ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEEDS OF FRANCOPHONE UNIVERSITY

STUDENTS IN CAMEROON: A CASE STUDY

Emmanuel Nforbi1 & Bolivar Siéwoué2

The University of Dschang
Cameroon

Abstract
This chapter presents the English language needs of Francophone university students in
Cameroon today, from the case of fine arts students. The Constitution, the orientation law on
education and many other texts enforce the promotion of bilingualism, but Francophone
students have eventually concluded that Bilingual Training in English is unnecessary. This can
only spring from a framework that has not met the learners’ expectations and needs. Borrowing
from the ethnographic approach and the needs analysis theory, we administered questionnaires
to 158 students B3 and beyond, in both Fine Arts institutes in the nation. Findings show that
these learners would prefer a Bilingual Training in English course that adopts a remedial
approach to fill in the gaps from the pre-tertiary levels, embraces their subject areas and make
use of teaching techniques that actually make learning easy. It is therefore possible to design a
national curriculum that would be used in all the universities and colleges nationwide, with
adjustments only with regards to the subject content.
Key words: Needs analysis, Francophones, University students, English, Cameroon
Résumé
Partant du cas particulier des étudiants des instituts des Beaux-arts au Cameroun, ce chapitre
explore les besoins des étudiants francophones camerounais dans le cadre de l’apprentissage de
la langue anglaise. La constitution, la loi d’orientation de l’éducation et une batterie d’autres
textes attache une grande importance à la promotion du bilinguisme, mais les étudiants finissent
par trouver que le cours de formation bilingue n’a pas lieu d’être. La seule explication possible
est que ces derniers n’y trouvent pas satisfaction quant à leurs besoins. En empruntant à
l’approche ethnographique et à la théorie de l’analyse des besoins, nous avons administré des
questionnaires à 158 étudiants de L3 et plus dans lesdits instituts. Ces étudiants souhaitent que
le cours de formation bilingue en anglais adopte une approche de remédiation par rapport au
déficit linguistique accumulé avant l’université, embrasse leurs domaines de formation et
exploite des techniques d’enseignement moins exigeantes pour l’apprentissage. Le chapitre
laisse voir qu’à partir de ce cas d’étude, il est possible de concevoir un programme général de
formation bilingue pour la nation, qui n’aura besoin d’ajustements qu’au niveau du contenu
disciplinaire.
Mot clés: Analyse des besoins, francophones, étudiants, anglais, Cameroun

1
Professor Emmanuel Nforbi. Phone number : (+237) 677 879 233 ; Email : nforbiemma@yahoo.co.uk
2
Dr Bolivar Siéwoué. Phone number (WhatsAap) : (+237) 693 229 688 ; Email: bolivarsiewoue@gmail.com
Introduction
English and French are the official languages in Cameroon as stipulated by Article 1 paragraph
3 of the 18th January 1996 Constitution. Article 3 of Law N°98/004 of 14th April 1998 to lay
down guidelines for education in Cameroon makes bilingualism3 compulsory at all levels of
teaching, as a factor of national unity and integration. The same law charges the State to ensure
the promotion of Bilingualism in the educational sector (Article 11). At the University level,

Bilingual Training is the name given to a special language-training program [me]

instituted in the Cameroon university system in 1962. It entails the teaching of French to
Anglophone students and English to Francophone students at the university so as to
enable them follow up courses in the two official languages without problems (Echu,
2004)
Every Cameroonian University student, therefore, should be taught their second official
language as a compulsory course. Spreading this course over the three undergraduate years is
predominant in the Cameroonian universities. The immediate concerns are the contents (what
should be taught) and the resources needed (methodology, materials and others). Echu (ibid)
sees with Biloa (1999) that Bilingual Training Classes are “poorly organised [and] equally lack
the necessary infrastructure, facilities, and motivation on the part of the students to be really
successful”. This points to the absence of a curriculum (See Richards, 2001). Nforbi (2013),
like Safotso (2011) Moko (2017), Siéwoué (2017) later and many others, was one of the first
to address the absence of any national curricula. If teaching must be considered as facilitating
learning, then any teaching/learning curriculum must be solidly grounded on the needs of the
learners (Brown 2011).

