Writing is considered as a daunting task in second language learning. It is argued by most scholars that this challenge is not only limited to second language speakers of English but even to those who speak English as their first language. Thus, the ability to communicate effectively in English by both native and non-native speakers requires intensive and specialized instruction. Due to the integral role that writing plays in students' academic life, academic literacy has garnered considerable attention in several English-medium universities in which Ghanaian universities are no exception. It is therefore surprising that prominence is not given to Academic Writing and Communicative Skills at the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS). In this paper, I argue for much time and space to be given to Academic Writing and Communicative Skills, a programme that seeks to train students to acquire the needed skills and competence in English for their academic and professional development. This argument is based on the findings that came out after I explored the errors in a corpus of 50 essays written by first year students of UHAS. The findings revealed that after going through the Communicative Skills programme for two semesters, students still have serious challenges of writing error-free texts. Out of the 50 scripts that were analyzed, 1,050 errors were detected. The study further revealed that 584 (55.6%) of these errors were related to grammatical errors, 442 (42.1%) were mechanical errors and 24 (2.3%) of the errors detected were linked to the poor structuring of sentences. Based on these findings, recommendations and implications which are significant to educators, policy makers and curriculum developers are provided. This study has implications for pedagogy and further research in error analysis.

Studies have sought to establish the ‘territory of reference’ or ‘patterns of referentialities’ of I, we and you (tri-PP) in academic lectures across disciplinary supercommunities (DSs): Humanities, Social Sciences and Natural Sciences. These studies are largely from L1 context, and also report on only referents common to the three DSs, without giving attention to those at the interface of two DSs. This study, therefore, is the first attempt to examine the referents of the tri-PP at the interface of two DSs in academic lectures, using a corpus from the L2 context. A corpus of over one hundred thousand words was built for the study, and AntConc was used to search for the occurrences of the tri-PP. Drawing on the contexts and co-texts, the authors determined the referents of the tri-PP. It was found that across the tri-PP, some referents were shared by two DSs. The findings further deepen understanding of the ‘pointing’ role of personal pronouns in classroom lecturer talk and “degree of cross-disciplinary diversity…” Keywords: academic lectures, discourse referent, disciplinary variation, personal pronouns

The paper explores the similarities and variations in the applicability of nasalisation principles in Lungu, Mambwe and Namwanga (LuMaNa) languages. LuMaNa languages are spoken in Northern and Muchinga provinces of Zambia. Lungu is classified as M14, Mambwe as M15 and Namwanga as M22. The study used CV phonology and comparative Bantu morphophonological theories and qualitative methods. Results reveal that nasal homorganic assimilation depends on the consonant which follows the nasal, such as, a voiceless cluster /nk/ when a voiceless velar /k/ follows /n/ and a voiced cluster /ng/ when a voiced velar /g/ follows /n/. Nasal deletion before fricatives from singular to plural forms of nouns are not attested, instead the languages undergo nasal maintenance where /n/→/n/. Nasal deletion before fricatives is only possible during the reverse formation from plural to singular nouns where /m/→/l/ and /n/→/l/. The post-nasal stop voicing happens when converting singular to plural nouns where /l/→/n/. Post-nasal consonant hardening occurs when converting nouns from singular to plural using /l/→/d/, /n/→/m/ and /w/→/b/. Post-nasal stop aspiration only occurs in Namwanga when the voiceless consonant follows a nasal as in; /p/→/ph/. There are more similarities than variations during nasalisation which shows that LuMaNa languages are at dialectal continuum.

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Previous works on the analysis of anthems have focused on unearthing encoded latent meanings through the analysis of linguistic devices such as cohesive devices, deictic expressions, figures  of speech, content words and clauses. However, the analysis of institutional anthems as a sub-genre  of anthems has received minimal attention in linguistic research. The current study therefore  adopts a qualitative exploratory procedure to conduct a transitivity analysis of process types and  their encoded implications in selected Ghanaian university anthems underpinned by the transitivity  framework by Halliday and Matthiessen (2014). The sample for the study is composed of anthems of  four main or traditional universities in Ghana. The four anthems that serve as data for the study  are anthems of University for Development Studies (UDS), University of Cape Coast (UCC), University  of Ghana (UG) and University of Education, Winneba (UEW). The consensual coding strategy is used to  check the validity of the coding process. The results indicate a preponderant use of material  processes to spell out the expected actions to be taken by members of the universities to inure to  the holistic progress of their institutions. Other process types such as relational, mental and  verbal processes are minimally used to establish relationships, eulogize and personify the  universities as important institutions worthy of praise. The study concludes that the creation of  institutional solidarity was better represented through the analysis of process types in the  selected Ghanaian university anthems. The implications of this study unveil the importance of  university anthems in the representation of the goals, visions and missions of universities and  recommend that tertiary institutions who use adopted anthems could relook at that by getting to  compose their own anthems in alignment with the goals, vision and mission underpinning their establishment.