Dr. Timothy Ajani
Dr. Ajani received his Ph.D. degree in Linguistics and a graduate Certificate in Teaching English as A Second Language (TESL) from the University of Florida (UF). He obtained his M.A. and DEA degrees in Applied Linguistics from the Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris. His educational and teaching experiences span three continents – Africa, Europe, and the United States. He has taught at Community Colleges and the University levels. While in France, he taught Yoruba language & cultures at France’s foremost language and research institute -- INALCO (a.k.a. Langues O’), Paris.
At UF he taught Yoruba, Intro to African Literatures; African Humanities and English as a Second Language (ESL) courses. He also taught African Cultures and Literatures, and African Religions & Cultures at surrounding Community Colleges. He has been a reviewer for the US Department of Education's Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE) Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad (FDDRA) and Faculty Research Abroad (FRA) Programs, as well as the Title VI International Research and Studies (IRS) Program. He has also served on the review panel for the American Councils administered Critical Languages Scholarships (CLS) program, and on the Fulbright U.S. Student National Screening Committee. He is on the Advisory Boards of the following peer-reviewed journals: African Studies Quarterly (ASQ), and the Journal of Nigeria Studies (JNS).
CURRENT COURSES TEACHING
- Elementary French I & 2
- Elementary Yoruba I & 2
OTHER COURSES TAUGHT - Modern Novel (Graduate Level Course/FSU)
- Intermediate French I & II (FSU)
- French Conversation & Composition I & II (FSU)
- English Composition I & II (FSU)
- Intermediate English Grammar (ES/UF)
- Intermediate Oral Skills and Writing (ESL/UF)
- Junior Seminar (FSU)
- African Humanities (UF)
- The African Experience (UF)
- Introduction to African Literature (UF)
- African Literatures, Cultures and Religions (UF)
- African Cultures and Literatures (CFCC)
- Beginning Yoruba I & II (UF)
- Second Year Yoruba I & II (UF)
- Third Year Yoruba I & II (UF)
- First Year Yoruba (INALCO)
- Second Year Yoruba (INALCO)
- Third Year Yoruba (INALCO)
April 16, 2010: Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching, University of North Carolina.
April 2018: Research and Publication Award, Department of Communication, Languages and Cultures.
October 13, 2012: Keynote Speaker, Southeast African Language and Literature Forum.
May 1, 2008: Community Service Award, FSU College of Arts and Sciences.
April 18, 2006: Research and Publication Award, FSU College of Humanities and Social Sciences.
April 12, 2005: Teacher of the Year, FSU College of Humanities and Social Sciences.
April 12, 2005: Teacher of the Year, FSU Department of English and Foreign Languages.
May 10, 2002: Summer Research Affiliate Fellowship Award, University of Florida Center for African Studies.
Dr. Ajani's research interests are in Sociolinguistics, Contact Linguistics, the New Englishes (with emphasis on Nigerian English), and the language of Amos Tutuola and Wole Soyinka.
Ajani, T. (2022). Modernist Writers: Wole Soyinka and Amos Tutuola. In Toyin Falola (Ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of the Yoruba and Their History. London, Camden: Palgrave Macmillan (In press).
Ajani, T. (2022). City-States: Formation and Expansion. In Toyin Falola (Ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of the Yoruba and Their History. London, Camden: Palgrave Macmillan. (In press).
Ajani, T. (2018). Syntax and People: How Amos Tutuola's English Was Shaped by His People. Postscript, 34(1), 20. http://pacpostscript.org/current-issue/postscript-34-1/
Ajani, T. (2018). The Role of HBCUs in the Transfer and Maintenance of African Languages and Cultures. In Leonard Muaka & Esther Mukewa Lisanza (Ed.), Language in Contemporary African Cultures and Societies (pp. 254). Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498572279/Language-in-Contemporary-African-Cultures-and-Societies.
Ajani, T. (2017). Yoruba Writing System and Literature. In Toyin Falola and Akintunde Akinyemi (Ed.), CULTURE AND CUSTOMS OF THE YORÙBÁ (pp. 1062 pages). Austin, Texas: Pan-African University Press. https://toyinfalolanetwork.org/new-release-culture-and-customs-of-the-yoruba/.
