FRENCH LANGUAGE TEACHERS' ATTITUDES: A STRATEGY FOR EXPLORATION AND CHANGE

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Date
1979
Authors
UCHE, OKONKWO (MISS)
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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
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