Published Article

ABSTRACT

In view of the significance attached to the development of French language in Nigeria, it is

important to take a look into the effect of a gender in the mastery of French language among

learners of the language in Nigeria schools. Thus, the present paper reports the empirical study

carried out to determine the effect of a gender in the mastery of French language. The sample

consisted of one hundred and seventy-two male and female undergraduate students from eight

Nigerian universities who were in the Nigerian French village, Ajara, Badagry for their French

immersion programme. Stratified Random Sampling was used as population for the study. The

instrument used was a 50 items multiple choice achievement test constructed by the researcher.

The research questions were raised and attempt was made on the part of students to answer

them. Also, formulated were two null hypotheses. However, from the analysis of result, there is

clear evidence that, there is a significant difference between the performance of male and female

students. Female students performed significantly better than the male students. Study concludes

with some pertinent recommendations that could make French language attractive to male

future learners of French and make them perform better in subsequent future examinations.

KEYWORDS: French, Gender differentials and Students’ Academic Performance