Abstract

This study was designed to examine “The Effects of the Phobia for the French Language on Students’ Academic Performance in Secondary Schools in the Buea Municipality”. The study was guided by the following objectives; to determine the extent to which fear affects students’ academic performance in the French Language in Secondary Schools.

Find out how the lack of interest in the French subject affects the academic performance of students in the French Language in Secondary schools. Investigate how the phobia for the French language affects students’ performance in the subject. The Research Objectives were later transformed into Research Questions. The research design employed was a survey research design with a sample size of 60 students from three selected secondary schools.

A sample of 20 students was selected from each of the three schools. The questionnaire with close and open-ended items was used to collect data for the study. The descriptive statistical method was used to analyse the data collected. The study targeted students of forms three, four, and five. The simple random sampling technique was used to collect data, while a purposive sampling technique was used to select schools and respondents.

The findings revealed that the phobia for the French language has an effect on the academic performance of students. Based on the findings of the study, the researcher, therefore, made the following recommendations: That at the level of the various secondary schools, educational stakeholders or principals should revise the methods of teaching. Remedial classes should be carried out regularly for students whose results in French are low during class tests, by so doing, students’ performance in class and in public examinations like the General Certificate of Education (GCE) Ordinary Level will be boosted.

That parent should hire the services of the private French Teachers to teach their kids at home, in a bid to improve on the performance of students in the subject. Teachers should be motivated by the educational authorities. If teachers are well motivated, they will enhance students’ performance and in turn motivate students.

These will be encouraged and will naturally develop an interest in the subject. French teachers should use both English and French languages in teaching, especially in explaining very complex concepts to students. In addition, that, measures should be taken by the government to regularly organize in-service training programs for French teachers to train them with modern strategies for teaching French so as to enhance students’ achievement and eradicate the phobia that students have for the subject.

In the English-speaking regions where the English language is the dominant medium of instruction, the government should organize a week of orientation for the French subject at the beginning of the academic year, where students will be prepared psychologically and mentally about the second language in addition to the English language. The government should improvise new methods of teaching that will attract students to the subject. This will go a long way to promote bilingualism in the entire nation.

CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Introduction

The focus of this study is on the effects of the phobia for the French language on the student’s academic performance in secondary schools in the Buea Municipality. Cameroon being a bilingual country has two unique educational systems, that is, the Anglo-Saxon system of education and the French system of education.

Therefore, this study is aimed at looking at those aspects that actually scare students learning in secondary schools from producing the results that are wanted or intended as far as the French language is concerned which register maximum failure in teachers’ made test and standardized tests.

In this chapter, the following will be treated: The background to the study, the statement of the problem, the purpose of the study, objectives of the study, research questions, and justification of the study, research questions, and significance of the study, the scope of the study and operational definition of terms.

Background of the Study

In Cameroon schools, the French language is a compulsory subject along with English and Mathematics. This implies that from primary school, the French language is taught right to the university, as it is the case in the University of Buea where French is one of the compulsory courses.

French, like English and Mathematics, is considered to be of capital importance in the academic, social, and subsequent career life of all students. French is taught as a subject in most of the schools in the Anglophone regions, but in bilingual schools within or without the regions, it is not only taught as a subject, it is also the language of instruction used to teach all the other subjects.

It is therefore important that French be well taught for students to excel, get appropriate performances not only in French as a subject, but also in other subjects as well and in the manner that students will have the affection for it which will lead to success.

When you are successful in one area of your life, it often leads to success in other areas. It is therefore believed that success in the French language leads to success in later professional domains. For this to be affected students need to develop a liking and the zeal to study this subject in school. Embracing this foreign language in their academic journey will be very beneficial in acquiring job opportunities.

Students should be helped by their teachers to stay in class during the French period. The importance of learning the two languages should be explained to them because very often it is ignorance that comes as a result of poor orientation.  In an effort to achieve this, this study investigates, “the effects of the phobia for the French subject /language on the students’ academic performance in secondary schools in the Buea Municipality”

The French language has been a problem down the years. Phobia, anxiety, or hatred has been a topic of discussion from one generation to the next. Teachers need to uplift, arouse and sustain the interest for better results.

The phobia can mean the fear or hatred depriving the interest of an individual to make a move towards a certain goal. Fear involves a number of psychological factors that start and maintain activities towards the achievement of students’ performances.

The fear in education can have several effects on how students learn and on their behaviour towards the subject matter. Fear or phobia is the act of influencing people to do things less effectively and irresponsibly. It impedes peoples’ actions and behaviours towards the achievement of some goals. Fear can cripple you, it is a bad feeling you can have when something frightens you. (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 2015). It can negatively affect behaviours, learning, class participation, and performance. It includes a lack of zeal, interest, and enthusiasm in the learning process.

