Nollywood's Jenifa's Diary: Implications On Children's ...

Nollywood's Jenifa's Diary: Implications On Children's Subconscious Spoken English Language And Education In

Ebonyi State University Secondary School, Abakaliki

Nwankiti, Chukwuemeka OnonujuTel: +2348034911293

E-mail:[email protected];

&Uduma,Ngozi Eje

Tel:+2348033042680E-mail:[email protected]

&Nwasum, Chinedu Jude

Tel:+2347035627331E-mail:[email protected];

Department of Mass Communication,Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu Alike, Ikwo, Nigeria.

Abstract Funke Akindele alias Jenifa an exceptional character who is portrayed as an unenlightened ambitious young girl with the quest to survive in a metropolitan society, narrates her life experience from the village to city embedded in a comic relief style. Her controversial role has gained much popularity amongst children and is a concern to some parents who have questioned the boldness with which subconsciously, poor English language expressions by children seem to be the order of the day, assuming it is funny while basking in the adulation of their peers. It is believed that children see her as a model and tend to personify with boldness her poor mastery of English language which sadly, has left many sinking deeper in the guacamole of the demise of their own English education. Her inability to complete school has given parents more concern as the psyches of children arguably are being dissuaded from academic activities. Through this study, the researcher sought to identify viewers' perception and preference of the star actress' role as “Jenifa”, its implication to spoken English education. The research methods adopted were focus group discussion and interview methods. The study was hinged on Play and Social Learning theories. Findings revealed that even in comedy, the message communicated cannot be ignored. More efforts should be made by parents to educate their children in principle the need to speak good English as it is the nucleus towards sound education. Parental control and guidance on choice of film lies within the purview of parents while, Nollywood comedies should clearly not promote roles that defy efforts made by parents and schools to encourage

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Journal of Media, Communication & Languages

good spoken English and academic excellence in the education sector.

Key words: Actress, expression, education and Nollywood

IntroductionWe live in an era of infotainment where information packaged and disseminated through entertainment and Nigerian home video, no doubt has gained recognition and awards internationally. Because of this feature, they have become a popular source of information and entertainment to the global world but regrettably, have cast aspersions and oftentimes uninformed judgment on some Nigerian cultural practices, development and enlightenment globally. This is clearly because Nollywood is a medium which has outstanding positive and negative implications with regards to the consumers of its contents. To the film makers, it is clearly a call to express mastery of talent and also a business which must have returns on investment while to the consumer; it is generally for relaxation as he/she assimilates new views towards Nigerians and their understanding and interaction towards their ever evolving environment. Supporting this, Clay (2003) explained that consuming media seems to have outstripped reading story books and playing dress up. Generally children between the ages of 2 and 18 spend an average of almost five and half hours a day at home watching television, playing video games, surfing the web or using some other form of media. Buttressing this, Alawode (2007) opined that drama, film and movies which can be combined to define the home video are means through which people obtain information while also being entertained. A psychological perspective to this may however simplify the power of television as an absolute medium towards sharpening the intellectual quotient of growing kids because of over dependency on its entertainment capacity which has yielded tremendous benefits in the hallmark of educational media productions (edutainment) with programs such as 'Mr Blooms Nursery', 'Rufruf Tweet and Dave' to mention a few are programmes which have taken a cue from 'Sesame Street' as prepared by Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) Studio who consulted the expertise of Daniel Anderson , a professor in psychology at University of Massachusetts because he believed and could prove that content generated on television and imbibed by children has a significant contribution to their socio educational upbringing. The Nigerian perspective is no different as existing literature on comparative analysis of programme contents viewed by children have submitted that there is a growing concern on under ratted

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television programme contents accessible to the Nigerian child. Clearly, these concerns have been shared by parents and other morally conscious individuals in the education sector.

