STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

I go by the motto “Whatever is worth doing, is worth doing well” and it

has been a driving force by which I continue in the struggle and fight to
become a better person. Having grew up in the eastern part of Nigeria
and Igbo language being my first language and mother tongue. I was
faced with the challenges of learning to speak English which is the
official language in Nigeria. I remember being fascinated by the way
news presenters I watched on television spoke English effortlessly. I was
resolute and determined to acquire and speak not just good English but
also achieve a native-like proficiency if possible and at all costs, this
drive motivated me to study English language and literature. During my
undergraduate classes, a mixture of both literature and linguistics
courses was introduced in the first year semesters after which we later
majored in either “language stress” or “literature stress”. Thus, because
I found the linguistics courses particularly interesting and fulfilling, I
chose language stress. Studying English language with a major in
language stress offered me invaluable exposure to most of the linguistic
courses such as phonetics and phonology, syntax, socio-linguistics, and
psycholinguistics among others. Courses such as phonetics and
phonology helped to improve my knowledge and use of English speech
sounds. Elements of grammar helped me to acquire the skill of
arranging words and phrases to form grammatical and acceptable
sentences. Psycholinguistics exposed me to the theories of language
acquisition and helped shed more light on the reasons I had earlier
found speaking to be difficult, these and a lot more of them helped
greatly in improving my communication skills and confidence I needed
to forge ahead. I was able to successfully hold seminars and
presentations towards the last semesters of my undergraduate years.
Studying English Linguistics has richly impacted positively in my career
and I wish to master and extend my knowledge. I am particularly
interested in this programme because I believe that getting a master's
degree in linguistics will expose me to courses taught by native –
speakers of English and build on my undergraduate knowledge enabling
me to enhance my skills and knowledge to an expert level. I also believe
I will be surrounded by professors and fellow masters students who like
me are highly motivated, I look for mutual assistance and
encouragement in the program and our careers beyond.

My work experiences after graduation also reinforced my interest in

linguistics, having worked as an insurance marketer,
salesperson/product promoter and teacher, I was constantly faced with
copious audiences to either convince or inform and I found my skill of
speech a great key to unlocking minds. As a teacher of English, I worked
as a volunteer coordinator in my school press club social group, and I
take pride in relating my success in impacting knowledge and imbuing
confidence to speak to students who are learning English as a second
language to my enthusiasm for helping others. I found teaching to be a
particularly rewarding and inspiring job hence, three years ago I
completed a diploma programme in education to gain formal
qualification which will help my knowledge skills and enthusiasm and
bring me a step further in my career as an English Language teacher.
My experiences in teaching gave me a practical understanding of the
theories of language acquisition I had previously studied and exposed
me to various specific problems that I believe to be worthy of research.
I am interested in investigating the negative effects of multilingualism
on a second language acquisition of English (a case of a Nigerian child)
and hopefully developing ways to effectively cushion these effects.

To sum it up, I am convinced that completing a course in linguistics

would give me a great advantage in realising my career plan. I seek a
full immersion experience in the areas of psycholinguistics and social
linguistics. I feel confident that a masters degree course in English
linguistics will not only open more pathways for professional
development but will also enable me to continue my education at a
doctoral level. I also look forward to other career paths such as
exploring a career in speech pathology and I believe that this course will
provide me with the adequate background and exposure to pursue this
long-term goal. Given my record of studies and achievement, I believe I
would make a very good addition to this programme and that I would
make the best of the opportunity afforded to me at your university.