Video and literacy: the Nigerian experience

Abstract

Since the emergence of the video technology in the eighties as a popular art form in Nigeria its artistic and technical potentials as a means of radically transforming the literacy and language development of the society have not been fully explored. One major reason for this shortcoming is the myopic and pedestrian conceptualization of literacy as a cognitive skill, which entails merely being able to read and write. Nevertheless, with greater recognition and extolment of cultural diversities, sensitivity to the socio-linguistic propensities of video literacy is beginning to emerge. This paper examines the interventions of video movie in the emergent process of socio-linguistic and literacy attainment and development in Nigeria. Through two illustrative movies, Thunderbolt and Saworoide, this paper shows how intellectual, ideological and critical literacy can be realized particularly with linguistic pivot.

Lwati: A Journal of Contemporary Research Vol. 2 2005: 16-23