ABOUT THE DEPARTMENT
Overview
The Department started off in the 2002/2003 session as the Department of Language and Communication with eight (8) students. It later became the Department of English and Literary Studies. It was merged with the Department of French at the end of the 2008/2009 session, and ran two programmes – English and French, with German as a compulsory course for students of the French programme. When the French programme was discontinued in the 2012/2013 session due to insufficient student subscription, the General Studies Unit was integrated in the Department and is currently known as the Department of Languages and General Studies.
The Department offers a 4-year programme of eight semesters leading to the award of B.A. Honours degree in English, with specialization in English Language or Literature at the postgraduate level. Students are trained for a comprehensive appreciation of the relationship between language and literature as well as their application to everyday living. In the final year, undergraduate students may write their projects in either language or literature.
Vision
The vision of the Department of Languages and General Studies is to be a leading Department of languages that is committed to increasing the literacy level of Nigerians, Africans and the World in general.
Mission
The mission is to empower solution providers that will impact practically and positively on the African society and the world at large, through enhanced development in language and communication.
Philosophy
Our philosophy embraces the development of a curriculum that is based on a socio-constructivist framework that encourages an environment of teaching and learning that comes through interaction and collaboration. Hence, students are able to negotiate meaning and apply learning to real-life situations. Our students are viewed as excellent linguistic, cultural and pedagogical resources whose diversity of experiences serves to strengthen the curriculum and challenge notions of a single way of approaching language teaching and learning.
Our courses cover every aspect of English linguistics and Literature intended to produce very high caliber personnel in all aspects of language studies, literature and communication. This follows with the vision of Covenant University with regard to raising a new generation of leaders in Nigeria and beyond. It is expected that products of the programme will satisfy the needs for placement in the academia, the mass media, the corporate world and indeed all other fields where a high degree of proficiency in English and communication is required.
So far, this is evident in our students’ outstanding competence and performance in their careers.