THE PROBLEM OF TEACHING COMMUNICATION IN FRENCH IN NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES: A FOCUS ON UAT AND IFL-B

Abstract

The introduction of the Communication in French course by the Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) into the Nigerian university system for it to be learnt as a General Studies (GS) course has not come without the peculiar challenges and problems of starting something new. This study is a field report of what were encountered as the major problems and some novel solutions applied to make meaningful progress while teaching the course for two sessions at the University of Africa, Toru-Orua, Bayelsa State and as the Ag. Director of the Institute of Foreign Languages and Biomedical Translations (IFL-BT). The challenges include: the problem of learning a new language, lack of motivation, lack of a language laboratory and textbooks, lack of sufficient lecture periods and lack of sufficient number of teachers to attend to the large classes for effective teaching. The study found out that improvements in the attendance and participation of students can be recorded if French language teachers can motivate the students and remain persistent in the task, instead of losing interest because the students themselves are not showing much interest. Also, the use of call and response system for learning can minimise the absence of the language laboratory and leverage on the short period of time allotted for the course. This study is of the view that if these problems are attended to by the French language teachers and other relevant authorities, a lot of improvements could be recorded in the teaching and learning of the course in Nigerian universities.