Research
Literary Texts as Language Teaching Aids
This work is divided into six parts. The first part is the introduction which throws light on the relationship between language and literature and points out the aspects of language that literary text can be used to teach. The second part: teaching comprehension passages, attempts to show that both comprehension and literary studies require critical thinking. It is pointed out in the third part: teaching of composition, that in good literary works are expository, narrative, and descriptive passages, which can be used to teach composition. The discussion in part four shows how useful literary texts can be in the teaching and learning of lexis and structure. Part five is the presentation of the result of the use of descriptive passages from the two novels used to teach descriptive writing in GNS101 class. Finally, the conclusion and recommendations part rounds off the discussion with suggestions on how students can improve in descriptive writing. It has been discovered that literary texts are useful materials for language teaching and learning.
Between Aestheticism and Marxist Literature: A Study of Foregrounding in Festus Iyayis Violence, Heroes, and the Contract
This study analysed foregrounding in Festus Iyayi’s three novels: Violence, Heroes, and The Contract. The aim of the study was to discover the function of foregrounding in African literature. A number of passages were extracted from the three novels, beginning with Violence followed by Heroes, and The Contract. These extracts from the three novels were passages that contained foregrounding which revealed the ideological basis of these novels. Images and symbols that projected violence, death, destruction, exploitation, oppression, deprivation, class struggle, etc as well as the plight of the poor revealed Marxism as the ideology that underpinned the three novels. Among the findings are: foregrounding in Iyayi’s novels depicts class struggle; the primary purpose of foregrounding in Iyayi’s novels is not for aesthetic effect; it portrays the less privileged characters as victims of their society; and it contributes to the success of the three novels studied.
