Philosophiae Doctor - PhD (Linguistics, Language and Communication)

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Browsing by Author "Antia, Bassey E."

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    Analysing the discourse on corruption in presidential speeches in Nigeria, 1957- 2015: Systemic functional linguistics and critical discourse analysis frameworks
    (University of the Western Cape, 2019) Ogunmuyiwa, Hakeem Olafemi; Antia, Bassey E.
    Corruption as a concept is viewed differently by various disciplines, but there seems to be consensus that it relates to the misuse of public office for private gain. Studies in the social sciences, mainly political science, economics, sociology and law, have provided valuable insights into the subject, for example, its causes, manifestations and consequences. In a country such as Nigeria, corruption is said to have cost the country up to $20 trillion between 1960 and 2005, and it could cost up to 37% of its GDP by 2030 if the situation is not urgently addressed. The paradox, however, is that although all successive leaders of the country have consistently articulated their anti-corruption posture in national speeches, they get accused by their successors of not being tough on corruption both in word and in deed. Regrettably, there have been relatively few close textual analyses of presidential speeches carried out within analytical frameworks in linguistics that have the potential of revealing how presidents can simultaneously talk tough and soft on corruption, a contradiction that could well explain the putative anti-corruption posture of the country's leaders and the ever deepening corruption in the land. It is against this backdrop that this study draws on Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) in order to examine language choices related to the theme of corruption in speeches made by Nigerian presidents from 1957 to 2015. The objectives of the study are to (1) provide an overview of how the discourse on corruption has evolved in Nigerian presidential speeches from 1957-2015; (2) determine specific facets of the construal of corruption from the dominant choices made from the system of transitivity (process, participants, circumstance) in speeches by different presidents and at different time points in their tenure in office; (3) analyse how the interpersonal metafunction of language is enacted in the speeches by the presidents through the system of appraisal for a strategy of positive self-presentation and negative other-presentation; (4) interrogate from a critical discourse analysis standpoint the interest, ideological, partisan or other bases for the choices made in the speeches from the systems associated with the experiential and interpersonal meta functions of language; and (5) to evaluate the different presidents in terms of how the above analyses position them in relation to combating corruption.
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    A multi-theoretical analysis of the dynamics and effects of terminology in Nigerian and South African high school textbooks on life sciences
    (The University of the Western Cape, 2018) Kamai, Richard Awoshiri; Antia, Bassey E.
    The performance of students in science subjects continues to be a source of concern in many African countries. In Nigeria and South Africa, one explanation frequently given has to do with students� proficiency levels in the medium of instruction and textbook publishing. Although several studies have been conducted from these standpoints, the issue of terminology variation within and across textbooks, and between textbooks and assessment tasks in English-language science textbooks, seems to be understudied. As a consequence, we do not know how terminological variation manifests, its effects on learners� achievement and the strategies learners can use to respond to it. Against this background, this study uses a multi-theoretical framework to examine the dynamics of terminology in Life Sciences textbooks in the context of learner�s engagement with written science.
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    Multilingual teacher-talk in secondary school classrooms in Yola, North-East Nigeria: Exploring the interface of language and knowledge using legitimation code theory and terminology theory
    (University of Western Cape, 2021) Bassi, Madu Musa; Antia, Bassey E.
    It has been noted by Lin (2013) that studies on multilingual talk, as illustrated by code switching in the classroom, have been repetitive and descriptive, and have for a while not been underpinned by substantially new or different questions (Lin, 2013:15). First, many of the studies in the literature have, for instance, concluded that there is a functional allocation of languages (FAL) in multilingual classroom teacher talk (e.g. Baker, 2012; Martin, 1996; Probyn, 2006, 2014; Jegede, 2012; Modupeola, 2013; Salami, 2008), such that language �a? is used for presentational knowledge, and language �b? is used for explanatory knowledge, and these claims have not been subjected to sustained scrutiny. Secondly, codeswtiching and translanguaging increasingly have been the dominant and exclusive frameworks used, and this has limited the kinds of insights that can be obtained or the kinds of questions that can be posed.
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    Scaffolding reading comprehension for engineering students at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology � A translanguaging framework
    (University of the Western Cape, 2023) Rodrigues, Theodore Ronald; Antia, Bassey E.
    The study examines the cognitive affordances of translanguaging as a resource for scaffolding Engineering texts written in English for English Additional Language (EAL) students in the Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering (DEECE) at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in South Africa. It focuses mainly on the reading and task-related experiences and performances of students working with academic English and multilingually scaffolded (translanguaged) Engineering text settings. With this, the study consists of three phases guided by a sequential explanatory mixed-method approach, i.e., an exploratory phase and two experimental phases. These phases were constituted by focus-group discussions with interviews, questionnaires, and reading comprehension tests.
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    Siding and �translanguaged siding� in lecture halls: an ethnography of communication at the University of the Western Cape.
    (University of Western Cape, 2020) Forbes, Coral Joan; Antia, Bassey E.
    The study set out to investigate siding and translanguaged siding as an under-researched student-to-student communication which happen parallel to teaching. Lemke (1990) defines siding as student-to-student talk while the teacher is teaching, and Antia (2017) defines �translanguaged siding� as student-to-student talk in a language or combination of languages that is different from the LoLT. In this way, siding encapsulates �translanguaged siding�.