French Language Education in Nigeria: Problems and Prospects

Abstract

Language is considered as a veritable tool for socio-economic and manpower development because of the role it plays in connecting people. Language education is a concept that is structured to provide learners with the opportunity to possess the basic language acquisition skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing in a target language. French as Nigeria’s second official language has suffered several setbacks in a bid to take its rightful place as stipulated in the National Policy on Education. The dichotomy between exogenous and indigenous languages in a multi-ethnic and multilingual nation like Nigeria is a reason for concern. This paper seeks to highlight the problems facing French Language education in the Nigerian society and tries to proffer possible remedies to the situation.

Keywords: education, French, language, learners, multi-ethnic and multilingual policy