The ProblemFunke Akindele undisputedly is a celebrated Nigerian actress who has won local and international awards for her exceptional mastery of role play, producer per excellence and distinguished director status in Nollywood industry such as 2014, AMVCA Awards Best Actress (Comedy),2016 ELOY Awards- Brand Ambassador of the Year 2017 AMVCA Awards- Best Actress in A Comedy series, etc. Arguably, her most popular film is Jenifa's Diary, a television series programme which she produced and starred with adroitness as the character Jenifa. The concern starts from the title of the movie ''Jenifa's Diary'' the spelling Jenifa is wrong which surmises the educational background of the character as a student who cannot spell her name correctly. As hilarious as the episodes are, it is more amusing in reality to find out that many do not know her real name as her fame in Nollywood could be likened to a successful brand product in the market as the character Jenifa, is now a household brand name in most Nigerian homes which regrettably have parents worried and concerned about the characters antics and swagger in command of English language. They fear that it erodes and encourages possible negative implications to children and teens in written and spoken English. Adding value to these assertions, Pulse.ng (2016) a Nigerian tabloid which focuses on celebrities and their achievements, indicated that mixed reactions trailed Funke Akindele's television series Jenifa's Diary. While many opined that the show was hilariously inspiring, they still expressed their concern in what they described as ''corrupt English''. Others wondered why the character after so many years and exposure showed no significant improvement in her spoken English. Little wonder Bybee, Robinson and Turow (1985) posit that media's presence in children's lives is totally ubiquitous. They spend more time with media than any other activity except for sleeping. Observing the impacts such experiences are having on the children under the guise of comedy has become very challenging for parents and policy makers. Based on an article in a Guide to Information and Support for Parents as developed by University of Michigan Health System (undated), children are said to accept the stereotypes represented on television after they see them over and over again. The character Jenifa is a result-oriented lady who surprisingly sets the pace amongst her educated and enlightened

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friends in the series and as such inspires greatly the viewer who imbibe the possibilities of being uneducated and with all boldness, command the English language without paying attention to lexical constructs which makes good comic relief but psychologically, undermines and sabotages the efforts of sound English education among Nigerian children. The truth is that many Nigerian children and youths can relate themselves with the character Jenifa as the availability of good English teachers and access to qualitative education in Nigeria is in the decline. Imaginative brand managers have seen the potentials and opportunities in her ever-growing popularity in the society and have taken advantage of this perception by using her to advertise their product. Currently, she is the Brand Ambassador of Dettol. An assessment of our grappling education sector has led to the indictment of some Nigerian film producers for evidently promoting poor spoken English in the thematic preoccupation of some lead characters in movies. Pidgin English which is no better would have sufficed as it seems to be the unwritten but generally understood language of the uneducated Nigerians which is less depressing to the primary cortex which processes sound in the brain of humans. The implication is that parents have counseled their children on the implication of poor spoken English but they end up seeing the character Jenifa (instead of Funke Akindele) applauded and celebrated as a model on television and magazines. Children get confused on who to believe whether parents or the television. Confirming this, Somerville (2009) asserts that children learn more through examples and through what they observe; they will therefore learn their gender roles and behaviours through the movies they watch as well as watching people of same sex as themselves. On these bases, this study seeks to understand viewers' perception of the character Jenifa in Jenifa's Diary and its implications to children's poor spoken English.

Research Questions

1. Does Jenifa's Diary promote poor spoken English?

2. Is your written and spoken English affected by Jenifas Diary?

3. Have you ever been chastised by teachers or parents for her kind of

English?

4. Would you like to be like Jenifa?

Literature ReviewOxford Advanced Learners Dictionary, defines a child as “a young human being who is not yet an adult … a person who is strongly influenced by the

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ideas and attitudes of a particular time or person.'' The impact audio visual media with reference to films and television series have on children has been a great concern to the world at large. It has been studied under different apt thematic research investigations by educationists, medical professionals (clinical and non- clinical psychologists), religious organizations etc. All these interdisciplinary researchers have arrived at one shared understanding and conclusion that the power of the media with reference to television cannot be undermined in the integration and development of a mentally sound child in his hinterland.

