ADEGBITE Adewale Bandele

Professor

Email address(es): aadegbit@oauife.edu.ng, adewaleadegbite1956@gmail.com

Office Address: Department of English, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife

Academic Qualifications: B. A. (Hons) English, M. A. ESL, PhD Linguistics, PGDE

Areas of Specialization: Applied Linguistics (Sociolinguistics, Text/Discourse Analysis Analysis, Pragmatics, Bi-/Multi-lingualism, English language usage

Title of M.A. Thesis: Simultaneous Translation of Yoruba Christian Sermons into English in Nigeria: A description of some linguistic and sociolinguistic features

Title of Ph.D. Thesis: Some Features of Language Use in Yoruba Traditional Medicine

Fellowships (If any):

A. S. Hornby Trust Award, 1997;

Award of Developing Countries Support Grant (International Reading Association, 2005;

DAAD, 2010

Research Grants (If any):

i. URC, Obafemi Awolowo University, 1990;

ii. URC, Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife, 1998;

iii. TETFund, Abuja, 2015

Ongoing Current Research:

(with A. E. Arua) Stance in Migrants’ Narrative Discourse:
A Pragmatics Analysis of Violence Strategies in Political Campaign Discourse on Social Media in Nigeria

List of Publications:

Books

Akindele, Femi and Adegbite, Wale (1999): The Sociology and Politics of English in Nigeria: An Introduction. Ile-Ife:Obafemi Awolowo University Press, pp. i-vi, 1-179. (Reprinted 2002, 2004, New Edition, 2005)
Adegbite, Wale (2009) The Psycholinguistics of English Language in Nigeria: An Introduction. Ibadan: Kraft Books. 123 pages
Adegbite, Wale (2010a) English Language Usage, Uses and Misuse(s) in a Non-host Second Language Context, Nigeria Inaugural Lecture Series 231, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Ile-Ife: Obafemi Awolowo University Press Ltd.
Adegbite, Wale (2020) Sociolinguistics and the Sociology of English in Nigeria. Ile-Ife: Obafemi Awolowo University Press. 301pages

Chapters in Books (since 2019)

Adegbite, Wale (2019) Pragmatics. In Rosarri C. Mbisike, Pius Akhimien and Olawumi Buraimoh(eds) Trends in Semantics and Pragmatics. Lagos: Lagos State University Press.
Adegbite, Wale and Taiwo Adeniyi (2021) A Semiotic Analysis of Inscriptions on the T-Shirts of Students from Selected Universities in Southwestern Nigeria. In Pragmatics, Discourse and Society: a Festschrift for Akin Odebunmi (Edited by Adeniyi Osunbade, et al.), Cambridge Scholars Publishing: Newcastle upon Tyne, pp. 827-846. (UK)
Adegbite, Adewale (2021) Language Policy for National Integration in a Multilingual Nigeria. In O.J. Oluwadoro and S. Maikanti (Eds) Readings in Applied Linguistics. A Festschrift for Solomon Oluwole Oyetade. Ibadan: Straight-gate Publishers, pp. 7-25.
Adegbite, Adewale (2024) English Language, Literature and Pedagogy in a Digital Age. In M. O. Afolayan (Ed.) Adebisi Afolayan: The Celebration of a Legend. Austin: Pan African University, Press, pp.71-104.
Adegbite, Wale (2019) Context, Discourse and Knowledge Construction in Pragmatics Analysis. Research in Pragmatics Vol. 1 No 1, 1-28. (Ibadan)

Journal Articles (from 2019)

