Reshaping Languages in Higher Education Conference 2014
Southampton
9-10 July 2014
SURNAME/Forename / ABUBAKRE Samiat
Institution / affiliation / University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria
Contact Address / Department of Linguistics & Nigerian Languages, University of Ilorin, P.M.B. 1515, Ilorin, Nigeria
Telephone no / +2348039178232
Fax number / Nil
Email / ,ng
Title of paper / Integrating Audio-visual Translation of Yorùbá Novels into Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) for Language Education
Abstract
Language education is an indispensable component of development throughout recorded history. Translation and the various facilities of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) are also crucially important in intellectual exchange and sustainable development. For the past two decades most developed countries have witnessed significant changes through translation activities and ICTs in almost all aspects of life: economics, education and communication. Although many initiatives have been taken to support Nigeria's efforts to find faster ways to achieve durable and sustainable development, none is yet to yield the desired result. This paper therefore proposes a creative approach to language education that is one of the indices of development, using Yoruba language, which is currently on the endangered languages’ list, as example. The objectives of the study are to use the facilities of ICTs and Audio-visual Translation (AVT) model as tools for teaching and documenting Yorùbá language and culture; and re-awake the interest of Nigerian (Yoruba) youths, at home and in the Diaspora, in appreciating the cultural values that are preserved in literary texts. The study aims to use the social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube as media for the teaching of selected culture-specific excerpts from a Yorùbá classical novel, Igbó Olódùmarè, authored by Daniel. O. Fágúnwà in 1949 and a synthesis of corresponding texts from two English translations of the novel. Gabriel Àjàdí’s The Forest of God translated in 2005 and Wole Soyinka’s In the Forest of Olódùmarè, translated in 2010 are the target texts. Among the findings of the study is that the facilities of ICTs and the AVT model provide the youths with interactive engagements and would at the same time teach them the language. The paper concludes that this approach is a veritable tool in achieving functional education and sustainable development.