Abstract:
This study examined the language of websites of universities in Ghana and how they
used language to represent themselves on their institutional websites. It relied on
Fairclough‟s (1993; 1995a, 2001) approach to Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) for
its theoretical and analytical framework. Fairclough‟s approach to CDA allowed
three-dimensional analysis which include textual analysis, process analysis and
societal analysis. The first six premier universities in Ghana were purposively selected
for this study, namely, University of Ghana, University of Cape Coast, Kwame
Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, University of Education, Winneba,
University for Development Studies and Valley View University. The findings
revealed the following: the universities built their institutional identities through the
use of both textual and visual elements; the universities expressed their power to
determine what to present to viewers of the website; the language on the websites
were institution centred; the universities used similar texts that serve as promotional
discourse; the websites contained elements that presented the universities with
peculiar African (Ghanaian) characteristics. This study concluded by making some
recommendations which would enable the universities in Ghana to know how they
were represented on their institutional websites in order to improve their marketing
strategies especially toward their visibility on the global front, better positioning on
the international ranking and the attraction of international students.
Description:
A thesis in the Department of English Education,
Faculty of Foreign Languages Education and Communication,
submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in partial fulfilment
of the requirements for the award of
Master of Philosophy
(English Language)
in the University of Education, Winneba
JUNE, 2020
