-Candidates performance in Dictation was very poor.  Most of them still have difficulties with differentiating between French spellings and those of English.  The French words were wrongly spelt.  They simply wrote as the words sounded.   Some of the candidates spelt words in English and Nigerian Languages.  Some of them left blank spaces for words they could not write.  Some of the candidates instead of applying/observing the punctuation marks wrote them down for instance  “à la ligne”
            “deux points”
            “virgule”
            “point virgule”
           
Some of the candidates still forget to put accents where needed e.g.
            “bateau” instead of   “bâteau”
            “etait”    instead  of  “était”

In the Reading segment, most candidates showed lack of familiarity with French pronunciation  as word were badly pronounced.   In Reading passage A for example many candidates could not pronounce “provoquent” while a good number of them also mispronounced “ Améliorer” in Reading passage B

In the Dialogue & Exposition segments, most of the candidates were unable to make simple grammatical sentences. Some of them knew nothing on Civilisation and Background Studies.  A good number of them had difficulty with the meaning and functions of organisations  such as CEDEAO, ONU, FIFA, EA etc.  Some of them could not even utter a word in French.  Some of them simply shook their heads after several promptings and said in English “I don’t know”.

To improve on candidates’ performance, French teachers should encourage their students to give their responses in complete sentences during classes.  Emphasis should be placed on all tenses and accents.

Teachers should pay more attention to Dictation with emphasis on spellings in French during classes.  The students should be exposed to Dictation drills after each French lesson.

They should endeavour to practice all aspects of the Oral French with the students before the examination.  Particular attention should be paid to the Civilisation aspect of the French Studies.

They should also teach the students the French punctuation marks.

Teachers should encourage the students to read simple French stories, journals  and magazines, so as to acquire more vocabulary