Historical Background
The Department of English Language and Literature took its inception in 1983as a two-man English Language Teaching Unit along with other units working in the then Department of Pre-medicine, later renamed as the Department of Natural and Social Sciences. The Department also began to run two other programs at different levels. It offered B.ED degree courses to extension and summer students and a diploma course to extension students.
In 1999when Jimma Institute of Health Science was merged with Jimma College of Agriculture and became a university, in the process, the Department of English Language attained more strength with an addition of an English teacher from the college as there had been only three prior to the merger. It was during this time that the Ministry of Education (MOE) revealed its plan to launch new fields of training in the natural and social sciences, English language and others, thus inducing the upgrading of the Basic and Applied Science Program to a faculty level and the Faculty of Education was established as a full-fledged faculty in 2001. It was after the establishment of the Education faculty that the English department enrolled the first batch of 30 students to be trained in B.ED degree in English language. The department also began to run two other programs at different levels. It offered B.ED degree courses to extension and summer students and a diploma course to extension students. Currently it runs two programs: BA degree courses for regular students and B.ED courses for summer and distance students.
Currently, the Department runs training programs at various levels: BA degree program in English Language and Literature for regular, summer and distance students and four MA programs, namely, MA in TEFL,MA in Literature, MA in Public Relation and Corporate Communication and MA in Broadcast Journalism. Short Term Training of Arabic Language is also being given in the department.The department has now reached a high level of performance involving more than thirty (61) qualified instructors with MA degrees and PhD in different areas of specialization. The Department has now reached a high level of performance involving more than thirty (30) qualified instructors with MA degrees and 23 instructors with PhD, in Linguistics, Literature, TEFL, Applied Linguistics and Communication/Development, and Journalism and Communication. This will also explain the growing capacity of the Department. There are also six staff members who are pursuing PhD programs at Addis Ababa University and Bahir University.
Objectives of the Department
- To train English Language professionals for various competencies and occupational purposes;
- To train middle and high level professionals in English Language and Literature both at undergraduate and post graduate levels;
- To produce well qualified professional teachers of English language, consultants and researchers;
- To produce professionals who are well trained in studying different linguistic, literary and cultural aspects of a given society;
- To produce well trained public relation, language analysts, language researchers, and communication and journalism experts, and
- To extend the programs so as to address the need of professionals in various fields in the Department.
Mission and vision of the Department
Service offered by the Department
- Preparing short term trainings on languages and language teachings
- Consulting different stakeholders on language study and teaching methodology
- Participating in community-based-education program (CBTP) and developmental team training program (DTTP) for BA and MA students;and
- Offering Tutorial classes for High school students.
- Offering common courses to all departments across the University
English Language and Literature |