The Importance of African Literature in a Class Teaching French as a Foreign Language (FFL) in Ghanaian universities.

ABSTRACT

The Importance of African Literature in a Class Teaching French as a Foreign Language (FFL) in Ghanaian universities. Ghana's geographical position in relation to the surrounding French-speaking countries could be one of the main reasons for teaching/learning French. Learning a foreign language not only enables the acquisition of language competence but also provides a means of bringing the learner into contact with other realities of life, other social values, other forms and ways of life. For this study, we seek to explore the teaching/learning of French as a Foreign Language (FFL) in relation to literature at the university level in Ghana. In the Ghanaian education system, authentic documents have often been used in the process of teaching/learning French as a foreign language (FFL). However, it must be noted that French literature is more prioritized than French-speaking African literature. In the case of Ghana, is it not possible or more appropriate to draw authentic documents from French-speaking African literature? This literary focus will make it possible to seek culturally sensitive teaching methods, and will then make it possible to take measures to address the difficulties of teaching/learning French as a foreign language in the country. The study shows that students generally like literature. The results also reveal that learners are interested in using literary materials other than those taken from French literature, especially materials taken from French-speaking African literature. We relied on the socio-constructivist theory that we consider to be the most appropriate for our research topic, after examining two other theories of learning: Behaviorist theory and Constructivist theory. The Socio-constructivist theory in the sense that it is a theory based on the learner's immediate environment (cultures and civilization), personalities such as (teachers, peers, parents, administrative authorities), as well as the methods that directly or indirectly affect his or her learning. Based on the results obtained, we recommend to decision-makers, social actors, stakeholders, the main actors involved in the teaching/learning process, to take into account the points raised, which we consider relevant for the improvement of teaching/learning in Universities in Ghana. In order to achieve our goal, three (3) Universities in Ghana were selected: University of Ghana, University of Cape Coast and University of Education, Winneba.