The Challenges of Teaching Beginners French Language in Nigerian Tertiary Institutions

Teaching is a very interesting profession and one of the oldest in the world but teaching French Language in Nigerian tertiary institutions can be very frustrating because of several factors like the problem of the students finding the French letters/words very difficult to pronounce, due to the fact that it is different from the way the English letters they are used to are pronounced, the challenge of the French sound system is also there, the absence of modern learning equipments like projectors for watching films, tape recorders and C.D plates containing French lessons for beginners, language laboratories for the enhancement of better pronunciations and clearer sounds (phonetics). The lack of enough time for the teaching of the language, the problem of having too many students in the class which does not promote proper and effective learning sessions, the absence of language immersion programmes and excursions to strengthen the learning process and give the students the privilege to live with the native speakers and improve their spoken and writing abilities and other factors. The paper also talks about the methodology which is the repetition method to enhance better pronunciations and participation of the students while the cognitive learning theory of language is applied. A theory that states that language sills develop in four stages which are gradual, progressive, tied to age and environmental factors.