Tele-Dependency by Children: Towards Taming the TideCurrent literatures in child behavioural studies globally submit that there is correlation between television programmes and unswerving physical manifestation of encoded processed information and attitudinal display. The screenplay message could be decoded by its viewers as negative or positive depending on the programmed message intended by the encoder. Lead roles (protagonist or antagonist) played by prominent actors and actresses to behavioural social scientists, have encouraged societal violence and crimes around us as a result of subconscious impulsive reactions to similar circumstantial scenarios as viewed on TV screens. More to this, the display of vulgar, profane language and uncontrolled gesticulation in musical videos has an increased significant direct negative influence in figurative expressions of youths in the society today Branson (1997). This is evident in classroom scenarios when a student wants to explain himself and unconsciously starts gesticulating in a wigwag manner synonymous to musicians in musical videos. The disgraceful and shameless outfits as modeled by Nigerian musicians which is a sharp contrast from our cultural moral upbringing in our contemporary music industry has undoubtedly encouraged nudism and disregard for decency in outfits of youths in the society and places of higher learning. These negative television contents have resulted in increased social misnomers like 'gangsterism', rape, armed robbery; unchecked use of profane language, nudity and their likes in our neighborhoods. It does not go to say that there are no positive effects of television role played by actors and actresses which have helped to reform and reintegrate delinquents into the society. Berger (2003) posits that television has certain biological and psychological effects on the members of the audience. The biological effects have social implications for which examples include – passivity while watching it and hyperactivity when not watching it. Television content exposure to children which may appear too mature for them has a

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long lasting impact on their psyche as it registers on their memory later manifesting into social or anti-social behaviors depending on the message imbibed. A research conducted by Sparks (2006) on “After-effects of Telenovela movies on youths in Southern Mexico” discovered that when they are exposed to stories of broken homes, divorce and betrayal, they became very distrustful and some did not want to get married while others feared growing up to become adults. Also a study by Alawode and Sunday (2014) on Aki N' Pawpaw in the Nigerian home videos as children/adults suggested that the duo clearly influenced and confused children who could not correlate why they played roles as children and yet appeared as adults in other movies while indulging in amorous roles thus encouraging children to behave likewise. This clearly shows that children pay close attention to models on television screens while encoding their flaws which manifest in their social interactions in life. Supporting this, Alawode and Sunday (2014) further explained that '' children are more likely to attend to and imitate behavior modeled by people of the same sex as themselves. Children would take into consideration what happens to other people on television when deciding whether or not to copy someone's actions. This is known as 'vicarious reinforcement'.

Theoretical FrameworkThe study is strongly hinged on play and social learning theories. (Folarin, 2001). William Stephenson formulated the theory in 1967 in a book titled 'The Play Theory of Mass Communication'. Here, he divides man's activity into work and play: while the former deals with reality and production, the later deals with entertainment, relaxation or self-satisfaction. He deduced that people make use of Mass Communication more as play than work; more for pleasure and entertainment than for information and improvement. McLeod (2011) posits that Social Learning theory propounded by Albert Bandur in 1977 states that behavior is learnt from environment through the process of observational learning. His study submits that it is evident that children learn from observing adults (models) around them behaving in various ways. This he illustrated with an experiment with dolls (Bandur, 1961). In our world today children are surrounded by many influential personalities and role models like their parents, uncles and famous television characters. These models provide a significant frame of reference for the children to adopt and imitate obvious distinctive traits. Cultivation theorists posits that access to television contents evidently have long term effects as the viewers are most times not

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aware of the extent to which they absorb the contents which informs some subconscious behavioral traits exhibited social interplay.

Ethical ConsiderationThe ethical committee of Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu Alike Ikwo approved the study. (FUNAI/SEN/EBC/17/VOL.1/10)

Methodology Focus Group Discussion (FGD) and interview was organized for five different sessions with eleven teenage students whose ages range between 11 and 17 years all across JSS1 to SS3 for equal representation and objective data capturing.

