Towards a Research Agenda on Individual Differences in ELT in Nigeria

There are a variety of individual differences that English language teaching (ELT) professionals cannot afford to ignore. This essay is based on a premise that teaching and learning English in Nigeria’s multilingual background of 526 languages (Ethnologue, 2018) present an extraordinary context of multiculturalism and individual differences in the language classroom. ELT professionals in such a context require significant expertise in the application of inclusive practices. The essay identified gaps in the praxis and policy dimensions of Nigerian ELT practice relating to individual differences and suggested a research focus on these two areas. It concluded that teachers should adopt clear, empirically tested methodologies to cater for the different students in the class, create good relationships in the classroom to develop learner self-confidence, integrate activities and tasks that clearly appeal to different learning styles and personalities, personalize learning as much as possible, create learner autonomy, and pay attention to cultural variations among L2 learners.

Torturing the helpless: A review of PCOS induced infertility from a gender perspective

This paper reviewed the abuse of infertile women suffering from Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) from a gender perspective. Infertility is a prevalent, presenting feature of PCOS with 75% of women experiencing infertility due to anovulation, making PCOS the most common cause of anovulatory infertility. Increased awareness of PCOS, its causes, and its symptoms may help the process of early diagnosis, appropriate care and mitigation of violence arising from infertility hence, this study. In many countries’ infertility among married couples especially for women is a sentence to stigmatization, loss of social status, marital conflicts and violence. All this stems from prevailing socio-cultural norms and gender inequalities inimical to women. PCOS is a syndrome without much public awareness and PCOS patients often do not seek care. Where they seek care, they are often not immediately diagnosed with PCOS. Due to some prevailing cultural norms and general lack of awareness they are often tortured and abused. Outcomes from this study shows that there is need to intensify public awareness on the various factors contributing to infertility such as PCOS which has been identified as a major contributing factor. Also, harmful socio-cultural norms and practices that encourages gender inequalities and violence against infertile women should be eradicated with strong policies put in place and perpetrators severely punished. Early diagnosis and a multidisciplinary approach to the treatment of PCOS is also crucial. Finally, proactiveness by implementing working strategies that will help improve treatment and mitigate violence against women suffering from PCOS should be embrace by all.

Directing gender equality in Ahmed Yerima’s Altine’s Wrath

One of the functions of the theatre director is to develop a concept that would appeal to the audience in the process of his interpretation. This paper textually evaluates the issue of gender equality as the directorial concept in Ahmed Yerima’s Altine’s Wrath. The paper adopts the sociological, literary and artistic methods to interrogate the directorial implications of the text as it will be demonstrated in the performance. The paper notes that a thorough understanding of gender theories and principles would guide a director’s realization of the identified concept. The paper, therefore, calls on directors to support the issue of gender equality by developing concepts in this regard and as such promote a peaceful society.

Desired Traits in Mate Selection: A Survey of Hispanic-American Female Students

Previous research on mate selection has primarily focused on long-term relationships, i.e. spouse selection. Literature suggests that factors and traits playing a significant role in choosing a short-term partner have been mostly overlooked in mate-selection research. The present study, with a sample of 115 Hispanic-American females attending a public university, attempts to determine if there are significant differences in reported preferences when looking for short-term partners versus when looking for a long-term partner. The subjects individually listed their preferences for short-term partners from a list of traits generated by previous research. The participants were then put into groups consisting of five females in each group. Group members discuss their preferences among themselves and generate a list of desirable traits in a long-term partner. This paper reports the findings of the survey in two specific categories. It separates the desired traits for short-term and long-term partners, and it presents the differences in preferences based on relational status, i.e., single or in a relationship.

Digitized technology and evolving selfie obsession among University of Port Harcourt students: A gendered culture?

Digitization is a prime globalized ideology in the 21st century high tech revolution. It essentially deals with automation of manual process to make room for easy documentation and sustainable data regime. Africa is an emerging digital domain with many of its young generation becoming keen lovers of Information Technology (IT), and many of the youth population fast becoming internet devotees, social and new media addicts. One of the trending fantasies, among the numerous exploitations and innovations of the new technology is selfie. Selfie is simply a selfphotograph of a person’s portrait by himself. This is possible by the use of smartphone or digital camera held out at arm’s length by the person taking the snapshot. Presently, there is craze for digital identity among African youths. It is against this background that undergraduate students at the University of Port Harcourt were sampled purposively for deployment in this study. This study utilizes questionnaire and Focus Group Discussion (FGD) as instruments for data gathering in order to determine whether the use of selfies is more common to the male or female members of the African digital society. Finally, the study is guided by Uses and Gratification theory and Symbolic Interactionism Theory.