Ajani, T. (2014). Action Research in the Foreign Language Classroom: An Experiment with Yoruba. In George Alao (Ed.), Voyage à l’intérieur de la langue et de la culture yorùbá / Journey into Yorùbá Language and Culture (pp. 129-138). Paris: Editions des Archives Contemporaines. https://www.leseditionsdunet.com/lang-en/7657-voyage-a-l-interieur-de-la-langue-et-de-la-culture-yoruba-journey-into-yoruba-language-and-culture-textes-reunis-par-george-alao-9782813001399.html.
Ajani, T. (2012). He Being Dead Yet Speaketh: The Legacy of Amos Tutuola. Journal of Nigeria Studies, Vol. 2(No. 1), 20. http://www.unh.edu/nigerianstudies/article_list.html.
Ajani, T. (2007). Is There Indeed a ‘Nigerian English’? Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences, 1(1, 2007). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/348249808_Is_There_Indeed_A_Nigerian_English.
Ajani, T. (2006). In Olaoba F. Arasanyin and Michael A. Pemberton (Ed.), Pioneering Yoruba as a Foreign Language at an Historically Black Institution: Cultural, Ideological and Curricular Challenges (1413th ed., pp. 109-115). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project. www.lingref.com/cpp/acal/36/paper1413.pdf.
Ajani, T. (2005). Whatever Happened to "Queen's English": Creativity and Innovation in Wole Soyinka's Collected Plays. West Africa Review (7), 16. https://www.africaknowledgeproject.org/index.php/war.
Ajani, T. (1997). “The Influence of Nigerian Languages on the English Language Used in Nigeria.” In FOCUS on Linguistics: University of Florida Working Papers in Linguistics, Vol. IV, No. 1
Ajani, T. (2016). “Time Reckoning and Calendars in Yoruba.” In Toyin Falola (Ed.), Encyclopedia of the Yoruba. Indiana: Indiana University Press (IUP). www.iupress.indiana.edu/product_info.php?products_id=807984
Ajani, T. (2016). “Cities of the Yoruba.” In Toyin Falola (Ed.), Encyclopedia of the Yoruba. Indiana: Indiana University Press (IUP).
Akimoye Ojo, Karim Traore, and Oyinlola Longe (eds.). 2018."Africans and Globalization: Linguistic, Literary and Technological Contents and Discontents". Gainesville, FL: African Studies Quarterly (ASQ). http://asq.africa.ufl.edu/current-issue/.
- E. Kropp Dakubu (ed.), English in Ghana. Accra: Ghana English Studies Association, 1997. Reviewed for African Studies Quarterly, Volume 5, Issue 1 (Winter 2001).
Sule E. Egya. 2014. Nation, Power, and Dissidence in Third Generation Nigerian Poetry in English. Pretoria: Unisa Press. 177 pp." (1st ed., vol. 16, pp. 112-113). Gainesville, Florida: African Studies Quarterly (ASQ). asq.africa.ufl.edu/files/V16.1_BR.pdf#page=12.
Leo Van Lier and Elana Solon (Ed.). 2010. Cultures, Contexts, and World Englishes (3rd ed., vol. 94, pp. 510-511). Malden, MA: The Modern Language Journal. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2010.01070.x/abstract.
Ajani, T. (2009). Rivers of Refreshing: Inspirational Poems for the Soul (pp. 186). Philadelphia, PA: Xlibris. riversofrefreshing.com/
Ajani, T. (2008). Streams of Refreshing: Inspirational Poems for Our Time (pp. 104). Philadelphia, PA: Xlibris. www.allbookstores.com/book/compare/1436385806
Ajani, T. Southeast African Languages and Literature Forum Fall Conference, "Teaching an African Language in the Age of Covid-19: Challenges and Remedies," UNC Department of African, African American, and Diaspora Studies and the UNC African Studies Center, Chapel Hill, NC (Virtual). (October 9, 2021).
Ajani, T., African Languages Fair 2021, "African Language Instruction and Career," UNC Chapel Hill African Studies Center, Chapel Hill, NC. (March 24, 2021).
