Foreign languages and human development: the case of French in Nigeria

Abstract

Human development, a widely used term in psychology, and more recently, in Economics, is a subject of global concern in recent years. It denotes among other things the development of people's abilities and creation of enabling environment for people to make use of these opportunities. The United Nations annual report on the issue ranks Nigeria amongst the least in the area of human development and this, obviously, follows the despondent economic condition of many of its citizens. This paper proposes to highlight the need for proper placement of values, putting the acquisition of French as a fertile ground for the improvement of the human persons in Nigeria. We argue that a lot of potentialities await French graduates both within and outside the country as bilingualism is highly fostered for a fuller development of the human person. This study is based on Maslow's theory of human needs and Mahbub's human development theory. Consequently, for a better development of the human person via French language, we propose an action-based method of teaching and proper implementation of the National Policy on Education. The approach is historical and descriptive in nature.

Keywords: human development, foreign language, French