Exploring the Overrepresentation of Black Male Students in Special Education: Causes and Recommendations

An overrepresentation of Black male students identified as having disabilities is pervasive in American schools. This troubling reality may be the result of disconnects between Black males and their White teachers. Racial differences likely contribute to the high number of Black males referred for programs for students with disabilities. This paper explores the overrepresentation of Black male students identified as having disabilities and recommendations for supporting their success.

Di bụ ugwu nwanyị (Husband is the dignity of a woman): Reimagining the Validity of an Igbo Aphorism in Contemporary Society

Cultural aphorisms tend to sustain gender disparity. There are certain cultural expressions which tend to sustain gender disparity and oppression among the Igbo of Nigeria. One of such is di bụ ugwu nwanyị, literally translated ‘husband is a woman’s dignity’. This Igbo maxim tends to foster gendered marginalization and oppression in contemporary Igboland. The saying reinforces the status of the husband as requisite for the visibility and pride of the woman. Perhaps this may explain why some marital issues such as husband infidelity, wife-battering, are culturally underplayed for protection of the man. Thus women are forced to endure abuses in their marriages. There exist a plethora of other gender related issues that are rooted in the di bụ ugwu nwanyị metaphor. This paper engages the implications of this Igbo cultural expression amidst the advocacy of gender justice and inclusivity in Igbo land. As qualitative study that adopts the phenomenological approach, this paper, draws insight from interviews, observations, oral histories and extant Igbo literature. Akachi Ezeigbo’s snail-sense feminism and Obioma Nnaemeka’s negofeminism undergird the theoretical framework. The paper advocates for the obliteration, or reinterpretation of di bụ ugwu nwanyị that honours dignity for gender equity and inclusivity so as to valorize the status of women in Igboland.

Gender, Productive Resources and Agricultural Development in the Urban Area

The Nigerian society is a patriarchy society where men dominate over women most especially in access and control over productive resources and decision-making process. This limitation often has negative impacts on food security; most especially in urban areas where more than half of the world’s population now dwells. This study aimed at documenting the experiences of urban women farmers in accessing critical agricultural productive resources. The study engaged both quantitative and qualitative methods in designing the research. Multistage sampling technique was used to select 250 respondents, and information was elicited through the use of questionnaire, Key Informant Interview (KII), and Focus Group Discussion (FGD). The study revealed that the urban female farmers in the study area have inadequate access to critical agricultural productive resources and are still making use of crude and traditional implements in their various agricultural activities. Likewise, through usufructuary rights, in reference to access to land the urban status quo is gradually weakening the patriarchal nature of the society.

Mobility Trope: Travelling as a Signature of the Afropolitan Female Quest for Existential Subjectivity in Chika Unigwe’s On Black Sisters’ Street

The mobility trope is a key aesthetic feature in Afropolitan fiction and it crystalizes as the act of travelling which has become an important subject-matter in postnationalist African fictions by women such as Chimamanda Adichie, Noviolet Bulawayo or Chika Unigwe as a way of intervention on the debate of the Afropolitan female quest for existential subjectivity in 21st century African fiction. This is against the backdrop of negative essentialism and the exertions of patriarchy evident in the representation of African women’s in 20th century African fiction. Drawing from the foregoing, this paper interrogates Chika Unigwe’s On Black Sisters’ Street (Hence OBSS) to demonstrate how the writer deploys mobility trope which manifest as travelling as a signature of the Afropolitan female quest for existential subjectivity. I argue in this paper that, though existing studies on OBSS portray Efe, Sisi, Ama and Joyce as exported commodities in neoliberal sex market, their relocation however opens up a new vista to understanding their motivation and quest for new subjectivity, empowered fluid agency, individual autonomy and translation into Afropolitans. This is within Achille Mbembe’s phenomenological criticism of Afropolitanism and a methology that is based on qualitative content analysis of the text—OBSS. On the long run, the identity which travelling confers on the female characters is fluid, as they represent an African being in a globalized world and a strong sense of cultural mobility.