International Journal Online of Humanities
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The Politics of the Unity Accord of 1987 in Baya’s Tomorrow’s People
No full textThat politics is the acquisition, retention and perpetuation of power seems to have been the teleology of the Unity Accord of 1987. This was an agreement signed between ZANU-PF and PF-ZAPU in the glare of the Gukurahundi genocide when the ethnic and political other had been rendered helpless and, therefore, offered a Hobson’s choice. The agreement authorised ethnic subordination and left feelings of bitterness on sections of the country. In examining the politics of the Unity Accord, the study draws from Baya’s play titled Tomorrow’s People (2009). It is one of the literary texts that narrativises the sentiments about the unity agreement. The paper uses the Social Identity Theory to argue that the agreement was solipsistic in terms of constructing the them and us binaries in ethnic relations in Zimbabwe. The paper concludes that the implications of the accord have not been sufficiently theorised in terms of its political, social, linguistic and economic belonging and equal opportunities. There can never be national unity without reconciliation and forgiveness; enforced forgetfulness breeds bitterness and magnifies ethnic identification as shown in Zimbabwe today. 
Exploring Prosodic Pragmatics at Affective Level
No full textThis research work presents a conceptual framework to explore the interplay between intonation and emotional expressions that conveys pragmatic meaning of linguistic utterances. Theory of Affective Pragmatics (TAP), an innovative theory that functions parallel to speech act theory, is applied to introduce a conceptual framework to study prosodic pragmatics at a profound level. The affective component of attitude is introduced in the framework using Ostrom’s ABC model to comprehend affective pragmatics. For further study on this framework, quantitative research design is desirable to analyze data and the data is suggested to be obtained through emotional recordings from emotional prosody speech and transcripts (EPST). Praat as an apt tool recommended for the prosodic analysis of the data. This framework explains how intonation patterns signal unabridged emotions and feelings to understand speaker’s implied meaning. It elaborates the emotional expressions that convey pragmatic meaning to intellectualize affective pragmatics. It highlights some other facets that render affective pragmatics a new-fangled field of research. It has also been envisioned to broaden the scope of prosodic pragmatics as a distinctive research domain in linguistics. The framework is an application of TAP and provides grounds to researchers to understand prosodic pragmatics at a deeper level and to perform future researches in more effective ways. The research is unique in its essence as it offers a conceptual framework to explore affective component of attitude in prosodic pragmatics that has not yet been explored. 
Phonological Adaption of Swahili Loanword in Matengo Language
No full textThe study investigates the phonological adaptation of Kiswahili loaned words in Matengo Language, with specific objectives, namely: to examine the underlying structure and surface structure of the loaned Swahili words in Matengo Language and to assess the phonological processes involved in the loaned Swahili words in Matengo Language. The study was guided by the Generative theory.
Data were collected through interviews and documentary reviews, employing a descriptive approach. Ten adult native speakers of Matengo language were sampled from Mbinga District and those residing in Dar es Salaam using non-probability sampling (snowball).
