THE ACQUISITION OF FRENCH LANGUAGE IN THE CONTEXT OF INDIGENOUS IGBO LANGUAGE & CULTURE: A CASE STUDY OF UMUAHIA, ABIA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The effective learning of a foreign language and its accompanying culture often depends on the level of acceptance it receives from the community. While the French language by its nature seems appealing to the system and environment of learning by its nature, is generally appealing to academic and cultural learning environments, it can still encounter resistance in new sociolinguistic settings. Umuahia prominent a city in Igbo land has also made some marks especially in the development of French language and culture in Nigeria. Therefore, the paper tries to measure the level of receptivity of French as a foreign language in the face of Igbo language and culture in Umuahia, the capital of Abia State. The research would do this with a holistic appraisal of the gains and losses encountered in the trajectory of French language learning in this part of Nigeria. Umuahia has been a key city in the history of Igbo land especially right from the days of the old Imo State of Nigeria. So the Impact of teaching and learning of French in some of the educational institutions of the State like: Abia State University, Uturu, Abia State Polytechnic, Aba, Federal Polytecnic Unwana and others must have left some multiplying effects in the Abia State society. With this instrument of measurement, the paper finds out finally the level of interference posed by French as a foreign language on Igbo language spoken in Umuahia. The research also tries to proffer solution to these findings especially the negative ones