Gastor Mapunda is a lecturer of English and Language in Education in the Department of Foreign Languages and Linguistics, University of Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania.

He holds a Ph. D. in Linguistics from the University of Dar-es-Salaam, with mentorship from UDSM and Bristol University, England. He has academic background in Linguistics from the University of Dar-es-Salaam, with post-doctoral research fellowship at Bayreuth University, Germany.

Dr. Mapunda mentors post-graduate researchers in their research on language learning and teaching, and teaches English and linguistics courses in various institutions of higher learning in Tanzania. They include English Grammar, Dialects of English, Business English, Communication Skills, Varieties of English, Introduction to English Structure, Language Course Design, Translation Theory and Discourse Analysis.

Recently Gastor has been involved in a sociolinguistic survey of the Ngoni language and culture in southern Tanzania, jointly with a colleague from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. The Project resulted from a relationship between Swahili, the most dominant language in Tanzania, and Ngoni, which is peripheral.

His publications include Is the Ngoni language threatened? An analysis of lexical borrowing from Swahili (JMMD), Ngoni people’s attitudes towards the use of Kingoni in Beginner Classes in Ruvuma Region (JLLE), and What Do my Students Call Me? Nicknaming of Lecturers by Students at the University of Dar es Salaam (JLLE).