Adeola Agoke
Position title: Assistant Teaching Professor; Director of the African Languages Program
Email: adeola.agoke@wisc.edu
Address:
1458 Van Hise
Education
- PhD African Cultural Studies – University of Wisconsin-Madison
- MA African Languages and Literature – University of Wisconsin-Madison
- BA Yoruba Linguistics and Literature – University of Ilorin, Nigeria
Bio
Adeola Agoke holds a PhD in African Cultural Studies with a specialization in sociocultural and applied linguistics. Her book manuscript tentatively entitled “Learners Linguistic Creativity: Implications for Language Learning and Pedagogical Practices” draws on ethnographic fieldwork and data analysis to examine the processes by which language learners engage their multilingual repertoire for interactional practice in- and out-of-classroom settings. Focusing on Yoruba language learners, her research draws theoretical insights from critical applied linguistics and critical discourse analysis to challenge the convention that demarcates language use in formal domains from language use in “the wild,” an older model that constructs language use in specific environments as ethnolinguistic boundedness. She argues that learners’ linguistic creativity constitutes important linguistic resources for developing the standard dialect and effective pedagogical practices within the classroom environment.
With an interest to bring research into African Language Programing, Dr. Agoke currently curates learning resources in African languages to enhance contextualized experience of language learning. Also, as former Fulbright scholar, she is very interested in language internationalization, global citizenship and decolonization of teaching curriculum to enhance multi-representation of voice, bodies, and in fact experiences of African language learners in and outside of classroom settings. Her ongoing research on classroom social dynamics and instructed SLA foregrounds this perspective.
Research Grant
“The research is a large-scale study aimed at documenting the strategies and outcomes of fully self-instructional learning of less commonly taught languages (LCTLs). This study addresses the national need for increased access to effective learning opportunities for studying LCTLs, especially at high proficiency levels. It also responds to international calls for empirical research on language learner autonomy, self-directed learning, self-assessment, and resource management strategies. The data for the study is derived from the UW-Madison Multilanguage Seminar (MULTI), which is an innovative two-semester sequence (or one intensive summer) of fully self-instructional LCTL learning.”
Teaching Interests
Sociocultural and applied linguistics, Language pedagogy, critical discourse studies, cultures and languages of Africa.
Sociocultural linguistics courses taught: (a) The Politics of language in Africa and the Diaspora, (b) Language Mobility and Globalization: the African Migrants’ experience (c) African Languages, Narratives, and the media
Applied linguistics courses taught: (a) Teaching Methods in Less Commonly Taught Languages (b) Communicative Lesson Planning (c) Multiliteracies approach to Communicative Language Teaching (d) Multilanguage Seminar (e) (g) All levels of Yoruba language.
Publications
Agoke, Adeola. “Pedagogical processes and standard dialect use: Implications for creative multilingual interaction from a Yorùbá‐language classroom in southwestern Nigeria.” The Modern Language Journal 2023. [P]
Thompson, Katrina Daly, and Adeola Agoke. “A Multilanguage Seminar for the Twenty-First Century: Rethinking Self-Instruction for the Least Commonly Taught Languages.” Language Program Vitality in the United States: From Surviving to Thriving in Higher Education. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2023. 209-220. [P]
“A Literacy-Based Approach to Cultural Understanding in African Language Pedagogy.” With Kazeem Sanuth. In Language and Literature: Vehicles for the Enhancement of Cultural Understanding, edited by Dainess Maganda and Karim Traoré. London: Adonis & Abbey, 2016. [P]
“Fashion in the Yoruba perspective” In Culture and Customs of the Yoruba, edited by Akinyemi Akintunde, and Toyin Falola. Austin: Pan African University Press. Austin, 2017. [P]
“Multi-media manuscript for learners of Yoruba as foreign language.” With Akinyemi Akintunde, Oluseye Adesola, Kazeem Sanuth, A project by University of Florida Summer Intensive African Flagship Languages Initiative Program, 2018. [P]
Guest Editor, “Enrollment in African Language Classes: Challenges, Efforts, and Promises” In ULIMI, The Newsletter for National African Resource Center (NALRC), Vol. 22, Fall 2021.
Language Pedagogy Initiatives and material development
Dr. Agoke recently received a start-up Innovation in Language Teaching Grant from the UW-Madison Language Institute to develop the Dictionaries of African Language Pedagogy, an Open Education Resources that provides both content, context, and practice for learners of African languages.
The Yoruba Dictionary for second and foreign language learners can be accessed here: https://wisc.pb.unizin.org/yorubadictionary/