From Constraints to Control: The French Language Classroom in Multilingual Nigeria

There are several issues associated with the teaching and learning of French Language in an Anglophone environment like Nigeria. For effective `interaction with the neighbouring countries, Nigerian citizens need the knowledge of French language. Nigeria is an Anglophone country that is surrounded by francophone countries. French Language teachers face a lot of issues while carrying out their day to day activities in the classroom. Some of them include mother tongue interference, lack of use of instructional materials, challenges of the modern technological facilities, confusion of the target French Language, hostile environmental issues, psychological issues, teachers’ personal issues and that of the learners etc. All these issues seem to affect the learning processes in the French Language classrooms. All the above constraints contribute to the poor performance of French language in Nigerian schools; this has led to poor academic achievement of students in French language which has spilled over to poor performance of students in both internal and external examinations.