DIALECT CONTACT AND IDENTITY:

A CASE STUDY OF EXOGAMOUS SUI CLANS
A Dissertation
in partial fulfillment ofthe requirements
for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Speech Rate, Pause, and Linguistic Variation:

Speech Rate, Pause, and Linguistic Variation:
An Examination Through the Sociolinguistic Archive and Analysis Project
Dissertation submitted in partialfulfillment of
the requirementsfor the degree of Doctor
of Philosophy in the Department of
English in the Graduate School

COLONIAL LANGUAGE AND POSTCOLONIAL LINGUISTIC HYBRIDITY

A dissertation submitted to the faculty of
The University of Utah
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
Department of English

English Lingua Franca as Language of Learning and Teaching in Northern Namibia: A report on Oshiwambo teachers’ experiences. Thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree MA in Second Language Studies (SLS).

Abstract
At independence, Namibia chose English as its official language and therefore its language of learning and teaching (LOLT). Since then, government documents and other literature have revealed the poor performance of learners and falling of standards of teaching (Benjamin 2004:25). It seems that teachers are facing several challenges when using English as a LOLT in the classroom. This study therefore investigates the challenges faced by teachers in northern Namibia when using ELF as a LOLT, as well as how teachers overcome these challenges. In this regard, structured, one-on-one interviews were conducted with six
Oshiwambo-speaking teachers at a specific homogenous secondary school in the Omusati region of northern Namibia. The findings of this study suggest that teachers believe that the learners’ sole advantage of using ELF as the LOLT is that it may benefit them if they further their studies abroad, as possessing knowledge of English would enable them to communicate with people from different countries. Another main finding, in terms of how teachers overcome the challenges posed by using ELF as the LOLT, is that teachers often resort to code-switching to ensure that their students understand the concepts they are being taught.

FINDING SPACE FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN VERNACULAR ENGLISH IN A SIXTH GRADE CLASSROOM A Capstone submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in English as a Second Language

CHAPTER ONE:  INTRODUCTION


Said vat you got to said, and don’t kick aftervard!
-Gust Runquist, at a church meeting, c. 1930


Growing up in northern Wisconsin, I loved hearing my mother tell stories of the immigrant characters who populated those rural woods years before my time.  How we’d all laugh when the punch line, which everyone had heard a hundred times, finally came.

There’s the guy who’s charged with setting up extra seating in church, so he’s carrying a plank which he’ll lay atop two chairs to form a bench.  Someone walks behind him, gets hit with the plank, and makes a fuss.  When repeated in a thick, Swede Finn1accent, his indignant response, “I don’t got eyes in my rear!” brings howls of laughter.  Then there’s
the guy who was chastised for not signaling as he prepared to turn from the highway into the little store owned by my grandparents.  He made clear his justification:  “Don’t you know I alvays turn here?”  By this time, we’re usually laughing so hard we’re crying.

We tell the story of my grandmother, whose father brought his hard-nosed, “old country” ways with him to Wisconsin.  Chasing the cows one cold winter night, she complained, “Nobody loves me, and my hands are cold.”  Her father’s unsympathetic reply, “God loves you, and you can sit on your hands,” still serves my family as a “stop complaining”
message in many situations.    This didn’t end her complaining, however.  Years later, as she became old and sick, she would often lament, “You don’t know what it’s like to be like this here.”

These stories themselves, of course, are not really that funny.  If I took them to an open mike night at the local comedy club, I’d draw more puzzled looks than laughs.  But to our family, they are priceless.  These stories tell our history.  They bind generation to generation, the “old country” to the new, giving us a feeling of solidarity and strength.
The thick accent and verbatim immigrant grammar with which they are always repeated remind us that not so long ago, our family – our whole community – was just recently arrived off the boats, through Canada or Ellis Island, from Finland.  They started a small church, built a school, opened a country store, worked the land, and two short generations later, sent their grandchildren, now full-fledged, English-speaking Americans, off to college.

The pride I have for my heritage is obvious.  Any editor of this paper who would dare to suggest the correction “Say what you have to say and don’t kick afterward” would be met with solid refusal.  The way these lines are delivered is as important, if not more so, than their content.  They remind us where we came from, and how very far we have come.  The accent and grammar don’t just help to tell the story, they are the story...

ASSESSING PATTERNS OF LANGUAGE USE AND IDENTITY AMONG CAMEROONIAN MIGRANTS IN CAPE TOWN A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for a Masters Degree in the Department of Linguistics.

ABSTRACT


ASSESSING PATTERNS OF LANGAUGE USE AND IDENTITY AMONG CAMEROONIAN MIGRANTS IN CAPE TOWN


Full Masters Thesis, Department of Linguistics, University of the Western Cape

In this study, I explore Cameroonian migrants’ language use and the various language forms they use to manifest their identity. I deem this subject very interesting as it deals with a multicultural/multilingual people in an equally multicultural/multilingual society – Cape Town.

The study was carried out in the wider and interdisciplinary field of applied linguistics with focus on the specific domain of sociolinguistics. I have collected data through interviews, focus group discussions and participant observation and used qualitative methods for interpretation of data guided by the concepts of space and territoriality as has been propounded by Vigouroux (2005). Finally, I consider the influence of space and territory on the language choice and above all, I show that the decision to use one language instead of the other in any given territory or space is never a neutral one.

I argue that the Cameroonian immigrants still use language in the same way, as they would do if they were in Cameroon. That is, the Cameroonian migrants would speak Cameroon Pidgin English (CPE) amongst themselves at home, in school, church, at
their jobsites, social gatherings and so on and continue to code switch between English, French, CPE and their vernaculars, although I show that they tend to use more English, and less French in Cape Town. I maintain that the immigrants still treat
CPE with as much disdain, as they would do in Cameroon. Again I argue that the indifferent attitude of Cameroonians towards their vernaculars (African languages) remains the same since they continue to attach importance to the official languages
(French and English) and finally, that Frankanglais is not being used in Cape Town.

