Overview

I warmly welcome you to the Department of Languages, Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria. The Department is dedicated to teaching, learning and research. We drive excellence and prepare our students for greater challenges beyond the classroom. Indisputably, language is the hub of any human society, which keeps the wheels of communication and national cohesion rolling; indispensable to social interaction; and central to service delivery in all sectors of the economy, information and communication technology inclusive. It is therefore clear that national development and language are like Siamese twins – really inseparable!

The Department runs both English & French Language Programmes. The English language is sine qua non to our whole national life, enumerating its current socio-political roles. It is a medium of skills and knowledge acquisition in Nigeria. These roles then justify the concerted efforts by all stakeholders to bolster its teaching and learning in Nigerian schools, including Covenant University. Conversant with Nigeria’s foreign relations, diplomacy and the need for foreign languages in certain sectors of the economy, the Department offers French at the undergraduate level. We have a broad curriculum and active pedagogy. Apart from the core English Language Courses, the Department teaches writing courses across numerous genres including fiction and non-fiction. There are media courses too, a fact which indicates our commitment to the University’s mandate to encourage active interdisciplinary trainings and collaborations.

Since its inception, the Department has turned out a number of students, who today are highflying individuals in their various careers within and beyond the shores of this country. It is exciting to know that our students are now exploring and traversing entirely different academic endeavours from their first degree such as Communication, Criminology, Sociology, Public Relations, Advertising, Education, and Sociology. Their outstanding performances and exemplary work attitudes cannot be severed from their root – Covenant University. There is a high demand for our current students in various industries, namely insurance, marketing and communication for vacation jobs or industrial training, which usually become permanent after graduation. The Department has been able to maintain a healthy relationship with several industries over the years.

The excellent performances of our students, both past and present, would have been a mirage without the world-class expertise and professionalism of faculty members. The Department is replete with astute academics at all cadres. We have 3 Professors, 6 Doctors of Philosophy and upcoming scholars. One of our lecturers is presently in Germany on the prestigious Alexander von Humboldt Post-doctoral Fellowship; another is preparing to leave for the Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistantship Programme in New York while some other faculty members are working assiduously on proposals for different fellowships, grants, linkages and collaborations. We have as well built foreign linkages. For instance, Dr.Iyunolu Osagie, an Associate Professor of Literature and playwright from Pennsylvania State University, United States of America, was a Visiting Lecturer to the Department this year; her play, The Shield, was staged by students of the Department.

The Department is well-equipped to run English and Foreign Language Programmes. We have a modern and functional Language Laboratory and state of the art teaching equipment. Our classes are moderate in terms of number of students per class. Academic progress and success of our students are equally well-monitored.  Thus, there is mutual lecturer-student relationship and sound mentorship.

On the basis of all these, hands are always on deck; we do press forward and evaluate our performances often times as we keep the flag flying. In case you have questions, please contact me or any of our faculty members.

The Department started off in the 2002/2003 session as the Department of Language and Literary Studies with 8 students. It was merged with the Department of French at the end of the 2008/2009 session. Thus, the Department now runs 2 programmes: English and French.

Vision

To be a leading Department that is committed to increasing the Literacy level of Nigerians, Africans and the world in general.

Mission

To produce solution providers that will empower the teaming illiterate populace of the world through the instrumentality of literacy advocacy across the various strata of the society.