the unit, which the society represents, consists of more than one sex. It thus calls for the mobilization of such instruction avenues while not leaving the re-orientation of the whole social structure towards the equality of the sexes.
Keywords- Nawal El Saadawi; The woman question; Gender equality; Prostitution; Anti-sexist sexism; One dimensional characterization

Advances in Language and Literary StudiesLLS-AIAC, Feb 1, 2015

Children literature remains the focus of discussions among those concerned with the positive soci... more Children literature remains the focus of discussions among those concerned with the positive socialisation of children within the African society. However, how it can serve for the socialisation of children by the home has not been clearly understood. This paper discusses the tangible role children literature can play in the socialisation process. It specifically focuses on the way the absentee parent(s) can effectively use children literature as a tool of child training. It outlined the nature of children literature as it exists in the Nigerian society. It identified some important techniques such as didactism, journey motif, child abuse, characterisation, etc. which writers use to convey their messages in Nigerian children literature. It identified how writers use aesthetics to attract, keep and teach children the needed morality in the society. It concludes by outlining the way that the teacher/parent can effectively bring to life children literature to youngsters and thus engage it for positive socialisation of children within the African social milieu.

Journal of Gender Studies, 2012

This paper investigates the language employed by the lead female character, Captain Sharp, in Ste... more This paper investigates the language employed by the lead female character, Captain Sharp, in Stella 'Dia Oyedepo's The rebellion of the bumpy-chested. The lexical choices made by Captain Sharp and other rhetorical devices like repetition, affirmatives, and face-threatening acts are isolated and critiqued. It is found that through these devices Captain Sharp is seen to exert a great deal of power on the women and give effect to their revolutionary aspirations. The playwright portrays the lead character as a successful leader in her ability to control others, but not an accountable one, since ultimately Captain Sharp's achievement is to replace the authority of the men with her own, leaving the women with very little autonomy.

Communication is expected to result in meaning exchange. However, when definite meanings could no... more Communication is expected to result in meaning exchange. However, when definite meanings could not be established in a communication exchange, an odd situation usually results. Such situations are observed to actually go beyond syntactic and logical misnomer in the communication process. This paper thus examines the semantic oddities in Richard Wright’s Black Boy. It made use of the linkage points of such linguistic approaches like pragmatics, semiotics, presupposition and truth-condition semantics to do a semantic analysis of the novel. It found that sociological factors have a great deal of influence on the odd way of interpreting utterances/communication signals in the text. The paper therefore advocates that there is the need to incorporate co-text sociological elements as being of relevance to meaning analysis.
Keywords: Communication, Meaning exchange, Presupposition, Semantic oddities, Truth conditional semantics

Gender inequality has been a constant refrain among those that desire social justice. To this end... more Gender inequality has been a constant refrain among those that desire social justice. To this end, a global conference on gender equality was organized by the United Nations in 1995 in Beijing, China. However, a recent study questioned the effectiveness of the conference to solve this problem as it found that women themselves are giving hegemonic consent to male dominance. This study thus investigates the way ODL can help in mitigating the hegemonic consent of females to the dominant male paradigm. This thrust of the study is based on the argument that quality education should result in psychological freedom and self-determinism by the learner. Critical Discourse Analysis was used as the analytic tool. It critically evaluates the curriculum content of the National Open University of Nigeria BA English Programme to find out if it in any way helps students, especially the female ones, attain psychological liberation towards the end of their becoming free and productive contributing members of the Nigerian society. It was found that in its present form, the NOUN BA English programme is anti-female in orientation. The paper thus suggests an overhaul of the BA English programme in NOUN to make it more gender sensitive so that it can be a positive instrument of gender equality and social integration.

This study set out to investigate what makes poetic appreciation an unpopular task among students... more This study set out to investigate what makes poetic appreciation an unpopular task among students of secondary school, with particular reference to the role of parents and the home. A questionnaire was administered and data collected from two secondary schools in Ibadan. The result was analysed using mean, frequency count, and rank scale. It was found that linguistic difficulties and book scarcity are the major factors the students identified as hindrances to their positive development of poetic appreciation skills. The source of these two problems was traced to the home background of the students. It was therefore suggested that students could be helped to improve on their literary appreciation skills through the right linguistic exposure at home by giving students good grounding in their L1. This would facilitate rather than hinder their proper development of poetic appreciation skills, if properly handled. Moreover, improving the economic condition of Nigerian homes would enable students afford the needed books to be better literary scholars. All which should eventually lead to the production of better citizens, who would positively impact the attainment of the national agenda.

Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 2013

The paper examines the teacher factor in the development of poetic appreciation skills among Seni... more The paper examines the teacher factor in the development of poetic appreciation skills among Senior Secondary School (SSS) students. A questionnaire was administered and data collected from two secondary schools in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. The data is analysed using mean average, frequency count, column chart, and rank scale. The major finding is that the teacher is a significant factor in the development of Senior Secondary School students' poetry appreciation proficiency. Moreover, the effect of book scarcity, which could be severe due to the current economic problems worldwide, could be mitigated through the teacher's creativity. A reconsideration of curriculum choices in terms of recommended poetry texts to reflect familiar African cultural products before the unfamiliar European ones is also advocated.