I establish that the sluggish Cameroon language policy and the snobbish attitude of the Cameroonian elites towards the promotion of vernaculars have caused the local languages to be less decisive at the national platform. As such, it is around the official languages that two major identities can be noticed in Cape Town – the Anglophone and the Francophone identities. This situation, I further argue, stirs a kind of linguistic conflict in Cape Town just like in Cameroon, although some participants cross this boundaries and continue to live together. Ironically the conflict is based on former
colonial languages and not on the many African languages.

In sum, this study emphasises the standardisation of CPE and the need for a language policy in Cameroon that encourages the former official languages (English and French) plus CPE to be taught in schools alongside the Cameroonian vernaculars.

ATTITUDINAL REACTIONS OF STANDARD AMERICAN ENGLISH SPEAKERS TO FOREIGN-ACCENTED SPEECH A capstone submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in English as a Second Language. Will, E. Attitudinal Reactions of Standard American English Speakers to Foreign-accented Speech (2010)

This study pursues four guiding questions: 1) to what extent can Standard American English speakers identify the national origins of foreign-accented speech; 2) what are listeners' attitudinal responses to foreign-accented speech;
3) do listeners' attitudinal reactions vary depending on the national origins of the speaker; and 4) do listeners react differently to foreign-accented speech from groups that are part of their community's linguistic landscape? Using a verbal
guise technique, participants identified speakers’ national origins on a map, responded to open-ended questions and evaluated traits on a Likert scale.

Results indicate that listeners are moderately successful in identifying foreign accented speech, show a positive preference for speakers from the target community and equate some accents with lower levels of income, education and social class. Therefore, NS students might be positively impacted through curricula designed to increase understanding of language diversity and ESOL students through a focus on confidence-building strategies.

A grammatical sketch of isaalo (western sisaala) thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of masters of arts in english with a concentration in linguistics and a certificate in language technology

This thesis presents a gramatical description of Western Sisaala, a previously undocumented language spoken by fewer than 10,000 individuals in the upper west region of Ghana. This work is based on three months of field work in Lambussie with two native speakers. Its main emphasis is to describe the languages phonological description, which has been the basis for the development of an orthography for its speakers. Other chapters in this work include a description of the Sisaala language complex, the sociolinguistic situation of the speakers of western Sisaala language complex, the sociolinguistic situation of the speakers of western Sisaala, and a preliminary analysis of Western Sisaala'a morphological system. Western Sisaala belongs to the Western Grusi branch of the Gur language family, of the Niger-Congo phylum. Historically it has been considered a dialect of the much larger Sisaala Tumulung of the Sisaala language complex, but this work recognizes it as a distinct language.

Describing and Analyzing English as a Lingua Franca in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts

Abstract
 
Describing  and  Analyzing  English  as  a  Lingua  Franca

 
Researchers  are  becoming  increasingly  interested  in  responding  to  the  effects  of  the  English  language’s  viability  as  a  Lingua  Franca.  English  as  a  Lingua Franca  (ELF)  is  being  used  predominantly  in  communication  from  one  non‐native speaker  to  another,  and  descriptive  studies  are  just  beginning  to  emerge  (Dewey 2007;  Jenkins,  2000;  Seidlhofer,  2004).  This  report  offers  a  theoretical  overview showing  ELF’s  increasing  relevance,  and  reviews  empirical  studies  that  have  investigated  how  ELF  is  manifesting  in  the  field  of  language  education.
 These empirical  studies  are  gaining  significant  traction,  specifically  in  relation  to  descriptive  linguistics,  sociolinguistics,  and  applied  linguistics  (House, 2003;Mauranen,  2003).  In  order  to  investigate  a  formal  description  of  ELF,  recent empirical  work  is  reviewed  after  two  seminal  articles  were  published  that  helped gain  viability  into  ELF  as  a  distinct  research  area  (i.e.  Seidlhofer, 2001;  Mauranen,  2003).  Such  reviews  of  empirical  studies  through  the  use  of  corpora  are  not  meant  to  distinguish  ELF  as  a  distinct  variety  of  English,  but  to  simply  allow  for  a  deep  description  of  how  ELF  is  being  used currently.  Also  discussed  are  the  developments  to  English  language  pedagogy  and  directions  for  future  research  as  ELF  scholars  begin  to  reconceptualize  what  is  meant  by  language  context  and  communication  in  ELF.

The effect of teachers attitude on the effective implementation of the communicative approach in ESL classrooms. Masters of Arts with specialization in applied linguistics

Summary

This study is an attempt to determine the impact of teachers attitude on their classroom behaviour and therefore on their implementation of the communicative approach.

A descriptive case study was conducted at six secondary schools in Harare, Zimbabwe (as Esl environment) to determine the effect of 38 O -level English teachers attitude on their classroom practice quantitative and qualitative methods of date collection including a questionnaire, an observation instrument and a semistructured interview were used to gauge teachers attitudes, assessing the extent to which attitudes are reflected in their classroom behaviour and eliciting teachers verbalisation of how they conceive of their professional task.

The findings show that the effective implementation of the Communicative Approach was critically dependent on teachers positive attitudes towards this approach in the five categories covered by this study.

A STORYLINE ANALYSIS IN IU-MIENH NARRATIVE DISCOURSE WITH SOME INSIGHTS FROM COGNITIVE LINGUISTICS in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS IN LINGUISTICS.

ABSTRACT
Storyline is a foregrounded main line of development in narrative discourse.
Longacre’s textlinguistics storyline analysis distinguishes a storyline verb that is marked by the preterite tense from supporting materials coded with other tense-aspect-modality such as imperfect, progressive, modals, irrealis, etc.  Among
these he recognizes a cline of ranking from most dynamic to most static (1981, 1996, 2003a).  In applying his theory to Iu-Mienh narrative discourse, two issues arise: 1) the advantage of a verb ranking/salience scheme approach which is
compatible with prototype analysis from a Cognitive Linguistics perspective (Taylor 2003), as opposed to the binary approach of foreground-background (Hopper 1979), and 2) the problem of strong dependence on verb morphology which Iu-Mienh lacks totally as does Thai in identifying storyline (Somsonge 1990b. 1991a).  What possible alternatives can Cognitive Linguistics suggest to such a situation?

