The Subaltern Would Speak: Palimpsestic Identities in Nuruddin Farah’s ‘Blood in the Sun’ Trilogy

Nuruddin Farah’s ‘Blood in the Sun’ trilogy is a socio-political voyage into the Somali life and consciousness. It is a serious attempt to explore the changes that befell the Somali society and converted into a poor, failure and famine struck state in the present though it was a powerful and rich state in the past. The trilogy is a documentation of the history of Somalia from a philosophical standpoint; it delves into clan and ethnic traditions and, at the same time, expounds the adverse consequences of colonisation that have been invoked by the first wave of the ‘Rush to Africa’ in the nineteenth century. The article is an endeavour to underline the complex status of subalternity of the Somalis whose palimpsestic historical and political situation forced a palimpsestic identity. Farah’s ‘Blood in the Sun’ trilogy enfolds three novels; i.e. Maps (1986), Gifts (1993), and Secrets (1998) which are reflective of the current failure social and political situation which negatively influences the identity of the natives. The article hopes to be the kernel of further studies handling the complex postcolonial identity of the Somalis from a historical-political perspective.

The Effect of Grammar Teaching Methods on Students’ Writing Skill

This study investigates the effect of grammar teaching methods on students’ writing skill in secondary level. The study was based on action research, carried out in the academic year 2017 in one of Sudanese secondary schools. The participants were in second year. They studied English for the same number of years (6 years).The study followed two different methods of grammar teaching: 1) grammar in 'context' and 2) in 'isolation' to assess which method is more beneficial for English learners to write grammatical error-free composition. Students were divided into two groups: control and experimental groups.For the purpose of high measurement, participants in the two groups sat for apre English test on writing. The results showed that P-value of T-test (0.567) was greater than significant level (0.05) which means there was no statistical difference between experimental and control groups in the pre-test. Then the experiment was run; teaching the two groups using different methods.The control group was taught grammarin isolation method; where experimental group was taught grammar in context.Instructions lasted for two months and the two groups had the same writing test. The results indicated that P-value of T-test (0.000) was less than significant level (0.05) which means there was statistical difference between experimental and control in post-test. Finding showed that: teaching grammar ‘in context’ helps students to produce better writing than teaching grammar ‘in isolation’.

Evaluating ELF Students’ Speaking Skill at Tertiary Level

This study was conducted at a Sudanese university in 2021 at the end of the semester to find out the areas caused problems of speech production. The research paper seeks to answer the question: What area/s of speaking is problematic to students? Fortysix undergraduate students in first year, who were majored in the English programme involved in the test. The total population was hundred students. Analytic rubrics were used for collecting data. Tuan (2014, p. 2) states that analytic rubric“… accesses the examinee’s specific strengths and weaknesses and identifies the particular components of speaking discourse that an examinee needs to develop”. Five explicit criteria were used to test participants; i.e.: grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, cohesion and fluency. The test was conducted by two instructors who gave appropriate marks under each of five rubrics (Table 1 below). The test contents comprised some pictures and topics to speak about. Bar charts were utilized to compare and measure marks obtained by students in analytic rubrics, where each rubric was measured individually. The results revealed that students were weak in all five areas (grammar, vocabulary, punctuation, cohesion and fluency).The highest marks were gained in pronunciation, count 25%, while the lowest marks were obtained in vocabulary, 15% from the total mark allocated for this item. The results conveyed that, this group of participants was weak in all aspects that needed for speech production compared with their level (2nd year undergraduates).

Phoneme Distribution and the Sonority Nature of Consonant Clusters in Afaan Oromo Authors

This paper examines an outline of two main phonological elements in the Oromo language. Firstly, it indicates the permissible sequences and types of the language’s consonant clusters given the member sound’s sonority. Secondly, it enlightens the distribution of Oromo phonemes in different word positions (initial, medial, and final). In this aspect, the study is a descriptive work and attention has been given mainly to recounting the simple distribution rather than theorizing the phonotactic processes. For the study, data was collected from five native speakers of the Western dialect and was phonemically transcribed using an IPA symbol. The speech of these participants has three hours of duration with an average speech length of 36 minutes for each participant. The study also attempts to list out the number of the language’s native and loan phonemes employed in the speech of adult Oromo users comparing the data with the earlier studies. With the study, it was observed that Oromo has Sonorant-Obstruent, Obstruent-Obstruent, Obstruent- Sonorant and Sonorant – Sonorant clusters based on the status of sonorants in its phonological system. Of the two-member clusters in clustering, sonorants are the dominant first member sounds in the language.

Mending The Broken Bridges: An Analysis of Familyhood in Zakes Mda’s Ways of Dying (1995)

This paper examines South African literature’s paradigm shift through Zakes Mda’s disruption of the dominant trope of apartheid by his focusing on black ordinary lives in Ways of Dying. The novel foregrounds the broken bridges of love and unity that used to link families before colonisation. Mda demonstrates how the rise of the city engendered the demise of the village where blacks lived as a unified community before migrating to the city whence they sink into individualism. The discussion focuses on family units during the period of death and dying to reveal broken links that happen to have a bearing to black familyhood. The focus of the argument is on how Mda depicts and mends the lost spirit of oneness among the blacks during the final stages of the anti-apartheid struggle and the transition to a democratic South Africa. The discussion highlights a new traditional African community built on forgiveness, care and unity.