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Three people were interviewed, they were two 200 Level students of Mass Communication who were research assistants and a 400 Level student of Sociology department all in their mid 20's. They were chosen for this study

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to understand the ripple effects of this deplorable English language culture in academic progression from secondary to university education levels.

Result DiscussionThe participants in the FGD and the interviewees acknowledged that they do watch the television series Jenifa's Diary. According to them it is one of the most hilarious and entertaining television series of our time. The JSS 1 and 3 Students acknowledged that they do not know who Funke Akindele is but know the character Jenifa. According to Uchenna, Jenifa is her name I do not know her as Funke Akindele even when I see her in other movies I refer to her as Jenifa. Explaining further, Onyinye said that Jenifa is the name their entire family knows her by and today is her first time of taking note of her real name. The students in SS3 confirmed that they know her real name but would rather refer to her as Jenifa. Samuel said that he knows Funke Akindele but prefers her role play on screen as Jenifa. Alefia said he is aware of her real name but believes Jenifa supersedes her real name now as she is famously known for her excellent role play of the character.

Has the Focus Group Discussant observed that the spelling 'Jenifa' is wrong?Samuel said yes and has been wondering why the character cannot spell her name correctly. Alefia summarized by saying obviously, Jenifa is dull and not brilliant at all.

Do the Focus Group Discussants oftentimes speak English like Jenifa unconsciously? Their response was chorused 'Yes!'

Why are children interested in her type of English vocabulary?Charity explained that she oftentimes finds herself speaking English like Jenifa to amuse her friends. Omorewo said she enjoys seeing the expression of shock on the faces of people when she speaks her type of English. Alefia went further to explain that her kind of English is now an acceptable slang amongst children. Peace concluded by saying she uses the language to express tiredness and contempt for academic work load.

Can you give me examples of her type of English?They all chorused 'hello Uncle how is you?' meaning hello uncle, how are you? Also, 'Let's went to class our tesha has came' meaning; let's go to class

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our teacher has arrived. These and many other unprintable sentences that lack lexical constructs were voiced with boldness and enthusiasm. It was observed that their moods became upbeat and decorum was lost for one minute as each student wanted to exhibit mastery of the deplorable manner of speaking English.

Have you ever tried speaking her type of English to a Teacher and what was the teacher's reaction?They chorused yes! Chisom said yesterday she spoke it in class and the teacher found it hilarious and did not correct her. For Junior, he speaks it in class but was immediately cautioned by his teacher to desist from it as he is fond of expressing himself in that manner. Janet further explained that her classmate expressed herself sometime ago in that manner and the whole class felt the humor in the expression but sadly, their teacher made no effort to correct her as the teacher concurred it was a manner of expression associated to the character Jenifa. Peace said her experience was different as teacher got annoyed with her and gave her a few strokes of the cane and warned her never to speak that ''gutter English '' in class or at home. Janet said she dared not try it else her teacher would deal with her as he had earlier warned them never to express themselves in such poor language that is plaguing the English language.

Do you feel Jenifa's English can affect your written and spoken English?There were varied opinions to this as Obodoechi agreed that he once made the mistake of writing such English on his composition essay and also acknowledged that it has affected his spoken English greatly. He explained further that once unconsciously, he spoke like that in front of his parents' guests and it really embarrassed his parents. For Ifeanyi, he does not see it affecting his written English but for spoken English, he acknowledged it has rubbed off a bit on him. Janet said she only uses the language for fun but do not see it affecting her academic performance. Chisom said she finds it amusing but cannot affect her academics. Others opined that constant indulgence in such poor English may affect their spoken English but they do not think it would affect their written English.

Have you observed if your younger siblings emulate you in speaking this type of English?Amarachi responded that her younger brother makes frantic efforts to learn

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and adopt this type of English as it is the latest slangs and mode of expression amongst children in their neighborhood. Janet said her siblings make use of the English but are mindful not to speak it around adults but sometimes they subconsciously speak it out of excitement. Ikechukwu asserted that he has seen his younger ones rehearsing on countless times, making attempts to memorize some lines of the English.