Starting with a storyline analysis and salience scheme analysis based on seven Iu-Mienh narrative discourses within the framework of Longacre’s textlinguistics, this thesis shows first a prototype effect, or gradient relation, not only in the
supportive materials but also inside each band.  The storyline verb in Iu-Mienh is unmarked, used 1) by itself, 2) with post verb aspectual verbs, or 3) in serial verb constructions (SVCs) and topic chains.  The pivotal storyline is recognized as a
band of grounding elements mi’aqv ‘resultative aspectual marker,’ aqv ‘perfective aspectual marker’ and an adverb za’gengh ‘really, indeed, actually.’  Second, following Somsonge’s (2002) non-verb-morphology dependent storyline analysis,
transitivity and sequentiality as the major factors of storyline are analyzed, using Langacker’s billiard-ball model (1991b) and updating (i.e. increasing) Current Discourse Space (CDS) model (2001).  From a Cognitive Linguistics perspective,
storyline is foregrounded to the perception of the conceptualizer by two factors: 1) as a result of the transitivity of energy and event in a clause or sentence composed of SVCs and topic chains, and 2) as a result of sequentiality expressed by the sequential marker ziouc ‘then, so, and,’ the conjunction cingx_daaih ‘therefore,’ the topic marker aeqv ‘as for,’ and adverbial clause containing liuz ‘after doing…’ or  gau ‘after which.’

To identify storyline, Cognitive Linguistics analyzes conceptual structures of transitivity and sequentiality, which result in foregroundedness to human perception. Storyline is an epistemological outcome of transitivity and sequentiality.

LINGUISTIC CHOICES IN MULTILINGUAL SPHERES: THE CASE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF GHANA MALE STUDENTS..

1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
“A multilingual situation is always of immense interest. It can produce multiple and varied impact of the society, community and the languages themselves. Just as it may yield to diverse outcomes, it also yields itself to diverse mode of examination of the situation.” Ghosh et al (2009: 1-2) Language can often be used, albeit subtly, to define a particular society and culture. One can, indeed, argue that language is both “an individual and a group possession” (Wardhaugh, 1969:91).

Consequently, linguistic choices are influenced by the kinds of roles that speech communities assign to certain languages. In countries like Ghana where several languages are available to the people engaged in communicative events, speakers constantly make decisions as to what language(s) to speak and what language(s) to avoid during interactions in certain domains. As Ferguson rightly observed, “speakers often use more than one language variety in one kind of circumstance and another variety under another condition” (Fasold, 1984: 34).

In fact, one cannot totally separate the making of language choices from the phenomenon of bi/multilingualism in that in typical monolingual situations, speakers do not as a matter of fact have to make decisions concerning what language(s) to use within certain domains. The reason is quite obvious – only one language is available to them. The situation, however, is different  in  multilingual  societies  like  Ghana,  Nigeria,  Cameroun  and  Benin  where interlocutors operating within multilingual contexts consciously decide the appropriateness or otherwise of certain language choices within specific domains. In such societies, it can be realised that interlocutors often have different languages for different purposes and the decisions to use either of those languages available to them might be influenced by age, gender, domain and the characteristics of the interactors within a particular communicative event.

In Ghana, for instance, Student Pidgin is considered a male code and is frequently used to reinforce male group identity in universities and secondary schools (Dako, 2000: 74). This implies that it cannot be used in very formal context. As a result, male students of universities and senior high schools consciously make decisions as to which language to use (Student
Pidgin, English or a Ghanaian language) when it becomes necessary to communicate with people.

Like most senior high schools and tertiary institutions in Ghana, the University of Ghana is a cosmopolitan institution with people from different ethnolinguistic background pushed into one environment. The environment is complexly multilingual with students using certain languages when they find themselves in certain situations. Cursory generalizations have been
made about language use at the University of Ghana with a few scholars like Dako (2000:74) claiming that Student Pidgin and English Language are in a diglossic relationship on university campuses.  It is in the light of this that this paper seeks to study multilingualism among male students of the University of Ghana. The study forms part of the recent investigations into the correlation between gender on one hand and multilingualism, language choices and diglossia on another hand. The focus is to determine the kinds of linguistic choices that male students of the University make when they find themselves in various
contexts on campus.

OROKO ORTHOGRAPHY DEVELOPMENT: LINGUISTIC AND SOCIOLINGUISTIC FACTORS A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts

ABSTRACT
This thesis explores the variety of linguistic and sociolinguistic factors that need to be considered in order to develop a good Oroko orthography. Oroko is a Bantu A language of the Southwest Province of Cameroon, Africa. The thesis starts with an
overview of the Oroko’s location, population, classification, and language development status. The linguistic factors discussed are based largely on analyses of two lists: a 118-word list of nine Oroko dialects and an 821-word list of four Oroko dialects (included in the appendix). Consistent phonetic and phonemic alternations are examined in detail. The
next chapter discusses the sociolinguistic issues that arise from participant observation, historical context, and two sociolinguistic surveys: a rapid assessment of the sociolinguistic situation among nine of the Oroko dialects and an extensibility survey using a modified form of recorded text testing (RTT) done in six dialects. The next
chapter opens with a discussion of a number of options for standardizing or not standardizing across all the Oroko dialects, concluding that the various dialects are different enough to require at least introductory material to be written in at least four dialects. Then, the various linguistic and sociolinguistic factors are drawn together to form the basis for orthographic recommendations. This chapter concludes with a discussion of the practical issues of presenting these recommendations to the Oroko.

A DIGLOSSIC INVESTIGATION OF THE USE OF ENGLISH AND JUKUN LANGUAGES IN WUKARI METROPOLIS, TARABA STATE THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH AND LITERARY STUDIES, FACULTY OF ARTS, IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF DEGREE OF MASTERS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

ABSTRACT
This study is an inquiry into the diglossic phenomenon in the Wukari metropolis, Taraba state, with an attempt at providing solutions to the problems discovered in the usage of English and Jukun languages within the study area. Varieties of the English language exist alongside the Jukun and other indigenous languages. This situation normally gives rise to the choice of codes by certain bilinguals with respect to some given contexts. It therefore becomes increasingly difficult to decipher what language is best suited for certain linguistic contexts. It is also discovered that linguistic prejudices do exist among users who may choose to elevate one code over the other for unspecified reasons. Fishman’s (1972) theory of diglossia, involving genetically unrelated languages was adopted as suitable theoretical framework for the discussion of diglossia in the research. The data were collected through research instruments such as Participant Observation, Structured Interviews, Questionnaire and Audio-Tape Recording (ATR). The data were presented and analysed using statistical tables and excerpts from the ATR. The findings showed that there is a statistically significant interplay between language use and contextual, demographic, sociological and stylistic variables. The findings also showed that diglossia could have a significant impact on the growth and development of the Jukun language and therefore called for a greater use of the Jukun language in the metropolis.