Developing Critical Thinking Skills in Omani EFL Foundation Programme: Constraints and Possibilities

Educational institutions across the globe unanimously acknowledge the importance of incorporating critical thinking skills in their curricula, yet this objective has not always been met adequately or consistently across the board. In EFL settings, the obstacles to teaching critical thinking are not only genuine but also multifaceted, ranging from teachers’ and students’ training and attitudes, cultural influence and degree of support from the various stakeholders, which often results in a general perception that it is difficult to teach efficaciously. This article will report on the procedures and satisfactory outcomes of an action research that I have conducted with intermediate EFL foundation programme students at Sultan Qaboos University, Oman, using a mixed method approach. The scope of the study is to investigate the constraints to teaching critical thinking skills in this context (quite similar to other non-western ones, e.g. Asian cultures) and ultimately pilot a flexible middle-way approach that enables teachers to work around these restrictions to foster critical thinking skills in their students, without detracting from course content or sacrificing test scores. The trialled approach consists of adapting and extending activities from assigned English language course books/materials to build in more critical thinking awareness and practice, all within a learner-centred social constructivist environment, without the need for extra time or supplementary materials. In their post-course evaluation, most of the students have reported tangible improvement in information literacy, critical thinking abilities and even language proficiency. The article will close by providing practical guidelines on materials and methodology for teaching critical thinking skills in EFL contexts.

Lessons from Themes in Professor Johnbull Nigerian Television Drama Season – 4 Episode 9 (Street School) Towards Curtailing Child Abuse in African Societies

Television is a medium through which society is well informed about social reform, social re-engineering and social orientation because of the tenacious relevance of its audio-visual influence on the viewers. What people think about nearly every issue be it politics, religion, government, fashion, culture, is almost exclusively influenced by television. Thus, this study examines lessons on re-orientation of the African Society towards curtailing Child Abuse from themes in Professor Johnbull Television Drama, Season 4-Episode nine (Street School). The study identifies various themes of child abuse in the television drama episode using qualitative research approach of textual content analysis through Video preview and review of themes in Prof. Johnbull Television Drama. The study applied the social cognitive theory as well as framing theory. Data were gathered using a researcher –designed instrument named “Video Content Analysis Checklist on Social Orientation and Themes and Framings (VCACSOTF)”. Findings from the study revealed that vulnerable children suffer maltreatment such as: Sexual abuse, forced child labour in form of street trading/hawking and child trafficking which is a major setback to the realization of child right act on education in Africa. It recommends that similar Television series and programmes should be produced, identified and sponsored regularly on African Television networks such that social orientation against all forms of child abuse could be spread through various broadcast media just as it is being propagated in Professor Johnbull TV drama episode titled ‘Street School’. Further, government in Africa should assist in giving scholarships to indigent and vulnerable street children and that those who participate in child abuse be prosecuted.

Technical English Problems in Workplace: A Case Study of ESP - Sudanese Graduate Students

This paper aims at investigating technical English taught in Sudan higher education to find out whether the ESP meets the students' needs when they join vocations and workplace. Twenty five students majored in different specializations participated in the study. They are graduates of different Sudanese Universities and Colleges. To yield more insights and more description, the following are the questions of the study: How does English for Specific Purpose (ESP) courses meet students' needs in their studies at colleges? 2. Do ESP courses prepare students to the workplace? The results indicate that the majority of the participants were not satisfied with their courses they learned at colleges when they were students because those courses did not meet their needs in workplaces.

The Pragmatic Analysis of Gurage Riddle

This paper is based on a pragmatic analysis of Gurage riddles that lay an important role in enlightening both children and adults as well. In line with this, it aimed to investigate how Gurage people discuss pragmatic discourses and introduce them into society over riddles. The data were collected through interviews from the local people and documents. The document -‘Yegurage Wemaka’ from which fourteen riddles were collected for analysis was the primary data gathering tool for the study. A purposive sampling technique was employed to choose the informants and the document which clearly contains Gurage riddles. The collected riddles were clustered according to their theme and grammatically founded meaning, and they are transcribed into alphabetic script since they were in Ethiopic scripts. Then, the pragmatic roles of the collected data were analyzed qualitatively from the perspectives of Relevance theory hence, the study focused on the interpretive aspects of riddles. The finding showed that pragmatically Gurage riddles play a great role to promote the culture of ‘Enset’ as the main source of food and its production, to introduce the materials that are used in their day to day life and way of house building (folk materials), to promote Gurage people’s transportation system and infrastructures, to show as the coffee ceremony is the main social coexistence, to promote the culture of Gurage people agriculture, death, and destruction. Finally, it also found out that context and cultural knowledge play a major in interpreting and understanding Gurage riddles.

Folk Knowledge in Maintaining Group Integration and Socio-economic Intimacy among the Arsi-Robe Peasants

The purpose of this article is to analyze the folk knowledge in maintaining folk group integration and socio-economic intimacy among the Arsi-Robe peasants. The significance of folk knowledge in folklore of the society in connection with group integration and socio-economic welfare is the case in point. This study employed a field survey research and data gathering method through the participant observation as well as direct interview. In order to obtain the substantial folkloristic data from local sources (people, occasions, or other settings), the researchers had familiarized with the social behavior and local environment of each locality. As far as the findings of this study are concerned, two points may be underscored here. People are customarily designated to take part in group-driven occupational habits like däbo and wänfä. Amongst the Arsi-Robe traditional society, if people isolate themselves from communal works, they are criticized, if not ostracized and excluded from the mainstream social and cultural roles. They also play their potential roles in kinship and kinship-like social relations. Put another way, they make interventions between their own world and a social unit in their vicinities according the collective paradigm set customarily.