The study revealed that borrowing across languages shares commonality in phonological processes, although there is variation in the environments where the processes take place. Several strategies for phonological processes were identified in the adaptation of Swahili loaned words in Matengo: substitution, vowel deletion, adoption or structure preservation, insertion, homorganic nasal assimilation, devoicing, and stopping
The Dehumanising Mood in Early Nigerian Creative Writing: A Hallmark of Modern Literature
No full textThe early Nigerian creative writings are recognised as modern literature not simply for the time of their production but among other prevailing characteristics is the recurring mood. Several of Nigerian literatureis laced with the dehumanising mood and a systematic reading of certain works here has not proved the contrary.In this paper we follow a synchronic study of mood on some selected works to substantiate this hypothesis (that there is dominant dehumanising mood) in certain texts of Nigerian literature. Narratives in the texts under study capture timehues of Nigerian cultures and circumnavigate around issues that create dehumanising mood. However, dehumanising feeling itself is one of the major quirks of modernism. This work therefore discusses how the texts consistently narrate oppositions and hostilities that sustain dehumanising mood through narrators and some characters who speak for themselves. Although the texts bequeath a fecund legacy of cultural assertion that later corresponds to the global avowal of black dignity/integrity – negritude, dehumanising mood remains constant and marks those works out as modern literature. Thus, attention will be given to some works of Elechi Amadi’sThe Great Pond, The Slave and Flora Nwapa’s Efuru.The argument is sustained under these sections: modernism/modern literature;source of dehumanising mood in the The Great Pond, The Slave and Efuru; stigmatisation and rejection of conventional truth; and the conclusion
Virginia Woolf As/In/And Children’s Literature: an Overview
No full textThis article examines a lesser-known aspect of Virginia Woolf’s literary work: her engagement with children’s literature and culture. Focusing on Woolf’s modernist contributions to the genre, we introduce two short stories—The Widow and the Parrot (1988) and Nurse Lugton’s Curtain (1991)—originally written for her nephews and later published as picturebooks for a broader audience. Beyond these works, we present artistic representations of Woolf in Kyo Maclear and Isabelle Arsenault’s picturebook Virginia Wolf (2012), Michèle Gazier and Bernard Ciccolini’s graphic novel Virginia Woolf (2011), and Zena Alkayat and Nina Cosford’s Virginia Woolf: An Illustrated Biography (2015). We also consider the renewed relevance of Woolf’s Flush (1933), a biographical narrative recently reissued in illustrated form. This article offers an overview of selected works that highlight Woolf’s complex relationship with children’s literature
Task Based Language Teaching and Second Language Acquisition: Ecological Perspectives in TESOL
No full textSecond Language Acquisition (SLA) research has long sought to explain how learners acquire additional languages and how pedagogy can accelerate this process. Within applied linguistics and TESOL, Task‑Based Language Teaching (TBLT) has emerged as a prominent approach, emphasizing authentic communicative tasks rather than decontextualized grammar drills. This paper explores the intersection of SLA theory and TESOL practice through the lens of TBLT, situating it within broader ecological perspectives that highlight learner identity, sociocultural context, and technological mediation. Drawing on seminal SLA theories (Krashen’s Input Hypothesis, Long’s Interaction Hypothesis, Swain’s Output Hypothesis) and contemporary empirical studies, the paper reviews how TBLT fosters communicative competence, intercultural awareness, and learner autonomy. Methodologically, the study synthesizes qualitative and quantitative research on classroom discourse, learner corpora, and technology‑enhanced environments. The discussion emphasizes three strands: (1) the theoretical foundations of SLA and their pedagogical implications, (2) empirical evidence for TBLT effectiveness in diverse TESOL contexts, and (3) emerging challenges and opportunities, including AI‑driven feedback and online learning. Ultimately, the paper argues that TBLT represents not only a pedagogical innovation but also an ecological paradigm that situates language learning within dynamic social, cultural, and technological ecosystems. By integrating SLA theory, corpus‑based insights, and pragmatic analysis, TESOL practitioners can design curricula that are both theoretically grounded and responsive to global linguistic realities
Effects of TBI on Students’ Essay Writing Performance and Engagement
No full textThis study attempted to investigate the effects of TBI on students’ essay writing performance and their writing engagement, and again to examine the mediating effects of writing engagement between the causal relationship of TBI and essay writing performance. The study was conducted on Grade-11 students of Ediget Feleg Secondary School in Gondar City, Ethiopia. The design employed in the study was quasi-experimental, taking randomly two intact groups as control and experimental, with 56 and 58 students in each, respectively. The experimental group students were taught using the TBI approach as intervention, whereas the control group students were taught, employing the conventional (PPP) approach. Writing test was used to collect the writing performance data, whereas questionnaire was employed to collect data about students’ writing engagement. Independent samples t-test, Chi square, and Structural Equation Model were used to analyze the data. And it was found that direct significant difference came true between the control and experimental group students’ essay writing performance posttest scores, favoring experimental group participants, i.e., (B = 1.581 CR = 5.190 (>±1.96), p < .05). And, it happened that there was significant effect of TBI on engagement, favoring experimental group participants, showing results (β = .543, CR = 4.757 (>±1.96), p < .05). Still, results (β = .345, CR = 2.103(>±1.96), p < .05) reveal that TBI had positive effect on experimental group participants’ writing performance posttest score through writing engagement. The TBI, therefore, has a positive effect, directly and indirectly /through writing engagement, on students’ writing performance. The implication is that writing engagement plays a partial mediation role in the causal relationship between TBI and Essay writing performance.
