HOD's Welcome Address

I am glad to welcome you to the Department of English, Faculty of Arts, Lagos State University, Ojo.

The Department came into existence in January 1991 as a consequence of the re-organisation of the former Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and the defunct Department of Languages and Linguistics under which a degree-awarding English unit had existed since the inception of the University. The Department aims to promote the functional academic study of English Language and Literature-in-English through the exposure of students to the most current developments and techniques in English Studies.

The component of the B.A. English (Language Specialisation) is structured to expose students to and drill them in the correct and creative use of English, with emphasis on improved speaking, reading and writing skills, as well as grammatical knowledge. It is also designed to enable them to overcome certain deficiencies in their use of English so that they will develop and maintain appreciable proficiency in both oral and written communication required of English-major students in the first two years of the four-year programme and the first year of the three-year programme. In the last two years, students are expected to learn to develop knowledge of the phonological, lexical, syntactic, pragmatic and semantic components which will equip them with the tools for the effective understanding and analysis of the usage rules of the different varieties of Standard English.

The English B.A. programme provides every deserving student the opportunity to attain a high level of competence and communicative skills in English. Consequently, it devotes greater attention to the achievement of improved knowledge of English and the acquisition of adequate oral and written skills in it. Our graduates are clearly and positively identified with high proficiency in pronunciation, articulation, correctness of grammar and usage, elegant style in diction and expression, and the choice of appropriate variety of English for use in the various administrative and professional opportunities available in the labour market. They use their skills in the literary and creative writing domains and postgraduate studies in language and literature. The Department of English at LASU runs a PhD Programme in English Language and a PhD Programme in Literature. 

The literature programme is especially designed to produce graduates who are independent-minded, sympathetic to and tolerant of the views of others, imaginative and elegant in expression.

The English B.A. programme with a specialization in Literature in English offers a course that is central to the general project of the Arts and the Humanities. The course provides every deserving student with the opportunity to appreciate human values and heighten their awareness and appreciation of the complexities of human motivation and action. Through exposure to the genres of literature, our students are brought into contact with the vast repertoire of cultural practices in Nigeria, Africa and the world.  Our graduates possess the necessary skills and tools for creative and entrepreneurial purposes and are adequately prepared for postgraduate studies in literature.

The Department of English offers a Master of Arts (M.A) Programme in English Language and Literature-in-English. The philosophy of the M.A. English Language and M.A Literature in English programme is to train and develop scholars whose critical inquiries into the use of the English Language as a medium of communication in L2 situations in both regular communication and creative writing would reassert human values and appreciate the complexity of human motivation and actions.  This is against the background of societies (such as those in Africa) where anarchy and chaos threaten the existence of society, and where, as a panacea, writers respond to these in various writings that become the subject of serious study beyond the undergraduate content.  The products of these programmes are therefore expected to acquire linguistic and critical analytic competencies that would enable them to exhibit a higher proficiency in the use of the English Language in a variety of discourse situations, as well as interpret literary works in the English Language.