1. Learners’ needs analysis

Richards (2001) poses that, what students are taught should match their specific needs. This
makes the teaching/learning process meaningful for them. The basic skills (listening, speaking,
etc.) should be restricted, the language structures be selected, themes and topic and the
communicative skills be narrowed down to the ones that will help the learners attain the goals
that match their specific needs, most often described in terms of convincing performance. These
needs could be interpreted as a linguistic deficiency, a difference between what a learner can
presently do with language (present situation) and what they should be able to do with it (target

3
Bilingualism shall be understood in this chapter as the Cameroon “official bilingualism”, that is, bilingualism in
English and French, in the absence of other specifications.
situation), or the language skills needed to survive in an English-dominant society (in the
context of immigrants English)

The identification of needs will therefore be useful for many actors in the educational spectrum:
curriculum officers in the ministries, classroom teachers, learners, textbook writers, testing
personnel, or even tertiary institutions staff who will need to know the level of proficiency of
incoming high school graduates.

According to Johnson and Johnson (1999: p.117), needs analysis adapts teaching programmes
to the learner(s):

The procedures associated with the analysis of needs offer the course designer a
framework for the selection of language content according to the goals of particular
learners […] and therefore the possibility of creating tailor-made programmes, rather
than starting with a ready-made syllabus that does not of itself discriminate between
differing objectives (Johnson and Johnson ibid : 228)
In addition to the ultimate target situation needs, learners have expectations, demands and
wishes. If these are not met, they may be uncomfortable in a programme focusing on the final
objective. Therefore, they necessarily have a say determining the needs 4. It is in this light that
David Nunan identifies task analysis as the next step: “specify[ing] and categoris[ing] the
language skills required to carry out real-world communicative tasks” (1988: p.18).
Needs analysis data can be collected from various sources. With reference to John Munby’s
(1978) model, Nunan (1988) presents a number of such sources: (1) the participant(s)’ present
skills and target skills ( here, samples of learner writing, test data on learner performance -
performance tests; information from learners via interviews and questionnaires which could
seek to know learner’s experience with the target language such as “current proficiency level,
age, educational background, previous learning experiences, time in the target culture and
previous and current occupation” (Nunan 1988: p.4). Nunan adds that in addition to these
‘objective data’, learners’ ‘subjective data’ – learning styles, perceptions, etc. must be
considered so as to get them truly motivated and involved in exchanging information with
teacher (ibid: p. 76)); (2) the purposive domain (purposes for which target language is learnt
occupational, educational, survival, etc., with specific statement of learner’s goal); (3) the
(target) setting; (4) interaction: the people with whom the learner will interact are considered;
(5) Instrumentality: the medium (written, spoken, receptive or productive language), the mode

4
Johnson and Johnson give the example of a postgraduate student arriving in Britain who might be preoccupied
with social interaction skills prior to the English they need for their studies.
(monologue, dialogue, written/spoken, heard/read) and the channel (indirect communication or
face-to-face); (6) the dialect: the variety of the target language to learn must be specified. In
Richards(ibid: p.59) approach, there are: (1) the existing literature: writings on needs analysis
and the context, analysis of textbooks teaching academic writing; (2) the learner, that is Nunan’s
participant, (3) the practitioners (opinions of experts; reports by teachers on typical problems
learners face), the existing curriculum; (4) the (other) academic institutions; (5) and (6) the
employers’ and professionals’ target language expectations from recruits in target situations.
Because of time constraints, learning speed and the demands of the course, these needs have to
be ascribed different degrees of priority, such that 80% of the time, contents and tasks focus on
the 20% needs with the highest priority, enabling the learner to meet the other 80% of needs
even possibly by themselves. This is where Pareto’s 80/20 principle helps.

James Dean Brown (2011) compares the proposals Schutz & Derwing (1981), Jordan (1997)
and Graves (2000) and combines them into comprehensive, down-to-earth and well-explained
three major stages of a successful needs analysis (NA), with ten sub-stages
A. Get ready to do NA
i. Define the purpose of the NA
ii. Delimit the student population
iii. Decide upon approach(es) and syllabus(es)
iv. Recognize constraints
v. Select data collection procedures
B. Do the NA research
vi. Collect data
vii. Analyse data
viii. Interpret results
C. Use the NA results
ix. Determine objectives [implement decisions (assessment, materials, teaching strategies]
x. Evaluate and report on the NA project [decide on further information to gather
(for ongoing curriculum evaluation)]
In this study, we follow Brown’s (2011) lead. The needs analysis data collection per se follows
Munby’s (1978) model presented in the previous pages.