 
Transforming Early- Stage Writing into Composing: How to Motivate Young ESL Learners to Write, the Activity Way
No full textWriting is an activity in which mind and body are simultaneously engaged; content and language correlate; a person and ‘an other’, as a representative of a community, coexist. If any one element in the pairs mentioned above turns dysfunctional, writing collapses. While in a second or foreign language, possibilities of such failures and mismatches are more. This paper explores the potentials of the activity theory as discussed at length in the Soviet psychology of the first half of the last century. The paper begins with an inquiry into how writing instruction in English as a second language (ESL) can be made more productive, and ends with a proposal of transforming the act of writing into an activity of composing, using the framework of activity theory
Revolutionary Echoes: Marxist Insights into The Social Class and Economic Conditions in Rabindranath Tagore’s Subha
No full textRabindranath Tagore, a renowned literary figure and a futuristic, has written the short story Subha, a work that transcends its romantic narrative to offer a broader critique of power structures and societal ideologies. If someone is a woman, her situation is going to be worse; if she is physically challenged, her situation is going to take a nightmare - this is how the late nineteenth-century society used to treat women, painted by Tagore. The protagonist Subha is a woman who is physically challenged and her relationship with Amal, who belongs to the upper class, changes their relationship quo and causes one of the reasons for the plot’s trajectory. Applying Althusserian lenses to this exploration, the research scrutinizes the manifestations of the Ideological State Apparatuses within the narrative. The central research questions guide the inquiry, emphasizing an in-depth analysis of the operationalization of the Ideological State Apparatus in delineating social class distinctions. This paper maintained in a qualitative methodology involves a meticulous examination of the text and discerns the nuanced portrayal of social class within Subha. Drawing on Althusser’s Marxism theory, the study, moreover, investigates how the Ideological State Apparatus influences characters’ relationships, exploring the intersections of personal desires and societal expectations. However, the research findings aim to contribute to the understanding of how ideology shapes literary narratives, shedding light on the intricate dynamics between characters, social class, and plot trajectories. In a broader context, this study underscores the enduring relevance of Marxist theory in literary analysis, offering insights into the mechanisms through which ideological forces operate in shaping the sociocultural landscape depicted in Tagore’s Subha
The Netflix Translation of Humour from The Egyptian Vernacular Dialect into MSA: The Case of “El-Limby” and “Elli Bali Balak” Films
Get PDFHumour is the infallible and never-outdated medium for creating intimacy and collective understanding among peoples of versatile interests and, sometimes, conflicting attitudes. It is the moment of catching the humorous effect that counts. Humour creation is not easy because the factors that would trigger laughter vary from one person to another. Creating humour on an international level demands distinguished abilities, as it is hard to accommodate all the factors that would motivate diverse peoples and social brackets to laugh at the same time for the same reason, due to national, historical and cultural factors. The hypothesis is based upon the assumption that the world societies speak the same language with the same dialect. Yet, the situation gets complicated if translation problems and techniques are considered, and it turns to exigently complex when the source dialect differs from that of the targeted audience. However, the latter case has never been a problem for the Egyptian drama, as the entire Middle Eastern societies can transcend the dialect barrier. Notably, the vernacular dialects in the Middle East region are fundamentally diverse to extent that they are, sometimes, incomprehensible altogether. Recently, along with the growing hegemony of the online streaming forums as well as their attempt to globalise the streamed content to attract more subscribers, an active process of subtitling and dubbing are initiated. In the process, all the problems of translation, subtitling and dubbing came to the fore. The article discusses the Netflix intralingual subtitling/dubbing of the Egyptian comedies from the Egyptian vernacular dialect into MSA with reference to the famous and hilariously comic Egyptian films الليمبي“El-Limby” (/ɪlˈlɪmbɪ/)(2002) andاللي بالي بالك “Elli Bali Balak (/ɪˈlɪ ˈbalɪ ˈbælək/) ([You-Know-Who]” (2003) starred by the Egyptian actor Mohamed S’ad. The article also seeks to underline the influence of the Netflix subtitled/dubbed MSA content upon the Middle East region