Language Needs of Francophone Students in an English as a Second Language Context

Abstract

In this study, I examined the English language needs of 73 Francophone students who enrolled to pursue their undergraduate degree in an English as a Second Language context. The setting for this case study was a private university in Ghana. The focus of this study addresses an important gap in the literature on meeting the needs of francophone undergraduate students. The participants in this study were French-speaking students who mostly lived and learned in French-speaking countries prior to their arrival in Ghana; thus, their language needs differed from those of Ghanaian students who typically learn in English over the course of their educational careers. Due to the disjuncture of these Francophone participants’ previous educational and lived experiences with the English language, I investigated the relevance of the available English language courses to their academic and career needs.  Data collection took the form of a questionnaire and interviews, for the purpose of eliciting information about participants’ demography, language skills, and tasks relevant to their academics and future careers. In addition, the participants provided interview responses describing their reasons for learning in an English medium university. Findings indicate that Francophone ESL undergraduate students ascribe varying degrees of relevance and importance to English courses, and these reported differences in perceived relevance cohere with participants’ varying academic and career goals and needs.