The pragmatics of promotional features and discourse strategies in postgraduate school prospectus in Nigeria
Felix Bayode Oke
Anchor University, Lagos State, NigeriaFelix Bayode Oke is a doctoral student in the University of Ibadan and a lecturer in the Department of Languages, Anchor University, Ayobo, Lagos State, Nigeria. He has published a number of peer-reviewed articles in his area of scholarship in reputable journals.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8577-224X
Ezekiel Opeyemi Olajimbiti
Federal University Lokoja, NigeriaEzekiel Opeyemi Olajimbiti (PhD) teaches in the Department of English and Literary Studies, Federal University Lokoja, Kogi State, Nigeria. He is a member of professional bodies such as Pragmatics Association of Nigeria (PrAN), English Scholars’ Association of Nigeria (ESAN) and others. He specialises in children’s representation in the media, media studies and political discourse. He has published in reputable journals. His research interest covers pragmatics, discourse analysis, semantics and sociolinguistics.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5263-0149
Аннотация
This paper extends the frontier of research in the marketisation of higher education institution by investigating the pragmatics of promotional features and discourse strategies in the postgraduate school prospectus. The data for the study is the University of Ibadan postgraduate school prospectus (2015 edition) downloaded from the university website (http://www.postgraduateschool.ui.edu.ng). Insights were drawn from Bhatia’s genre analysis, an aspect of Hallidayian’s Systemic Functional Linguistics, for the analysis. The theory accounts for promotional features, linguistic features and discourse strategies in the discourse. Four promotional features: offer, commodification, incentives and clients were marked off by modality, epistemic and deontic linguistic features while strategies of self-promotion, implication, promotional tact and evocation to considerateness are tactfully employed to project the superiority ideology to the prospective students. The study concludes that the academia is no longer solely informative but promotionally oriented.
Ключевые слова:
commodification, marketisation, genre analysis, promotional features, evocation to consideratenessБиблиографические ссылки
Askehave, I. 2007. The impact of marketization on higher education genres – the international student prospectus as a case in point. Discourse Studies 9 (6): 723-742.
Bhatia, V. K. 1993. Analysing Genre: Language Use in Professional Settings. London: Longman.
Bhatia, V. K. 1999. Integrating products, processes, purposes and participants in professional writing. In: C. N. Candlin & K. Hyland (eds.), Writing: Texts, Processes and Practices, 21-39. London: Routledge.
Bhatia, V. K. 2002. Applied genre analysis: A multi-perspective model. AELFE 4: 3-19.
Bhatia, V. K. 2011. A generic view of academic discourse. In: V. K. Bhatia (ed.), Academic Discourse, 31-49. London: Routledge.
Brown, R. 2015. The marketization of higher education: issues and ironies. Higher Education Policy 1(1): 1-9.
Candlin, C. N. & Plum, G. A. 1999. Engaging with challenges of interdiscursivity in academic writing: researchers, students and tutors. In: C.N. Candlin & R. Hyland (eds.), Writing: Texts, Processes and Practices, 193-217. London: Routledge.
Ekundayo, H. T. & Ajayi, A. I. 2009. Towards effective management of university education in Nigeria. International NGO Journal 4 (8): 342-347.
Fafunwa, A. B. 1970. A History of Nigerian Higher Education. Lagos: Macmillan.
Fairclough, N. 1993. Critical discourse analysis and the marketization of public discourse: The Universities. Discourse and Society 4(2): 133-168.
Halliday, M.A.K. 1975. Learning How to Mean. Explorations in the Development of Language. London: Edward Arnold.
Han, Z. 2014. The marketization of public discourse: the Chinese universities. Discourse and Communication 8(1): 85-103.
Kheovichai, B. 2014. Marketized university discourse: a synchronic and diachronic comparison of the discursive constructions of employer organisations in academic and business job advertisement. Discourse and Communication 8(4): 371-390.
Martin, J. R. 1992. English Text: System and Structure. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Martin, J. R. 1993. A contextual theory of language. The Powers of Literacy – A Genre Approach to Teaching and Writing. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.
Miller, C. R. 1984. Genre as social action. Quarterly Journal of Speech 70: 151-167.
Ogunu, M. 2000. Introduction to Educational Management. Benin City: Mabogun Publishers.
Okemakinde, T. 2014. Transformation of higher education towards enhanced quality education in Nigeria. European Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences 29 (1): 35-47.
Swales, J. 1990. Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research Settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Swales, J. 2004. Research Genres – Explorations and Applications. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Xion, T. 2012. Discourse and marketization of higher education in China: the genre of advertisement for academic posts. Discourse and Society 23(3): 318-337.
Anchor University, Lagos State, Nigeria
Felix Bayode Oke is a doctoral student in the University of Ibadan and a lecturer in the Department of Languages, Anchor University, Ayobo, Lagos State, Nigeria. He has published a number of peer-reviewed articles in his area of scholarship in reputable journals.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8577-224XFederal University Lokoja, Nigeria
Ezekiel Opeyemi Olajimbiti (PhD) teaches in the Department of English and Literary Studies, Federal University Lokoja, Kogi State, Nigeria. He is a member of professional bodies such as Pragmatics Association of Nigeria (PrAN), English Scholars’ Association of Nigeria (ESAN) and others. He specialises in children’s representation in the media, media studies and political discourse. He has published in reputable journals. His research interest covers pragmatics, discourse analysis, semantics and sociolinguistics.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5263-0149