2. Literature review

Sokeng (2010) proved that the Cameroonian Francophone high school leaver has basically has
an underdeveloped general English language proficiency, with regards to the four basic skills
(listening, speaking, reading and writing). Her study shows that any serious advantage or
disadvantage in the learners’ proficiency development was related to the sociolinguistic
environment outside the classroom: those from the Anglophones regions of Cameroon
performed better in English than the rest, and those from the Northern and East regions had the
worst performance due to their limited contact with English. This was before the objective-
based approach was replaced at the secondary level in 2012 and confirmed in 2014 by
ministerial order, by the competency based approach with entry through real-life situations
(CBA-RLS). But Mbe (2021) already exposes that the reading comprehension test in
Francophone secondary education in general, and the Baccalaureate Exam in particular, yet
needs to become reliable; he makes useful suggestions in that light. Nforbi & Siéwoué (2021)
add that most teachers of English to Francophones at the secondary level are not knowledgeable
about language proficiency development and suggest a general proficiency development
protocol to improve the output. Ngasseu (2021) reveals that primary school teachers as well as
teacher trainees in Government teacher training colleges, in general, are not willing to teach the
Queen’s language to Francophones at that level, mostly because of the ineffective and
demotivating teaching they received themselves and their own poor learning. With many other
similar studies, it is clear that pre-tertiary level English is inadequately handled and learners
likely enrol into the tertiary level with yet a lot to acquire. However, we are yet to discover the
results of Oru’s (2021) current and similar evaluation, with the post CBA-RLS nuance. Nforbi
& Siéwoué (2016b) are positive about the CBA-RLS, provided back-up measures such as the
reduction of class size to at most 60, sound teacher training for the approach and effective
materials be availed for the subject at that level of learning. Nforbi & Siéwoué (2018) think that
the series Interactions in English from 6è to Terminale comprises good manuals in that light.

At the university level, learner demotivation and poor teaching/learning are pertinacious.
Safotso (2011) found that in the framework of Bilingual Training in English, in Cameroon
Universities, the course is generally taught without proper needs analysis, classes are
overcrowded (100 to 2,500 students in a class) with no possibility to address learners’ individual
problems, teachers are not trained to teach English for Academic Purposes, the English taught
is hardly related to the students’ study fields, though the investigation shows that students
expect the contrary. Close to 87 % of the respondents prescribed an amelioration of subject
content. Safotso’s study which was carried out in two phases (2007 and 2010), led to the very
results of the Experts Group Meeting of 1999 and the findings of Biloa (1999) and Kouega
(2006), which bespeak of a stagnant situation over the years. His recommendations, including
those of the Experts Group Meeting, are towards adapting the course to the learners’ subject
areas, and adding expertise and autonomy to it. Kouega (2008) also found that students lack
qualified teachers, classrooms are too large for a language course, and there is absence of a
clear language policy for the country. Moreover, teaching method as well as student and teacher
motivation are very inadequate. Again, the fact that both lecturers and students do not always
possess sufficient proficiency in both French and English affects the learning negatively.
Kouega suggests the creation of a language board to help develop bilingualism, promote
bilingual education and evaluate the official bilingualism policy in the country.

Siéwoué (2019) discovered that in the Institutes of Fine arts of the universities of Dschang
(Foumban) and Douala (Nkongsamba), testing Francophones in the Bilingual Training in
English course repeats the same linguistic items from B1 to B3, shows no progress from one
level to the next and very negligible interest in the learners’ subject areas. He proposed that a
serious curriculum design be done for the course, and that the said curriculum embrace the
specialist discourse in the learners study field. With Philips (2012), he sees that University
English should definitely shift from mere General English to English for Specific Purposes.

