Olayinka Olagbegi-Adegbite

Credentials: Nigeria

Address:
2018 SKJ Fellow

Olayinka Olagbegi-Adegbite is a PhD candidate in the Department of Educational Policy Studies with a concentration in Comparative and International Education, and a minor in Curriculum and Instruction. She is a Nigerian whose academic sojourn in the United Stated started in 2007 when she was selected as one of the Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistants (FLTA), to teach her native language-Yoruba. During her one year FLTA program, Olayinka, in addition to teaching her native language was also enthusiastically engaged in a lot of elementary and high school visits where she talked about her continent and country, and shared her cultural experiences with students. She was later admitted for a masters program in the Department of African Languages and Literature where she examined interlanguage among Yoruba learners. Her passion for elementary education landed her another masters degree in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis (ELPA) where she reviewed Nigeria’s Universal Basic Education policy (UBE). Currently, Olayinka’s doctoral research examines the implications of language policy and teachers’ linguistic ideologies on early grade reading instructions in the first three years of elementary school. This summer, with a generous support from Scott Kloeck-Jenson International Fellowship, Olayinka will intern with the Lagos State Ministry of Education and the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) to understand the extent of appropriation, implementation and practices of language policies within primary schools in Lagos state. This internship will enable Olayinka to become better informed on decision-making processes that govern on a broader level, language use in early grade literacy.

Read Olayinka Olagbegi-Adegbite’s fellowship report here.