Adegbite, A. B. and Y. M. Famakinwa (2019) Home Videos as Literacy tools for Early Childhood Education in Nigeria. Journal of the Pan-African Reading and Literacy Research Vol. 1 No 1, 45-54 (International Literacy Association, Newark,DE, USA)
Adegbite, Wale (2020) English Language Dominance in Formal Education in Nigeria and the Consequences. Journal of the English Language Scholars’ Association Vol.22, No 1: 9-32.
Adegbite, Wale (2020) Language Policy for National Integration in a Multilingual Nation. AL-MUQADDIMAH: A Journal of the Humanties, Law, Social and Management Sciences Vol. 3 No 2, 1-21.
Adegbite, Wale and Foluke Unuabonah (2021) Reading the Patient’s Mind in Patient-centred Clinics. Ife Journal of the Humanities and Social Studies (IJOHUSS)
Adegbite, Wale (2022) COVID-19 Discourse and the Nigerian Experience: A Critical Literacy Approach. Journal of the English language Scholars’Association Vol. 24 No 2: 1-3
Adegbite, Wale (2022) Language and National Integration in Nigeria: A Case Study of Language Preferences and Attitudes of University Workers and Inhabitants of Akungba-Akoko in Ondo State, Nigeria. Benin Journal of Language and Communication (BJLC) Vol. 1 No 1, 1-32.
Adegbite, Wale and Olanrewaju, Eunice O. (2024) Nigerian English and the Question of Codification. Journal of the English Language Scholars’ Association Vol. 26 No 1, 23-42.
Okunrinmeta, Uriel and Adegbite, Wale (2024) Language preferences of Selected Uneducated Inhabitants of Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State, Nigeria Journal of the English Language Scholars’ Association Vol. 26 No 1, 93-106.
Staff Profile (any other information not captured above):

PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENT:

Member of Executive (Director of Membership), Reading Association of Nigeria, 1999-2002; Fellow, Literacy Promotion Association of Nigeria (LiPAN), November 2022.
Member, Intellectual Freedom Committee, International Reading Association (IRA), Newark, DE, USA – 2003 -2005.
Assistant Secretary, the Nigeria English Studies Association (NESA), 2004-2007.
Editor, Journal of the Nigeria English Studies Association 2007 to 2012.
President, The Nigeria English Studies Association, 2012 –2017.
Member, Editorial Board, Ife Studies in English Language (ISEL),1991-2004; Editor 2004 – 2009; Editor-in-Chief 2010 –
Editor, Ife Studies in English Language and Literary Arts (ISALA),2010-
Editor-in-Chief, Ife Journal of the Humanities and Social Studies, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, 2012-2024.
Course Editor, National Open University of Nigeria
Reviewer, Quarterly, Journal of the International Pragmatics Association, Antwerp, Belgium.
Chairman, Board of Trustees, Nigerian Pragmatics Association, 2017-
Editorial Adviser to many academic journals in Nigerian universities.
External Examiner, Examination moderator, External Assessor and
Expert, Panel of Examiners at many universities in Nigeria, such as the Universities of Ibadan, Ilorin, Abuja, Benin, Lagos and the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria; Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta; University of Uyo, Uyo; Lagos State University, Osun State University, Osogbo, Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti, Tai Solarin University of Education, Ijebu-Ode; Kano State University of Science and Technology, Wudil; Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko; Covenant University, Ota; Babcock University, Inishan Remo; Jacob Ayo Babalola University, Ikeji-Arakeji; Elizade University, Ilara-Mokin; Redeemer’s University, Ede; Adeleke University, Ede; Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin; University of Ghana, Legon and University of Botswana, Botswana. Other tertiary institutions include Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo; Osun State College of Education, Ilesa; and the Federal Polytechnic, Ede.
Member, Focus Group Discussion, Language of Instruction in Nigeria
Research Project, organised by the British Council and UNICEF, Ibadan (13 August, 2018) and Abuja (27 November, 2018), Nigeria

FOCUS OF RESEARCH AND CONTRIBUTION TO KNOWLEDGE

My research continues to be of immense theoretical and practical value to students and scholars in English Language and Applied Linguistics. Applied Linguistics refers to the theoretical and empirical study of real-world problems in which language plays a central role. My specific areas of interest are Translation, Discourse/Text Analysis, Sociolinguistics (especially Language in Education and Nigerian English Studies), Psycholinguistics, Pragmatics, Use of English and Literacy Studies.