A CONTRASTIVE STUDY OF THE PREDICATIVE SYSTEMS OF ENGLISH AND FULFULDE A Thesis Submitted to the Post Graduate School,, in Partial Fulfillment of the requirements for the Award of Degree of Master of Arts in English Language.

ABSTRACT
In this study we attempted to assess the differences that exist across the Predicative systems of English and Fulfulde.  We also tried to establish
similarities.  Some of the differences we found were as a result of the structural differences that exist between English and Fulfulde.  First of all, there was the
difference of grammatical exponents.  While in the case of English there is a clear distinction in the functions of words as opposed to morphemes, in the
sense that while words act as purely semantic exponents, morphemes play word-internal functions (morphology), in Fulfulde, morphemes play a
predominant role in syntax so that the line dividing morphemes from words is not so clear.  One other difference between the two languages was around the
VAP (voice aspect polarity) suffix that is found in Fulfulde unlike in English.  This Morpheme accounts for a great deal of the difference in the behaviour of the
Fulfulde verbal which in effect is responsible for most of the differences in the predicative system of Fulfulde, a category that does not exist in English.
In analyzing the data for this project a rather eclectic approach was taken, leaning heavily on Dik’s (1981) framework of Functional Grammar as well as
taking a leaf here and another there from other theories especially the Transformationalists as represented by Napoli (1989).
This work is divided into five chapters.  Chapter 1 is the introduction, containing the statement of the problem of the research which raises some of the central questions in the study. The aims and objective of the study are also stated in this chapter.  The scope of the work is also spelt out as focusing on a contrast
of the predicative systems of English and Fulfulde.
Chapter 2 contains the review of literature that serves as background to the study.  There is an in-depth review of literature on Fulfulde as well as on the
general theory of Predication as a linguistic concept.  The theoretical model for the project is also highlighted here.  Chapter 3 is devoted to the methodology or
procedure as to how the data for the study was gathered and processed.
In Chapter 4, there is the analysis of the corpus collected using the theoretical framework highlighted in Chapter 2. The summary, conclusions and
recommendations of the project are presented in Chapter 5 bringing this project to its end.

THESIS A SUGGESTION TO USE CODE SWITCHING AS AN L1 RESOURCE IN THE STUDENTS’ WRITTEN WORK: A PEDAGOGICAL STRATEGY In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Master of Arts Department of English.

ABSTRACT OF THESIS
A SUGGESTION TO USE CODESWITCHING AS AN L1 RESOURCE IN THE STUDENTS’
WRITTEN WORK: A PEDAGOGICAL STRATEGY
Pakistani English has marked its presence in all genres and poses pedagogical implications for both teachers and students. Most students in English as Foreign
Language (EFL) settings are unaware of how and when to use code-switching (CS) as an L1 resource in their written work to convey local social meanings as no common
standard has been established for teachers and students. This situation negatively affects uniformity in instructional and assessment procedures. While the use of CS in
academic settings is still a relatively new area of research, recent studies advocate the use of L1 as a resource in the classroom.
This focused study provides an overview of previous CS research centered on its importance as a discourse tool in the oral and written work of multi/bilingual persons
who use CS to convey social aspects which cannot be appropriately communicated through the target language (TL). Some studies observe the CS patterns found in teacher talk during instruction and advocate its use as a potential L1 resource, but they fail to address how it can be regulated in students’ written work without hindering TL learning.


This study fills in the gap by suggesting the use of bi-directional translation methods in conjunction with acceptability judgment tasks in order to instruct students
in identifying how and when CS should be used as an L1 resource. The study is conducted with the pool of 36 students in a local university in Lahore, who read four
English newspaper articles and code-switched in Urdu in pre and post-instruction stages. Paired t-test results showed significant improved results for the acceptance rates and number of attempts by the participants in the post instruction. This suggests that students can use L1 as a resource to convey concepts in the TL when properly instructed and that further research in this connection can be useful for FL learning settings.

LEXICO-SEMANTIC FEATURES OF NIGERIAN ENGLISH THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH AND LITERARY STUDIES, (IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS (M.A), ENGLISH LANGUAGE)

ABSTRACT
The global spread of the English language as one of the most far-reaching linguistic phenomena of our time is already an established fact. Evidence of this worldwide phenomenon of language contact, variation and change can be seen through such designation as world English, modern English, West African English, South African English, Australian English, Indian English, Nigerian English, etc. The phrase ‘Nigerian English’ has appeared in the last four decades or so. The purpose of this study is to describe the lexico-semantic features that mark Nigerian English as a distinct variety of English.
The features are considered along ten different categories, namely: loan shift/semantic extension, semantic shift, coinages, clichés, translation equivalents, direct borrowing, acronyms, analogical process, back formation and blends. It is concluded that since Nigerian English is productive at the level of lexico-semantics, it has some implications for the pedagogy of English, as it relates to the acquisition of communicative competence in the language.

LANGUAGE BEHAVIOUR AND ITS EFFECTS IN A MULTILINGUAL SETTING: A SOCIOLINGUISTIC DESCRIPTION OF OGORI/MAGONGO PEOPLE OF KOGI STATE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH AND LITERARY STUDIES...