3. Research problem and hypotheses

Safotso (2011) came to the same conclusion with the Experts Group Meeting Report (p.483)
that “indeed, the [Bilingual Training] courses do not seem to be viewed and treated as a
necessary and indispensable component of university studies”. This contrasts sharply with the
constitution’s and the education laws’ (cited earlier) emphasis on the promotion of official
bilingualism in the educational milieu in general and at the university in particular; that is, the
students who are the main beneficiaries of the State’s policy seem to tag the whole industry
useless. However, Focho (2011) found that Francophone students in Yaounde (Cameroon)
understood the instrumentality of English for (inter)national studies, employability and
cooperation and collaboration. Dagasso et al. (2021: p.29) still mention first degree holders still
desiring to learn English, even outside the university, and interpret this as a result of English
language curricula from primary through secondary to tertiary levels that have not met the
learner’s needs. If then, having been taught the course, the students find it unnecessary, and the
tendency is similar in many universities in the nation, it can only further be clear that Bilingual
Training has not met the learners’ real (language) needs in general, and the English language
needs of Francophone students in particular. What are the English language needs of the
Francophone university student in Cameroon today?
In order to address the demotivation issue too, we chose to do the needs analysis from the
learners’ perspective. It can be anticipated that these students prefer a university English
language course whose content and method fill in the gap of the previous levels, espouse their
subject areas and foster international studies and employability. That is:

(1) The learners assess their pre-tertiary level proficiency as inadequate due to poor
teaching and demotivation
(2) Both the learners and their specialty teachers think that the Bilingual Training in English
course content should mostly be built on English for university studies and the English
of each learner’s subject area.
(3) The learners prefer a teaching approach that minimises efforts for understanding, and
promote proficiency development

4. Research methodology

Ethnographic research is a good match to learners’ needs analysis as it implies getting the
learners and the other people involved in the language policy, teaching and learning business.
Actually,
the ethnographer enters the field with an open mind, not with an empty head. Before asking
the first question in the field, the ethnographer begins with a problem, a theory or model, a
research design, specific data collection techniques, tools for analysis, and a specific
writing style. A series of quality controls, such as triangulation, contextualization, and a
non-judgmental orientation, place a check on the negative influence of bias. (Fetterman,
2003)
Our case study is the Bilingual Training in English in the only two university Institutes of Fine
Arts in the nation, in Foumban (Fbn) and in Nkongsamba (Nk). In order to gather data on
Francophone students’ English language needs and learning needs, we administered
questionnaires to 158 students of Level 3 (or B3) and beyond. This number is because the
enrolments per se in these colleges are narrow, averagely 27 per class and per level, as shown
in Table 1.

Thus, we decided to randomly sample 20 informants per subject area, or less where it could not
be possible, to provide answers to the questions on our questionnaire, as shown in Table 2.
Table 1 : Enrolments over three years

Performing Museology
Areas of Decorative
Architecture arts and Visual arts and cultural
study arts
cinema heritage
Institute Fbn. Nk. Fbn. Nk. Fbn. Nk. Fbn. Nk. Fbn. Nk. Average
B1 52 63 11 42 35 26 21 5 36 0 32
1st
B2 47 29 16 0 37 0 26
year
B3 48 19 16 40 12 0 32 0 24
B1 55 56 12 32 11 15 23 9 37 0 28
2nd
B2 49 68 8 38 12 18 13 5 38 0 28
year
B3 54 46 10 19 7 11 14 0 36 0 22
B1 55 63 10 30 11 16 26 9 51 0 30
3rd
B2 70 48 14 34 10 18 29 9 34 0 30
year
B3 49 42 14 17 22 15 11 5 40 0 24
Average 55 53 12 29 19 16 20 5 38 0 27
Source: Archives of the Admissions offices in both institutes

Table 2 : Informants

Institute
Areas of study Foumban Nkongsamba Totals
Architecture 20 20 40
Performing arts 20 20 40
Visual arts 16 20 36
Cultural heritage 13 9 22
Decorative arts 20 0 20
Totals 89 69 158

Also, we selected informants from B3 and above because these had gone through the whole
English language learning in the formal educational from primary to tertiary. Again, they were
completing or had completed the undergraduate programmes in their subject areas, they had a
better sight into the further educational of professional requirements, and therefore could
provide a more authentic evaluation of the undergraduate learners’ language and learning needs.
This data is analysed through statistical tables. Comparing results in Foumban and in
Nkongsamba will serve the location triangulation purpose. We did the survey twice: a first
survey to find out the general thought trends of the learners, and a second one in which the main
trends are more formally coined on the instruments, for validation or invalidation. Below, the
findings of the second survey are summarised.
5. Findings and discussion

5.1. Needs from learners’ pre-tertiary background

Table 3 below matches with our first concern, how the learners assessed their own pre-tertiary
experience with English and the proficiency they acquired therefrom.