In the area of Discourse/Text Analysis, my research focus has been in the application of different textual approaches, such as text linguistics, linguistic stylistics, critical linguistics, content-text analysis, pragmatics and discourse analysis to analyse texts. The analyses have been illustrated with data from diverse areas of human communication in English and Yoruba: translation, biblical passages, legal arguments, medical and literary discourse. The locus of the different textual approaches is that both the pragmatic and linguistic dimensions are considered important in my analysis of texts for stylistic, pedagogical and communication purposes. Along the pragmatic dimension, I have used features from diverse textual data to explicate such extra-linguistic concepts as context, illocution and perlocution; and along the linguistic dimension, I have specifically explicated and applied the theory of systemic linguistics to the analysis of textual form. Hitherto, although functional and suitably oriented towards describing language form in sociological data, Nigerian scholars have negligibly applied the systemic linguistics theory to textual analysis. In my recent engagements in pragmatics analysis, I have described and utilised current approaches in the field to examine issues on Nigerian migrants’ narratives and violence in Nigerian political campaign discourse.

In Sociolinguistics, I have been particularly interested in topics on bi/multilingualism, language planning, problems of language choice and use in social, cultural and educational institutions in Nigeria/Africa and Nigerian English Usage. These interests have culminated in journals and books publications. I have a co-authored book (with Femi Akindele), The Sociology and Politics of English in Nigeria (1999, reprinted 2005); another book Sociolinguistics and the Sociology of English in Nigeria (2020); and a co-edited work A Dictionary of Nigerian English Usage (2014). All the books serve as basic texts for students taking sociolinguistics and related courses in Nigerian tertiary institutions. In my works on the roles of language(s) in education and national development, I have examined the position of language teaching and use at various levels of education in the country – nursery, primary secondary and tertiary. In my various papers in this area, I have observed several lapses in the language (particularly English) programmes in the schools and made good and feasible suggestions to correct such lapses. In my analysis of different kinds of data from the field, I have utilised certain theoretical concepts and principles, which have further illuminated the studies of language education and language in education. Some of such principles and concepts relevant to the bilingual/multilingual African situation include bilingualism/ multilingualism in language teaching, learning and use; primacy of the mother tongue; English as a Second Language (ESL); Communicative Competence, English for Specific Purposes; etc. Major works done in these areas include my publications of a book on the psycholinguistics of English Language in Nigeria; a co-edited book entitled Language in Education in Nigeria, in honour of Professor Adebisi Afolayan, a renowned scholar and educationist; and Linguistics and the Glocalisation of African Languages for Sustainable Development. A Festschrift in Honour of Prof. Kola Owolabi.

I have also been engaged in research on corpus linguistics, with particular emphasis on the description of Nigerian English features using data from the International Corpus of English (ICE) and an intention to compare the features of ICE Nigeria with other ICE corpuses of World Englishes. I have been very vocal about the need to codify and elaborate the usage and uses of Nigerian English, following and advancing earlier efforts of Emeriti Professors Ayo Bamgbose, Ayo Banjo and Munzali Jibril and Professors Adebisi Afolayan and David Jowitt. The main interest now is the codification of Standard Nigerian English as model of English for formal use and learning and teaching in Nigerian schools.

I am at present actively involved in on-going applied research pertaining to translation and lexicography, particularly the compilation of dictionaries, viz. Yoruba-English bilingual, English-Yoruba bilingual and Nigerian English dictionaries. The coordinator of the project, sponsored by the University Press Limited PLC, is Prof. Kola Owolabi, formerly of the University of Ibadan, Ibadan.

Signed

Prof. A. B. Adegbite

aadegbit@oauife.edu.ng

08034840633