Discourse is about communication. An exchange of communication content with both parties being sa... more Discourse is about communication. An exchange of communication content with both parties being satisfied with the meaning; exchange is usually what successful communication entails. This article thus investigates a discourse situation in which a man needs healing for his sick son. In the course of his interaction with the healer who is to help his son, it was discovered that he was not too sure of the ability of this healer. A chosen linguistic performance was used to express this doubt. The result was a communication breakdown. The seeker and the sought could not find a common ground. The focus of this article is therefore to ascertain the reason for this communication breakdown. The article investigated such linguistic devices as the register, topic focus, contextual clues, as well as the cohesive ties within the text. It also looked at the paralinguistic element, intonation, as represented graphologically, which is considered an important semantic element in analysing the text. The major finding in the course of the analysis of the discourse content through such linguistic instrumentation is that the communication breakdown is due to topic conflict. It is found that faith is a necessary ingredient for the seeker of spiritual help. The article thus concluded that for effective hermeneutic studies, linguistic instruments are a necessary option for a full interpretation of biblical texts, especially considering that the texts were originally products of linguistic choices.

International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature, Nov 1, 2012

"English language oral teaching and testing has usually been a problematic issue in the Nigerian ... more "English language oral teaching and testing has usually been a problematic issue in the Nigerian educational system. This study thus examines the way Continuous Assessment (CA) and examination results compare in the ENG 121 English orals practical class in FCE, Okene. This is to assess the impact of the innovative pragmatic approach of continuous practice of pronunciation employed by the course lecturer. The performance levels of the candidates are ranked on a scale of 1-10. A frequency and percentage comparative ranking of the scores is done. A tabular and graphic presentation of the scores reveals the students’ performance is generally above average, indicating the success of the pragmatic approach. Nevertheless, a more favourable performance in the CA than in the examination is observed, probably due to less test anxiety among the students during the CA. The paper concludes that the innovative approach greatly helped the students to improve on their performance in spoken English.

Key words: English, Speech work, Nigerian education system, functional education, innovation, CA and examination scores
"

Material design is an important part of any educational process. In the open and distance learnin... more Material design is an important part of any educational process. In the open and distance learning mode of
study, it is the heart of the educational process. In this wise, technology has become a major factor in the design
of the learning materials of the ODL institutions. In the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), the new
media has become a major ally in getting education to the educationally-hungry masses of the Nigerian
populace. In this wise, the internet and other electronic media like the radio, CD-ROM have become important
means of getting study materials to students, in addition to the printed means. The National Open University of
Nigeria has therefore not only worked at producing qualitative materials for students’ use but also explored the
internet as the fastest means of getting these materials to them. SMS is also being explored as a means of getting
learning content across to the learners. All these means have become handy in preparing and assessing the
English language instructional materials in NOUN. Thus, the English language programme of NOUN is bent on
showing the way forward in the preparation of learning content for the students of English in Nigeria, especially
those in the flexible learning mode, to maximise their learning experience. This is the focus of this study.

ijar.lit.az

Education is now a global product with institutions worldwide competing for students and finding ... more Education is now a global product with institutions worldwide competing for students and finding ever more creative ways to satisfy student needs and preferences. The optimism and belief in educational progress has gingered the new wake of marketing approaches that boarder on how to properly deal with the intricate issues of qualitative educational service, value as well as customer satisfaction. With the continuing rise in the preference for flexible distance learning, educational institutions are realising that when students and faculty have significantly different cultural backgrounds and learning styles that the expectations of the learning experience can be unfulfilled. Many years back, in Nigeria, education has been the sole responsibility of government. However, in recent years, the private sector has entered the market providing educational services at all levels. There are over 90 universities in Nigeria with more than 2.000.000 students enrolled in these universities. With such large student numbers, competition between the public and private universities for students has intensified particularly over the last decade. Consequently, the need to develop strategies for attracting students has become more important. The contribution of technologies to education processes has been immense with students and faculty each learning to adapt to an environment of continuous change and opportunities. In view of the modern relevance of ODL mode of higher education and the way it has become competitive globally, this paper discusses the marketing strategies that ODL institutions could engage in to assist in the growth of their educational programmes. It identifies their human resources in terms of their staff as their greatest asset. It suggests that the entrenchment of quality assurance in learning materialsand service delivery could greatly project the image of an ODL institution positively and make it a preferred choice for those seeking for higher education. The paper concludes that this would eventually lead to better patronage and greater financial autonomy, which would ultimately result in another circle of greater growth for the institution.

