English Research Seminar Welcomes International Visitors

The British weather may have been its coldest in years, but delegates attending the recent Language in Africa event received a very warm welcome at Edge Hill University recently.

This Inter-University Research Seminar subtitled, ‘Exploring Language Usage and Values in a Range of Contexts' brought together a number of academic staff and postgraduate students as well visitors from the University of Ghana and the University of Education, Winneba.

The seminar took place following the success of Dr Jo Shoba, Senior Lecturer in Edge Hill's Department of English and History, in acquiring funding from the British Academy's UK-Africa Academic Partnership Scheme for a three-year collaborative sociolinguistics project.

With contemporary Ghana as its main focus, the project will explore language usage and values, with particular emphasis on youth language. Language and gender and language in education are related areas of interest to the researchers. 

Dr Shoba comments: "This event gave us, as the British Academy project team, the opportunity to showcase the project in its infancy stage, to discuss funding in more detail and to outline our plans for the project over the next two years."

Plans outlined include a dedicated website to be launched in early 2011 to maintain dialogue between the UK and Ghanaian partners, a visit for Dr Shoba to West Africa in the spring and the beginning of the research fieldwork with young people. As well as this, there will also be the opportunity for a PhD student from Edge Hill to join the programme.

Jo continues: "From this first seminar we have created significant discussion amongst active researchers and generated an invaluable networking opportunity. Further events are planned throughout the lifetime of the project with the final conference to be held in Ghana in 2012."

Dr Shoba wishes to thank her counterpart Professor Kari Dako, University of Ghana and PhD Researchers Charles Boachie, University of Education Winneba and Millicent Quarcoo and Elizabeth Quartey, University of Ghana for their continued support.

For further information about this project contact Dr Jo Shoba at shobajo@edgehill.ac.uk