ABSTRACT
Multilingualism has been defined as the ability of an individual to speak two or more languages in any communicative event. Therefore, intra-group societal multilingualism is a situation where a speech community has access to two or more languages without any of the languages threatening the existence of the other. The study seeks to find out how Ogori/Magongo people, who are multilingual, use the various languages they speak in that setting and the effects this behaviour produces in them. The aim is to understand the impact of multilingualism on a population where more than one language is in use. Fishman’s theory of language choice in a multilingual setting has been adopted as the framework for this study because of its suitability. In doing this, the questionnaire and interview methods were adopted to elicit responses from the respondents, in addition to non-participant observation method. The findings revealed that certain factors like topic, domain of interaction and role relation determine who speaks what language to whom, when and why in that setting. Also, the study has established that intra-group societal multilingualism is stable and widespread in Ogori/Magongo as well as the fact that multilingualism has positive impact in the behavior of Ogori/Magongo which has given
them wide range of choice of languages.

VERB ACQUISITION IN STUDENTS OF ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE: LANGUAGE LEARNING BACKGROUND AND ATTITUDES A Thesis Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in The Interdepartmental Program in Linguistics

Abstract
In order to determine how learner background and learner attitudes affected English as a
Second Language students’ verb production, eleven ESL learners participated in both oral and written tasks. They were given written surveys to determine what was emphasized more in
learning English in their home countries: speaking or writing. Another survey was administered to determine which of these activities that they liked best. Next, the subjects watched a movie clip, wrote about it, and then spoke about it. Their written and spoken total amount of verbs produced and total amount of verbs used correctly were compared and analyzed to see if there was a relationship between their learning background and production in speaking and writing and activity preference and production in speaking and writing. While the sample size was too small to obtain reliable correlations, so several subjects’ samples were studied in order to determine the effects of preference on production. In the end, individual differences played the largest role in verb production and there was a slight but noticeable relationship between a preference for speaking and amount of verbs produced.

A CASE STUDY OF A TEACHER’S QUESTIONS IN AN ENGLISH SECOND LANGUAGE (ESL) CLASSROOM THESIS Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the Degree of MASTER OF EDUCATION (ENGLISH SECOND LANGUAGE)

ABSTRACT
This research study seeks to explore and understand the way a Form C (the third year of high school) teacher asks questions in an English second language (ESL) classroom in a high school in Lesotho.
As this is a small-scale study on a teacher’s questions in a familiar setting, an ethnographic stance was adopted.  The researcher adopted the role of non-participant observer, recorded three different lesson types and took observational notes.  She transcribed the lessons and used the transcription to interview both the teacher and the students.   The interviews were recorded and transcribed by the researcher.  She then analysed the classroom and interview data and invited the teacher to respond to the analysis she had made.  The interview was also recorded and transcribed.
The findings indicated that the teacher asked most questions in the three lesson types. He asked mainly lower order question. However, the nature of the questions varied according to the intentions of the teacher, even when the lesson type was the same.
Although it is difficult to generalize from a small-scale study like this one, it is believed that this study has been beneficial in raising awareness about the nature and role of questions in classroom interaction, and also in raising awareness of the teacher. Consciousness raising may be essential to educators and researchers. Moreover, this research may enable educators to theorize their practice.

3) POSITIVE FEEDBACK LOOPS IN SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING. A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in TEACHING ENGLISH TO SPEAKERS OF OTHER LANGUAGES.

ABSTRACT

An abstract of the thesis of David Reigel for the Master of Arts in Teaching English
to Speakers of Other Languages presented February 10, 2005.

Title: Positive Feedback Loops in Second Language Learning


What are the effects of positive feedback on student learning in the English language classroom? This study applies ideas from complexity theory to find a
correlation between oral feedback and student language proficiency. The researcher collected data from digital recordings of adult students (N = 41) who attended 3
consecutive terms at the Portland State University Lab School. During the focused observation, the researcher recorded tokens of praise, affirmation, laughter, and
nodding given by teachers and students in response to target student Interlanguage. Students provide far more affirmation than praise tokens to their peers, while
teachers issue nearly equal frequencies of affirmation and praise tokens to students.  Statistical tests support the hypothesis that the rate of positive feedback
received has an impact on English as a Second Language student course level promotion. A multiple linear regression analysis controls for the effects of
confounding student variables such as initial course level, gender, and first language. A logistic regression analysis shows that rate of oral positive feedback significantly
predicts English as a Second Language course level promotion.

The role of gender and language learning strategies in learning english, THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES , IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING (09)

ABSTRACT

THE ROLE OF GENDER AND LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES IN LEARNING  ENGLISH

This study intended to investigate the language learning strategies used by learners of English as a foreign language, aiming to find the amount of strategies and the domain differences of the strategies used; to reveal the link between strategy use and success levels; and to find out the difference in strategy use between genders and its influence on their achievement in English.
(153 male, 104 female) students from Atılım University English Preparatory School participated in the study. At the time of the study all the participants were in the
same proficiency level, and were distributed to different classes of the same level. The data were gathered through strategy inventory for language learning (SILL) of
Oxford (1990), which was translated to Turkish by Cesur and Fer (2007).

The instrument, based on Oxford’s (1990) classification of the language learning strategies, is composed of 50 items in six subscales. The participants responded to the
inventory before the end of the level they were in. The data were analyzed through SPSS (15.0) to find the relationship of language
learning strategies, gender and achievement in learning the target language. To reveal the interconnections between these factors, independent t-tests and an ANOVA test, along with post hoc procedures were performed on the gathered data.
The findings of the study revealed that use of language learning strategies are positively effective in success in English, that females were significantly more successful
than males in terms of achievement tests, and that they used more language learning strategies in learning English. Depending on the statistical results, it is discovered that there is a significant connection between gender, language learning strategies and achievement in English.

1.) HELPING MAINSTREAM TEACHERS LEARN HOW TO TEACH ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS A Capstone submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in English as a Second Language.

