Reimagining French Language Education: A Comparative Study of Immersion Programmes in Badagry and Lomé for University of Ilorin Students
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Date
2025
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Department of Foreign Languages and Literature, University of Port Harcourt
Abstract
As a graduation requirement, students of French Studies in Nigeria are required to “spend the
third year of study (for UTME candidates) and the second year of study (for Direct Entry
candidates) at the Nigeria French Language Village, Badagry, or in a French-speaking
country for the One-Year-Abroad French Language Immersion Programme” (CCMAS
2023:436). Although this requirement is intended to produce accomplished graduates who are
competent in both spoken and written French, the learning of the French language, according
to Onah (2019), Okoedion (2019), and Odion et al. (2025), continues to face numerous
challenges in Nigeria. This study adopts the University of Ilorin, Nigeria, as a case study to
explore the design and implementation of exchange and language immersion programmes,
including teaching and assessment methods, using a causal-comparative research design. The
study found that some Unilorin students preferred to go to Togo, a French-speaking country,
for the One-Year-Abroad French Language Immersion Programme, after more than two
decades of participation in the Nigeria French Language Village (NFLV), Badagry, for the
same purpose. The study concluded that the laudable intention of the Nigerian Universities
Commission (NUC), which prescribes language immersion as one of the graduation
requirements for French Studies in Nigerian universities, may inadvertently contribute to
some of the problems confronting the study of French as a foreign language in Nigeria. It
therefore recommends that Nigerian universities should leverage the existing policy that
allows study in a French-speaking country as an alternative to the NFLV, Badagry, as this
option may provide students with a unique opportunity to experience a different culture and
academic environment while earning credits toward their degrees.
Description
International Journal of Foreign Languages and Literature (IJOFLL)
Keywords
Language Immersion, Language Education, Unilorin, CCMAS, Students’ Exchange Programme