Table 3: Respondents’ learning experience at the pre-tertiary level

Fbn Nk. Total

n % n % n %
Baccalaureate or General education 45 50.6 52 65.8 97 61.4
equivalent Technical education 39 43.8 15 19.0 54 34.2
Yes 12 13.5 8 10.1 20 12.7
English well learnt?
No 78 87.6 60 75.9 138 87.3
Lack of teachers 12 13.5 7 8.9 19 12.0
Causes for the poor Poor teaching 12 13.5 6 7.6 18 11.4
learning of English Lack of good textbooks 25 28.1 31 39.2 56 35.4
at the secondary Demotivation 39 43.8 25 31.6 64 40.5
level Laziness 20 22.5 30 38.0 50 31.6
Other reasons 1 1.1 0 0.0 1 0.6
1 33 37.1 11 13.9 44 27.8
Number of other 2 48 53.9 29 36.7 77 48.7
languages used 3 15 16.9 25 31.6 40 25.3
4 1 1.1 4 5.1 5 3.2
Beginner 33 37.1 39 49.4 72 45.6
Learners’ self- Elementary 46 51.7 24 30.4 70 44.3
estimated
Advanced 5 5.6 5 6.3 10 6.3
proficiency level
very advanced 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0

61.4% of the respondents have a general education background and 34.2% a technical education
background, where English is known to be somehow treated negligently by both teachers and
learners.
A large majority of learners in these institutes, about 87% confess that they learnt English
poorly at the secondary level. This points to the need for a remediation approach to revise
aspects of General English (GE). 87.6% are in this situation in Foumban, and 75.9% in
Nkongsamba. It would be good to mention that these learners come from across the nation.
Amongst the causes of their poor learning, demotivation appears to be the highest (40.5%), the
lack of good textbooks the next (35.4%) and laziness the third (31.6%). In the learners’
assessment, poor teaching (11%) and the lack of teachers (12%) appear to be amongst the least
impediments. However, one cannot be demotivated and lazy about something which is
fascinating: the learners found no interest in the subject, their language needs and learning needs
were not being met. The lack of good textbooks in an environment with low reading culture
like Cameroon means that the learners’ only real exposure to English was in the classroom, and
their notes for those who read them.
The majority (45.6%) of the respondents think that, even as they have completed B3 English,
that is after about 10 years of learning English (7 in secondary and 3 in tertiary education),
assess their proficiency level as “beginner”, and only 44.6% elementary, that is, they think they
have acquired some English. But a graduate in a country where English is an official language
used in the offices and in the media, and after 10 years of learning the language, these learners
ought to be “advanced”; sadly enough, only 6.3% think they fall in this category.
English is found in a multilingual context. 3.2% of the respondent use four other languages,
25.3% three other languages, 48.7% two other languages and only 27.8% use only one language
beside English.
In a classroom with students from a mixed background (technical and general education), with
87% of them having learnt English poorly at the pre-tertiary level, the highest causes being
demotivation, the lack of good textbooks and laziness, with up to 45% of them assessing their
own proficiency as “beginner” and only 6.3% beyond “elementary”, the first hypothesis is
confirmed.
One can only deduce the learners’ General English knowledge (grammar, vocabulary,
phonology, notions and functions) deficiency, and hear the call for a thorough remediation
approach in the Bilingual Training in English curriculum which is still hoped for. We shall refer
to this set of needs as remediation needs.

5.2. Learners’ language needs

The second hypothesis was about the course contents, the thematic foci the learners would love
to see included in their course. They were invited to assess the importance of fine arts and
general academic life themes therein. To save space, only the percentages are provided in the
findings summarised in Table 4. All the topics were greatly appreciated by the learners, none
received less than 76.76% approval for insertion into the BTE course. This shows that learners
would greatly appreciate that their various disciplines be seen through their language course.
Richards (2001) said the institution is a good source for needs analysis data. We could refer to
this other set of needs as disciplinary needs or subject needs. But this would only be one sub-
set.
Table 4: Expressed fine arts thematic foci needed in BTE

Dec
Performing arts and orat
Architecture Plastic arts Cultural heritage Overall
cinematography ive
percenta
arts
ges
Themes\Colleg
Fbn Nk. Fbn Nk. Fbn Nk. Fbn Nk. Fbn
e
Generalities 100 75 90 90 87,6 100 84,7 88,9 80 88,47
76,76
Art history 80 75 90 75 87,6 100 77,7 55,5 50
83,30
Aesthetics 85 75 95 90 87,3 85 84,7 77,7 70