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION (in brief)

The Scenario
Vowels were something else. He didn't like them and they didn't like him. There were only five of them, but they seemed to be everywhere. Why,
you could go through twenty words without bumping into some of the shyer consonants, but it seemed as if you couldn't tiptoe past a syllable
without waking up a vowel. Consonants, you know pretty much where you stood, but you could never trust a vowel.
How many times do our students feel this same way as Maniac Magee, a character created by author Jerry Spinelli? There are only five vowel symbols in the
English language, yet these five vowels alone, or with another vowel, can create over a dozen different sounds. To an English Language Learner (ELL), these vowels can create confusion when learning how to perceive and produce vowel sounds. Which sound should they choose? There are rules to follow to help a speaker know what vowel sound to pronounce, but these rules can sometimes be confusing even to native English speakers. To further complicate things, some of these students are just being introduced to the idea of learning to read!
Any mainstream teacher who has ever taught reading knows how students experience frustration over learning the English vowels and their numerous sounds, but
what about the ELLs who are in science class and not only have to weed through science vocabulary and concepts but also have to read and understand the concepts in a language which they still do not completely understand. Or, the math classroom where the teacher explains a concept orally, using content specific words to explain a technically difficult content based problem. Words such as however, compare and contrast, likewise, until, furthermore are used in all disciplines but not taught by all teachers. ............

GOVERNMENT FINANCIAL REPORTING AND PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION LAGOS STATE

ABSTRACT

This study examined the role of Government financial reporting and public accountability in the Ministry of Education, Lagos State, the researcher used primary and secondary sources to generate data for the study. From the data collected the study concluded that political office holders which included Lagos State and other states of the country, citizens and all stakeholders in the Nigerian project should embrace integrity, transparency and accountability in the management of public funds consequently, the study recommended that the staffs of the Ministry of Education are properly remunerated and better incentives introduced for improved efficiency and commitment in the discharge of their duties.

THE ROLE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF PRIMARY HEALTH CARE: A CASE STUDY OF AHOADA-WEST LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF RIVERS STATE

PREFACE
This work is based on our desire to contribute to the Administration of Primary Health Care in Ahoada West Local Government of Rivers State. Meanwhile, Primary Health Care was introduced in this country as an integral part of the Nigerian social and economic development. It is the first level of contact of the individual and community in the national health system, thus bringing health care close to where people live and work.
To carry out this task effectively in this work, we divide it into five chapters
The first chapter titled introductions, starts with the background to the study, statement of the problem, significance of the study, and scope and limitation of the study.
The second chapter deals with the literature review and research methodology. It starts with literature review, conceptual definitions, hypothesis, research design, sources of data collection, population of the study, sample and sampling procedure and method of data analysis.
Chapter three treats the background information of the study area. It starts with the brief history of Ahoada-West Local Government and general information of primary health care.
Chapter four deals with data presentation and analysis. It starts with data presentation analysis and implication of the findings.
Finally, chapter five discusses the summary, conclusion and recommendations. It started with the summary, conclusion and recommendations. We capture the whole work with the list of the books, journals, magazines and papers from where we got information on the topic that we wrote about.

EDUCATION AND WOMEN EMPOWERMENT IN NIGERIA: A CASE STUDY OF ENUGU STATE.

ABSTRACT

This research work examines the place of education as a catalyst for women empowerment in Nigeria and Enugu State as a case study. The study, using primary and secondary sources of data, has show that in spite of all the lendable goals and objectives of education, Nigeria, vis a  vis Enugu State women still suffer a lot of constraints and inhibitions which militate against their personal and national development. The study therefore recommends, among others the involvement of women in educational policy formulation, extensive enlightenment campaigns, the discarding of stereotypical division of work into men’s and women’s job, and women must organize themselves to meet the challenges of a positive and meaningful role in the struggle for personal and national emancipation, development and progress.

INTER- GOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT: A CASE STUDY OF OJO LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF LAGOS STATE (2006-2010)

ABSTRACT
 This study traces the relationship between inter-governmental relations and the national development in Ojo local government area of Lagos State within the period of 2006-2010. This research study is particularly interested in the position of the inter-governmental relations on the national development at the local government level in Nigeria and specifically on Ojo local government area of Lagos State. This study focuses on the impact of inter-governmental relations within the period of 2006-2010. The survey research design was applied in carrying out the study. Two basic sources of data collection were used- primary and secondary sources. The structured questionnaire was applied in gathering necessary information for the study. We applied the systems theory to serve as an explanatory construct to the study. The system of government refers to the interrelated over- lapping principles governing the Nigeria polity and local governments (Ojo) serving as a link between the citizen and their environments. Structurally, Nigeria is a federal polity, operating an executive presidency. Powers are distributed democratically among the three tiers of government (Federal, State and Local) and institutions, (executive, judiciary and legislature), and sovereignty lies on the institutions and the people respectively. The study sees intergovernmental relations as a necessary process and component of a federal state which must be sustained to enhance national development at all levels/tiers of government. The research regrets to note that the gains made in inter-governmental relations between the period of 2006-2010 have been depreciated. This has been attributed to the over interference of the federal and state government on the local government activities in the country. Because of the deliberate actions of state government’s development at local governments appear to be weak and sick. Local governments are now treated as appendages or state extension rather than tier of government that can effectively play their part in intergovernmental relations process. Inter-governmental relations go beyond fiscal relationship to include developmental, administrative, strategic, socio-economic and legislative relationship owing  to the weakness of Ojo local government, it is our  contention that the local government’s  position should be strengthened allowing it to decide on its activities without  interference of the state government.              

WOMEN IN GOVERNANCE IN NIGERIA

PREFACE
This paper evaluates Women in governance in Nigeria. Women constitute almost half of Nigeria population, but their participation in governance in the country has been noticed but not to be comparable to that of their male counterpart.
It is truism to state that one of the major constraints to Women’s participation in governance in Nigeria are cultural beliefs and practices, financial limitation, marginalization within the political fraternity among others.
Some solutions to the problems of women participation in governance in Nigeria include: the Nigerian cultural understandings of gender which revolve around division of labour rather than equality between the sexes, improvement of women’s rights in Nigeria, sustaining achievements, etc.
This paper has been divided into three chapters in order to elucidate its objectives. Chapter one concentrates on the introductory and conceptual definition, chapter two premised on the history of Women in governance in Nigeria and chapter three concludes the paper and it proffers some recommendations.