The anxiety, on the other hand, results from the foreign language, lack of orientation, the method of teaching, motivation, shyness to open the mouth to pronounce strange words. Students who are studying should be orientated so that they can stay in class. Some teachers do not make any effort to tell them the importance of the language.

They watch students in form five walk out of class saying nothing to them. Students are to be encouraged and the lesson should be taught in a way that will capture students’ attention and keep them in class. The bit of effort they make should be appraised by so doing they will be motivated. Seminars, conferences and workshops, inter-class quizzes, fascinating teaching materials, and teaching methods should be used to motivate students. If teachers are motivated regularly in their profession, they will equally perform better and students will be attracted to the lessons, Piccardo (2010).

Today, there is a growing awareness that students learn more and perform better with highly dedicated and motivated teachers. One of the keys to success in an educational institution whether in government, confession / lay private schools is the motivation of teachers so that they can function properly.

Motivated French Language teachers in turn will motivate students to learn. The French language is a subject in some schools and a language for teaching subjects in other secondary schools in Cameroon, so there is a need for particular attention to be paid to teachers of the French language in secondary schools so that a strong foundation is laid. When this is done, it has several effects on how students learn and their behaviour towards the language in general and as a school subject in particular.

Statement of the Problem

Today’s youth is tomorrow’s nation. And today’s youth are our students. Students do play a vital role in society and how a society is shaped generation after generation. The formative period of an individual is during the student phase and is known to be the crucial time of life. A student is therefore formed through education.

Education is in fact character-building in students. Based on these factors, students are expected to conduct themselves in a manner that is civil and reflects an openness to educational experiences. To this light, we notice some students who are very serious when it comes to learning. The importance of education is perceived positively in them.

Some of them have taken the French Language so seriously and are performing very well in the subject. They cannot miss the class except for very pertinent reasons. Some of them do perform better in the French Language than the other subjects taught in the English Language. They ask questions when they do not understand some concepts.

On the contrary, we equally identify those students who are very carefree. They do not make any effort when it comes to the French Language or learning in general. They fear the French Language. Once they are appointed to answer a question in class, they panic. Talk less of administering a test, they simply recopy the question and submit empty papers to the teacher, there is no interest, no zeal, no effort, no enthusiasm.

All they express is fear, anxiety, hatred, and pessimism. So, language phobia is understood here as a type of anxiety due to or caused by learning or using another language. This put forward the hypothesis that learning a foreign language implies positive or negative emotional factors that can affect both the learning process and performance.

This phobia has currently become one of the main obstacles for learning languages and a disease of the 20th and 21st centuries for foreign language teachers and for the researcher in this field. Studies have established that language phobia consists in a negative emotion appearing in students which cripples them from making any effort.

Teachers stand in the best position to help students in their learning process. It is the responsibility of a teacher to encourage his or her students in class especially the weak ones to make the effort to study. Those students, who escape from the French classes, could be motivated by the teachers assigned to teach them to develop an interest in the subject. A school is a learning milieu, and that is the reason students go to school. Teachers should perform also in a way that will captivate students to like the lessons they teach.

Every society looks up to the teacher as an embodiment of knowledge and wisdom so much that, the teacher is regarded as a leader, consultant, adviser, secretary, judge, manager, and counselor.  He is seen as the master and the God of the class. The district had been registering a consistent decline in performance in examinations for most schools in the French Language as a school subject.

However, despite this important place attributed to the French Language, it is observed that students’ performance does not reflect the important place attributed to it. There is talk of the falling French standards and even falling standards of education in general. Students’ performance at GCE Ordinary and Advanced levels is poor or not up to expectation.

These poor standards could be attributed in part to poor mastery of the language- if students do not master French, they will not be able to read and understand their textbooks. Does the phobia negatively affect students’ performance and where does this fear come from? The above thus motivate the researcher to investigate how phobia for French-language affects students’ performance in the subject.

Objectives of the Study

The study was guided by the following objectives:

General Objective

The general objective is to find out, “The Effects of the Phobia for French Subject on the Students’ Academic Performance in Secondary Schools in the Buea Municipality”

Specific Objectives

The research specifically intends to;

1. Determine the extent to which fear affects students’ academic performance in the French Language in Secondary Schools.
2. Find out how the lack of interest in the French subject affects the academic performance of students in the French Language in Secondary schools.
3. Investigate how the phobia for the French language affects students’ performance in the subject