FRENCH LANGUAGE TEACHERS' ATTITUDES: A STRATEGY FOR EXPLORATION AND CHANGE
FRENCH LANGUAGE TEACHERS' ATTITUDES: A STRATEGY FOR EXPLORATION AND CHANGE
No Thumbnail Available
Date
1979
Authors
UCHE, OKONKWO (MISS)
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
This study was undertaken to investigate the a t t i tides
of Nigerian French teachers to theories, philosophies,
methods and techniques of learning and teaching
French. More specifically, the study sought to find out
teachers' a t t i t u d e s towards students' l i n g u i s t i c and communicative
competence, t h e i r views regarding grammar
r a n s l a t i o n and audio-lingual methods, individualized
instruction, French in the elementary school, use of
audio-visual aids and t h e i r views on the learning and
teaching of French culture'. Three hypotheses were tested
to find out if academic qualification, professional
training and years of experience affected the teachers'
responses to the a t t i t u d e items.
A 50-attitude item questionnaire adapted from Garcia
and Reynold (1977) was used to collect the data. For the
analysis of data, tables, percentages and t - t e s t s were
used.
The r e s u l t s showed that the majority of the teachers,
49% were audio-lingual in their approach while 23% and 19%
of t hem were audio-lingual-communicative and t r a d i t i o n al
respectively in t h e i r approaches. Teachers that were
audio-lingual in t h e i r approach, strongly supported, for
instance, that audio-visual aids and dialogues were very
i i i
effective means of learning a foreign language and that the
four language s k i l l s should be taught in the natural order
of l i s t e n i n g , speaking, reading and writing. The teachers
responses to items on language proficiency, individualisation
of instruction and teaching of culture showed t h at
the teachers were not aware of the current practices
regarding the above issues in the teaching of foreign
languages. Their responses showed that they considered
l i n g u i s t i c competence more important than communicative
competence. The teachers, for instance, were rigid on the
question of students' errors. 64% of them were of the
opinion that students' responses in the target language
should be l i n g u i s t i c a l l y accurate, while 65% supported
the idea that proficiency always implied correct applicant
i o n of the four s k i l l s . Only 41% agreed that individualization
of instruction was feasible in a foreign language
program-me while only 47% supported the teaching of cult
u r a l materials. The teaching of French in the elementary
school was supported by 30% of the respondents. The
findings also showed that professional training had no
effect on the teachers' responses. However, academic
qualification and years of experience affected the a t t i tides
of the teachers to items on the use of audio-visual
aids, the order of teaching the four language s k i l l s and
the learning of rules of grammar and dialogue memorization.
Description
A RESEARCH REPORT
SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT
OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE
DEGREE OF
MASTERS OF EDUCATION
IN
CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION
FACULTY OF EDUCATION
AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY
ZARIA
1979
Keywords
FRENCH,, LANGUAGE,, TEACHERS,, ATTITUDES,, STRATEGY,, EXPLORATION,, CHANGE