Ajani, T., 10th Annual SEALLF Conference, "The Challenges of Teaching an African Language at an HBCU: Which Way Forward?" University of Florida Dept. of Languages, Literatures, & Cultures, Gainesville, Florida. (October 12, 2019).
Ajani, T., 22nd Annual Conference of the African Language Teachers Association (ALTA), "Creative Ways to Teach Culture, Customs and Vocabulary in the Yoruba Language Classroom," ALTA, Herndon, VA. (April 21, 2018).
Ajani, T., 8th Annual SEALLF Conference, "Globalization and the Teaching and Learning of African Languages," South-East African Language and Literature Forum, UNC Chapel Hill. (September 29, 2017).
Ajani, T., 41st Annual PAC Conference, "Syntax and People: How Amos Tutuola's English Was Shaped by His People," Philological Association of the Carolinas, Charlotte. (April 8, 2017).
Ajani, T. 7th Southeast African Languages and Literatures Forum (SEALLF), "The Role of HBCUs in the Transfer and Maintenance of African Languages and Cultures," SEALLF, Winston Salem State University. (October 1, 2016).
Ajani, T., 40th Annual PAC Conference, "Teaching Yoruba Vocabulary through Yoruba Greetings," The Philological Association of the Carolinas (PAC), UNC Charlotte. (March 19, 2016).
Ajani, T. Southeast African Literature and Languages Forum, "African Languages and Cultures Pedagogy," University of Florida, Gainesville, FL. (October 13, 2012).
Ajani, T., CCS Teachers Development Workshop, "Internationalizing the Curriculum: Teaching About Africa," Cumberland County Schools, Educational Resource Center. (October 9, 2010).
Ajani, T. Teachers Development Workshops for Foreign Language Teachers, "How to Help Students Increase Language Proficiency," Cumberland County Schools, Terry Sanford High School. (August 18, 2009).
Ajani, T. Teachers Development Workshops for Foreign Language Teachers, "Academic Rigor in the French Classroom," Cumberland County Schools, Terry Sanford High School. (August 18, 2008).
Ajani, T. 11th Annual Conference of the African Language Teachers Association, "Lilo Ero Intaneeti fun Kikoni ni Edee Yoruba ni Ile-Eko Gigajulo: Awon Iriri Oluko Kan," African Language Teachers Association, University of Florida. (March 23, 2007).
Ajani, T. 38th Annual Conference on African Linguistics (ACAL 38), "The Web Portfolio: Using the Internet to Enhance the Teaching of Yoruba Language, Culture and Civilization," Annual Conference on African Linguistics, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL. (March 22, 2007).
Ajani, T. 121st Modern Language Association Annual Convention, "Multidirectionality of Linguistic Influence: Evidence from the Works of Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe," Modern Language Association, Washington, DC. (December 27, 2005).
Ajani, T. 36th Annual Conference on African Linguistics, "Pioneering Yoruba as a Foreign Language at an HBCU: Cultural, Ideological and Curricular Challenges," Annual Conference on African Linguistics, Statesboro, GA. (April 3, 2005).
Ajani, T. African Studies Baraza Lecture Series, "He Being Dead Yet Speaketh: The Legacy of Amos Tutuola," University of Florida Center for African Studies, Gainesville, FL. (January 17, 2003).
Ajani, T. 118th MLA Annual Convention, "Linguistic Effects of Nativization and Acculturation on Present Day English in Nigeria," Modern Language Association (MLA), New York, NY. (December 2002).
Ajani, T. 118th Modern Language Association (MLA) Convention, "Linguistic Consequences of Globalization: Perspectives from Nigerian English," Modern Language Association (MLA), New York City, NY. (December 27, 2002).
Ajani, T. Izola Young Memorial Discourses, "Two Cultures, Two Languages: The Tutuola Phenomenon," English Department, Fayetteville State University, Fayetteville, NC. (November 7, 2002).
“Is There Indeed a Nigerian English?” Presented at the 26th Annual Conference on African Linguistics, UCLA, March 1995.
“Dressing Up for English: Learning English Through Culture.” Presented at the Gulf TESOL Conference, Orlando, Florida, May 1993.