Assuming they were parents, would they allow their children access to such movies?The University students who were interviewed after observing the responses from the FGD opined that they would not permit their children after witnessing the risks such movies pose to children who have uncontrolled access to its contents. To the discussants, they all chorused yes! Probing to find out why, they said that Jenifa is an achiever, even as a school drop-out she still made it in life as a movie actress who has won multiple awards and is a brand manager for Dettol.

How many of you would like to be like Jenifa?they all concurred they wanted to be successful like Jenifa who dropped out of school but still became successful in life through hard work and other ventures. Junior reiterated that he would not hesitate to drop out of school because the academic load was too much and there is no job in the society. He believed he would make it because Jenifa dropped out and still became a star in movies. Uchenna said Jenifa even went to London without school certificates. Samuel sadly said he would not mind exchanging places with her because the class works were becoming burdensome.

Are you aware that Jenifa is a Law degree graduate and the role you see her play does not qualify her character in real life?All Jss1 and 2 students were surprised. They assumed she was narrating her true life story via Jenifas Diary. Precious exclaimed in disbelief that Funke Akindele is a graduate. Wow, is it not her life story of success from her village to township? Janet asked Uncle are you sure she is a graduate? (with a surprised expression on her face.)

Conclusion and RecommendationsThis study submits that the television series Jenifa's Diary is an agenda setter for poor spoken English amongst children and youths. Furthermore, the series is not a pathfinder for sound English education. Impliedly, such

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Nollywood comedies portend and encourage a culture of bad English amongst Nigerian youths which has stereotyped some youths in Nigeria and beyond. This is because it exposes children to a life of celebrated unacceptable English vocabulary which unfortunately, is becoming a growing cancer to the efforts made to teach sound English education in Nigerian schools. For the movie industry, the series is a big hit and a classic which has evident positive sound moral themes and contributions for ambitious youths. More important is the fact that the series unknowingly has a significant implicit contribution towards sabotaging and eroding efforts of sound English education amongst Nigerian children. Given the above concerns about the deficiency of sound English education in Nigeria, it is pertinent for Nigerian Guild of Actors, Nollywood stakeholders, Primary Education Board, Nigerian University Commission and National Orientation Agency to have a shared understanding, review policies and make laws towards downplaying thematic roles of poor spoken English assigned to protagonist celebrities in home videos and place premium on roles that would encourage sustainability, improvement, integration and reorientation on the culture and importance of good spoken and written English education amongst Nigerian children.

References

Alawode, S. O. & Uduakobong, S. 'Home Video as Nigerian Image Maker' European Scientific Journal April 2013 edition Vol. 9, No. 11

Bager, Arthur Asa, (2003). Media and Society: A Critical Perspective, United Kingdom: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers Inc.

Bandur, A. (1977). Social Learning Theory.Englewood Cliffs NJ Prentice Hall.

Bybee, C., Robinson, J., & Turow, J. (1985). 'The Effects of TV on Children: What the Experts Believe'. Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania.

Clay, Rebbeca A., 'Kids and Media @ the New Millenium' February 2003, Vol 34, No 2.

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Folarin, B. (2001). Theories of Mass Communication: An introductory Text, Ibadan: Stirling- Horden Publishers (Nig) Ltd.

Gbenga, D, (December7, 2016), Mixed Reactions trail Funke Akindele's television series. Pulse.ng

M c L e o d , S . ( 2 0 1 1 ) , S i m p l y P s y c h o l o g y , www.simplepsychology.org/banura.html

Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary (2000), Oxford University Press.

Somerville, C. (2009). 'How Education and experience can affect Attitude to Gender' PULSUS, Pediatrics and Child.

Sparks, G. (2006).Media Effects Research: A Basic Overview, USA: Thomson Wadworth.

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