THE POLITICS OF AUTONOMOUS COMMUNITY CREATION AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF OUR RURAL COMMUNITIES

PREFACE
In this paper, the politics of autonomous community creation and development of our rural communities has been discussed. The politics of autonomous communities’ creation had more of ugly effect on the rural communities than the purpose of its creation. It had led to the untimely death of many prominent men of the rural communities and non-implementation of developmental projects in our rural communities.
This paper, in order to achieve the objectives of this paper, was divided into three chapters. Chapter one premised on the introductory phase, and conceptual definition of the key concepts in this paper. In chapter two, the issues of autonomous community creation are discussed, while in chapter three, the paper was brought to an end via conclusion.

THE IMPACT OF EDUCATION ON RURAL COMMUNITIES IN NIGERIA

ABSTRACT
This article focuses on the impact of education on rural communities in Nigeria. It examines the concept of education as a vital instrument to individual and the community at large. Education provides sustainable rural development. Hence, education has to be redefined in the context of rural communities to make it responsive to the yearning for better living conditions in the rural communities. The work takes a review mirror of the indigenous education as a recipe for development and submits that integrated with formal education, indigenous education can facilitate group and community betterment. Against this premises, suggests some measures that can foster education for all round development in Nigeria.

THE EFFECTS OF NATIONAL BUDGET AND FISCAL POLICY ON SECURITY MEASURES IN NIGERIA

PREFACE
The Nigerian security system has undergo series  of security threats, and efforts had been made by the Nigerian Government to tackle these security threats and place them in a minimal level for the protection of lives and properties of the Nigerian citizen and dwellers. The Government makes use of the National Budget and fiscal policy to facilitate its activities in making sure that the insecurity condition of the country is handled, and these made the national budget and fiscal policy of the country to have its effect on the security measures in Nigeria.
    Chapter one introduced the topic to be studied, definition of terms, chapter two is on the security situation in Nigeria, forms of security threats in Nigeria and it measures.
  Chapter three deals on the effects of national budget and fiscal policy on security measures in Nigeria.

THE APPLICATION OF LOCALISTIC APPROACH IN NIGERIA LOCAL GOVERNMENT

PREFACE

This paper is a discussion of the application of the localistic approach in Nigeria local government. The localistic approach holds that the localness of local government makes it to perform its functions in the areas of citizen participation so as to ensure sustainable rural development such as noticeable in Nigeria.
This paper had been divided into three chapters; chapter one was premised on the introduction and conceptual clarification, chapter two discussed the localistic perspective while chapter three applied the localistic approach to Nigeria local government and the paper was concluded.

SURE-P (SUBSIDY REINVESTMENT AND EMPOWERMENT PROGRAMME IN NIGERIA

PREFACE
This paper has come to discuss the subsidy reinvestment and empowerment programme in Nigeria. The programme was purposely established to ensure that fuel subsidy removal would touch the lives of the poor and the most vulnerable in the country.
This paper had among others, suggested that there is need for the federal government to keep surveillance on the members of the committee to ensure practical utilization and to better the life the citizenry.

SOCIAL WORK IN NIGERIA, ISSUES, PROSPECTS AND CHALLENGES

Preface
This paper is on attempt in the discussion of social work in Nigeria, issues, prospects and challenges. Social work is an important profession in a society. It is a helping profession that helps people both individually and collectively to meet up with their environments and their daily obligation.
This paper had treated the issues in social work profession such as education and poverty; it had also discussed the prospects and the challenges in social work.
The paper was divided into three chapters, chapter, one concentrated on the introductory aspect, chapter two discussed the issues, and prospects while chapter three focused on the challenges and summary.l

SIMILARITIES BETWEEN NIGERIA RURAL AREA AND BRITISH RURAL AREAS

PREFACE

The similarities of rural areas in Nigeria and Britain are inevitable because Nigeria borrowed most of her policies and programmes from their Colonalists-Britain. This paper is a clear indication of these similarities. According to this paper the similarities between rural areas of Nigeria and that of Britain include: depression, degradation, poverty and deprivation among others.
This paper also gave some suggestions to ameliorate or improve the sufferings of the rural dwellers in our society. Among the issues recommended are: the need to infer with the existing structures so as to plan for future development activities. Also to address the issue of abject poverty among the rural areas in our countries.

PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN NIGERIA

Abstract
This paper is an attempt to discuss the principles and practice of public administration in Nigeria. It is the principles and practices of Nigerian public administration that made it peculiar and differentiates it from other forms of administration. The principles of public administration in Nigeria as was discussed in this paper include the clientele, functional, process and area principles. The practice of Nigeria public administration is evident in the president, minister and national council of state. The problems facing Nigeria public administration are enormous. They include the weak institutional structure, excessive centralization of administrative power, lack of access to citizens, weak incentives, the adversarial relationship and the large scope of the public sector coupled with growing inefficiency in the public sector. Some recommendations were proffered, among which are: the need for citizens to have access to the public service providers, the need to decentralize administrative power among federal state and local governments, the need for government to make reference to the senior management categories when increasing minimum wage, etc.
Keywords: Administration, Public Administration, Principle and Practice

PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP APPROACH IN EXECUTION OF GOVERNMENT DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS AT THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREAS

Abstract

The thinking of government around the world for a long time now has been that of sharing the financial burden and professional expertise in the public utilities and infrastructure with the organized private sector. This gave birth to public-private partnership development initiative. The idea of the public-private partnership scheme is to provide what constitutes a social amenity without the huge financial strain that comes with the planning and execution of such projects. The paper examined using conceptual development approach the use of PPP in execution of development projects in the local government. In doing so the paper discussed the rationale for establishing PPP; examined the framework in which PPP can take place; analyzed the relevance of PPP in execution of development project and highlighted the danger inherent in PPP.  The paper discovered that PPP strategy helps to curb the huge waste in public expenditure arising from excessive and unconscionable use of political office spoils prevalent in developing countries, Nigeria inclusive. The paper concluded by making some vital suggestions that will help to strengthen the use of PPP in project execution.