Journal of Gender and Peace Development Vol, Jan 1, 2011

Leadership has usually been seen as the ability to control others. Women leaders are thus usually... more Leadership has usually been seen as the ability to control others. Women leaders are thus usually portrayed as tyrants that wish to oppress others due to one social maladjustment or the other. Literature had been mostly used to stereotypically present women as either too weak or too masculine in terms of their leadership ability. This paper thus investigates the language employed by the lead female character, Captain Sharp, in Stella 'Dia Oyedepo's The Rebellion of the Bumpy-chested. The lexical choices made by Captain Sharp and other rhetorical devices like repetitions, affirmatives and face threatening acts were isolated and critiqued. It was found that through these linguistic choices, Captain Sharp is able to exert a great deal of power on the women and cause them to succeed in their revolutionary intentions. The playwright was able to portray the lead character thus as a very successful leader. The paper however concludes that being a successful leader requires more than being able to control others through linguistic power-play. A responsible leader is expected to be eventually accountable, both to those they lead and the moral mores of the society.

linguistlist.org

Abstract: The issue of women and their position in relation to power within the social structure ... more Abstract: The issue of women and their position in relation to power within the social structure is not a new one. The protest against the patriarchal ideology inherent within the social structure has been the main focus of the feminist struggles. The role of the mass ...

nigeriaenglish.com

In this paper, Dr Daniel looks the pictorial misrepresentation of women in Nigerian newspapers, s... more In this paper, Dr Daniel looks the pictorial misrepresentation of women in Nigerian newspapers, sequel to the accusation against media houses during the 1995 Beijing Conference that the media tend to represent women in very uncomplimentary light pictorially. She employs pictorial semiotics along with Critical Discourse Analysis to interrogate the role of women in the whole process of their pictorial misrepresentation, with particular reference to The Sun newspaper's page three girl. Frequency count of the identified postural preferences and clothing items reveals that the women whose pictures were published in the newspapers were actually active agents in the whole process of their so-called pictorial misrepresentation. She then concludes that women also help to maintain male hegemony within the Nigerian society through the part they play in their pictorial projection on The Sun newspaper's page three the Conference, otherwise called Platform for Action, demanded that the world press needs to reconsider its manner of portraying women in its discourses and pictorial representations. asserts that, ten years after the Beijing Conference, there is a need to ask uncomfortable questions about the effect of the Conference on the fortunes of women. This informed the present attempt to assess the impact the Conference has had on women's pictorial representation in the media more than a decade after. The issues of interest in this study are manifold. The first is: how effective in changing the way women are portrayed pictorially has the Beijing Conference proved to be? Secondly, what role do women play in their pictorial portrayal in the newspapers presently? In order to find answers to these questions, pictorial semiotics was employed as an instrument of analysis of some pictures in The Sun, a Nigerian newspaper.

Advances in Language and Literary StudiesLLS-AIAC, Feb 1, 2015

Journal of Gender Studies, 2012

Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 2013

International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature, Nov 1, 2012

Key words: English, Speech work, Nigerian education system, functional education, innovation, CA and examination scores
"

ijar.lit.az

Journal of Gender and Peace Development Vol, Jan 1, 2011

linguistlist.org

nigeriaenglish.com

jpanafrican.com

This paper critically investigated how contemporary Nigerian poets employ nature as a metaphor to... more This paper critically investigated how contemporary Nigerian poets employ nature as a metaphor to signify the dissonant relationship between the people of the Niger-Delta and the Nigerian government on one hand, and the African women and their men on the other hand. The discussion relied on the templates provided in select poems of Ebi Yeibo and Molara Ogundipe-Leslie. The paper employ Critical Discourse Analysis in combination with ecocritical disposition as a launch-pad to query the power balance that exists within the political arena of Nigeria, especially among the economically exploited people of the Niger-Delta. It explores the poets' presentation of the people's sense of disillusionment and disenchantment with the existing sociopolitical order which is unfair to the less privileged group(s), and it actually threatens their survival. The images of barren rivers and imprisoned selves portray the African women, the Niger Deltans and their environment as being under grave danger. After years of hoping and long-suffering, the personae now find themselves as paupers and impoverished by agents of the exploitative dominant paradigm. The deference to superior authority that is typically African thus comes under fatal threat. This paper finally posits that respect for nature and its benevolent resources is the surest way to meaningful and sustainable development on the earth for the benefit of all and sundry. Moreover, it insists on a dialogue of reason instead of self-annihilating violence presently prevalently on both sides while not giving up the possible position of power attainable with psychological liberation of the self from the damning hopelessness that each group's situation portends.

African Study Monographs, Jan 1, 2008

The life and poetry of J. P. Clark-Bekederemo is the focus of this paper. I examined the pain and... more The life and poetry of J. P. Clark-Bekederemo is the focus of this paper. I examined the pain and anguish of the poet over the civil war in Nigeria as expressed in his poems. I found that, despite some apparent weaknesses in the poems, the poet succeeds in projecting his sadness at the carnage and wastage experienced by the nation during that historical period. I conclude that these poems also constitute a warning to the Nigerian people, that they should be committed to restoring the national community so as not to repeat the devastating political failures of the past, especially in the context of the Niger Delta crisis within the Nigerian body politic.