Abstract:
The purpose of this study is to examine and find solutions to the difficulties that
confront students of Bagabaga College of Education in the formation of pluralization
of common nouns in the French Language ending with -eu, -al, -ou and finally
propose a strategy to overcome these difficulties thereby facilitating the teaching and
learning in French as foreign language class. A total number of 58 students and 4
teachers formed our sample size. Questionnaires and test were used as tools for data
collection. Analysis of data eventually confirmed that most of the students were not
able to form plural of common nouns appropriately. The plurisystem and cognitivist
theories were used to elucidate the problem of our study. The research discovered that
the causes of students’ difficulties were related to the confusion in the use of the
grapheme ‘‘s’’ and ‘‘x’, their weak exposure to the multiplicity of the nature and
functions of the morpheme s in the French language, the negative transfer from
English to French coupled with the linguistic influence of the mother tongue
contribute to their difficulties, the use of inappropriate teaching methods and difficult
nature of the French language. The study therefore highlighted the pedagogical
implications and suggested ways which can be help to both learners and teachers in
their teaching and learning of the plural of common nouns ending with -eu,-al,and -
ou.
Description:
A thesis in the Department of French Education,
Faculty of Languages, submitted to the School of Graduate
Studies in Partial Fulfilment
of the requirements for the award the degree of
Master of Philosophy
(French Language)
in the University of Education, Winneba,