THE ROLE OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT IN POVERTY ERADICATION: A STUDY OF IGBO-EZE NORTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF ENUGU STATE

Abstract
The problem associated with poverty has become topical issue overtime. Poverty seems to be on the increase despite all government efforts towards its eradication. Poverty increase is alarming as its effect. This trend has attracted the attentions of not only the governments at all levels but scholars as well. This equally firms the basis for this research which is: The role of Human Resource Development in Poverty Eradication: A case of Igbo-Eze North Local Government Area of Enugu State. What formed our opinion to embark on this project development is to see if poverty problem can be tackled from the right angle and charnel as other efforts by successive governments seem not to have yielded much divided. The study concentrated on Igbo- Eze North Local Government Area of Enugu State in the year 2011. The descriptive research method was applied in carrying out the study. Two basic sources of data collection were applied- primary and secondary sources. Structured interviews was applied in gathering necessary information. The structural functionist theory was used in the course of the study . This theory emphasizes certain functions that must be fulfilled in a given social system if such system must survive. The primary assignment of the government is to alleviate poverty among the  masses as a way of enhancing its economic base. In the course of this study, we discovered that poverty eradication has been wrongly pursued in Igbo –Eze North Local Government Area of Enugu State in particular and Nigeria as a whole due to wrong approach to this monster. This is because Human Resource Development seems to have  been over looked. No wonder every effort seems to b e unproductive. Based on the above problem and findings a new dimension is imperative if poverty eradication should make sense. To that effect, a number of recommendations were made. Some of them include:
Nigerian government taking a cue from the western world on measures adopted to reduce poverty. The need for political stability is another vital tool towards the achievement of poverty eradication . Change of Nigeria’s attitude and orientation to life and business should be addressed. Provision of more welfare programmes is paramount-more job creation for more employment is indispensable in the direction of poverty eradication issue in Nigeria. More attention in poverty eradication programmes will be directed to human resource development as that in turn will bring desired goal of poverty reduction even if absolute eradication is impossible. Conclusively, therefore, to fight poverty is to develop human resource that will in turn handle poverty eradication programmes which will invariably reduce poverty to its  bearest minimum if complete eradication is impossible.  

THE EFFECT OF MORBIDITY IN NIGERIA

PREFACE

Morbidity and Mortality are interrelated and the same. They constituted the problems that faces this country.
This paper was set out to discuss the effects of morbidity in Nigeria. To clearly do justice to this issue, this paper was divided into three chapters.
Chapter one concentrated on the introduction and conceptual definition. Chapter two discussed the causes and the effect of morbidity in Nigeria, chapter three concludes the paper through ways to prevent morbidity, conclusion and recommendations.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT COUNCIL STAFF AND WORK ATTITUDE ON STAFF PRODUCTIVITY

ABSTRACT

The most important asset of an organization is its human resources. The importance of employee productivity to the growth of an organization can hardly be overstated. Organizations go extra lengths to ensure that they recruit and retain employees who are best suited to their positions and who are expected to produce according to, or exceed, pre-determined standards. Consequently, finding means and ways of improving productivity has emerged as a major preoccupation of managers in organizations. In view of the above, this paper had investigated the local government council staff and workers attitude or staff productivity. In an attempt to accomplish this objective, we have explained local government, productivity and staff productivity, the causes of low productivity and proffered solution to avert low productivity at local government system in Nigeria.

INTERNAL REVENUE GENERATION AND THE SUSTAINABILITY QUESTION OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT

PREFACE
This paper has examined the internal sources of revenue accrued to local government in Nigeria. Their capability of sustaining the local government and the attendant problems of revenue generation
The paper had been divided into three chapters. Chapter one introduced the topic and gave some definition of the key words. In chapter two, we traced the history of local government revenue in Nigeria, the sources of revenue to local government in Nigeria and we proffered some answers to the question of sustainability of local government in Nigeria by internal revenue sources.
In chapter three, the paper was concluded with mention of some of the problems of revenue generation at the local government level in Nigeria.

Industrial relations

PREFACE
This paper is set to analyze the challenges of Industrial relations in public enterprises in Nigeria and their solutions to the challenges.
Industrial relations is all about interactions between workers and employers under prevailing rules and regulations at a workplace. To achieve the purpose of this paper, we consciously divided the paper into three cognitive chapters.
In chapter one, the topic was introduced along side with the conceptual clarifications. Chapter two treated the history and/or evolution of industrial relations and trade Unionism in Nigeria and chapter three clearly discussed the challenges and the solutions of industrial relations in public enterprises in Nigeria and we concludes the paper.

SINKING FUND, THE WAY OUT OF DOMESTIC DEBT IN NIGERIA: AN ANALYSIS

ABSTRACT
Public debt is a tool for governance, and domestic debt is inevitable in the financial administration of the developing countries of the World. When domestic debt rate is on the increase, it becomes worrisome to the government of a country and its management would need expatriate who will prudently manage it, as paying right away of its debt by a government would have an adverse effect on both the government and its citizens. This situation calls for the establishment of a Sinking Fund to retire the country’s matured domestic debt. A sinking fund connotes some potential advantages for a country to conveniently attend to its debt obligations This article analyzed the various fiscal monetary policies and .laws that established them in the country, it went further to state the objectives of a sinking fund, its operation, appropriation, the benefits and the problems of a sinking fund in an economy. The article among others, recommended that there is the need for the Federal Government to abide by the tenet of fiscal management law in the country, the need for expertise manager to manage the country’s domestic debt, and the need to slow down the domestic borrowing rates of the country so as to avert rising of its domestic debt.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT COUNCIL STAFF AND WORK ATTITUDE OR STAFF PRODUCTIVITY

AN ASSIGNMENT PRESENTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT FOR THE REQUIREMENT OF THE COURSE: LAS443 (POLITICS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT FINANCE)

ABSTRACT

The most important asset of an organization is its human resources. The importance of employee productivity to the growth of an organization can hardly be overstated. Organizations go extra lengths to ensure that they recruit and retain employees who are best suited to their positions and who are expected to produce according to, or exceed, pre-determined standards. Consequently, finding means and ways of improving productivity has emerged as a major preoccupation of managers in organizations. In view of the above, this paper had investigated the local government council staff and workers attitude or staff productivity. In an attempt to accomplish this objective, we have explained local government, productivity and staff productivity, the causes of low productivity and proffered solution to avert low productivity at local government system in Nigeria.