Tools and their 90,14

80 85 90 95 81,3 100 100 100 80
use

Studio5 84,30
85 80 95 95 62,6 90 92,3 88,8 70
language

Creation 84,71
100 85 80 85 88,8 100 77 66,6 80
procedure
Exegesis on art 76,58
65 95 85 65 87,6 65 100 66,6 60
work
Professional 88,92
100 95 85 100 81,3 100 92,3 66,7 80
encounters

Most students who enrol into the university only discover a new world: university realities are
quite different from pre-tertiary level realities: enrolment, teaching, testing, promotion modes,
and even the organograms are very different. The context is quite different and one predicts that
the learners will need to talk and communicate about those realities in English, especially as
some of them would have to travel abroad for further studies, or exchange with their fellow
Anglophone brothers. This other subset of needs could be referred to as community needs. On
this other subset of needs, the learners’ votes were summarised in percentages in the next table,
all the students are seen as only one group, in each school. Comparison still facilitates location
triangulation.
Consistently, the majority of respondents find each of the themes very important. The highest
percentages range, under very important, from 30% for the university campus to 60% for
research, academic writing and defence. Cross averagely, 11% of the respondents find
university life themes not very important, 21% find them averagely important, 22% find them
important and 42% of them find those themes very important. In all, only11% of the

5
Practitioners in all the subjects listed in this table spend quality time doing the actual creation work in studio.
Architects have their firms, performing arts and cinematographers work on stage and in studios, the plastic
artist and the decorative artist have studios and workshops, and those in museology liven up their know-how in
museums
 respondents do not see themes on university life at least important, 89% do. Thus, community
needs are clearly expressed by a crushing majority of the respondents.

Table 5: Expressed university life thematic foci needed in BTE

Averagely
Not important Important Very important
important
Themes\College Fbn Nk. av.6 Fbn Nk. av. Fbn Nk. av. Fbn Nk. av.
The university
17 16 16 23 30 26 20 23 21 26 35 30
campus
Students’
activities on 14.6 8.7 12 21 22 22 20 25 22 30 48 39
campus
Students’
problems and 7.8 8.6 8.2 25 31 28 20 28 24 37 39 38
opportunities
Research,
academic
7.8 5.8 6.8 9 7.2 8.1 20 22 21 49 70 60
writing and
defence

Cross averages 12 9.8 11 19 22 21 20 24 22 36 48 42

5.3. Learning needs

Learning needs include learners’ styles, preferences and motivation. They could also be referred
to as motivation needs. The questionnaire focused more on the techniques that would motivate
them to learn the language. The next table presents their learning needs.

Table 6: Learning needs

Not important Averagely important Important Very important

Themes\College Fbn Nk. av. Fbn Nk. av. Fbn Nk. av. Fbn Nk. av.

Translation 6.7 7.2 7.0 20.2 31.9 26.1 29.2 11.6 20.4 41.6 49.3 45.5
Explanation in
11.2 10.1 10.7 28.1 21.7 24.9 10.1 8.7 9.4 46.1 59.4 52.8
French
Debates and
4.5 14.5 9.5 13.5 10.1 11.8 18.0 39.1 28.6 57.3 43.5 50.4
exposés
Emphasis on
6.7 2.8 4.8 12.4 8.7 10.6 13.5 10.1 11.8 57.3 63.8 60.6
pronunication
Focus on
specific subject 7.8 5.8 6.8 13.5 15.9 14.7 14.6 18.9 16.8 56.2 49.3 52.8
area
Tutorials 7.8 14.4 11.1 13.5 10.1 11.8 22.5 26.1 24.3 56.2 40.6 48.4
Averages 7.5 9.1 8.3 16.9 16.4 16.6 18.0 19.1 18.5 52.5 51.0 51.7

6
Average
The highest degree of importance consistently receives the highest percentage for translation,
explanation in French, debates and exposés, emphasis on pronunciation, focus on each student’s
field, and tutorials, and “not important” the least. This points to the fact that students really
want to comprehend the language they are taught (translation, explanation in French and
tutorials), they want to use it for expression in their vocational training (focus on each student’s
study field) and they want to be masters of English, especially spoken English (Emphasis on
pronunciation, debates and exposés, good quality and quantity of tutorials). The focus on
specialty domains further confirms that the respondents are more open to English for Specific
Purposes, English which is tailored for them and matches with their training and future
professional careers.

Conclusion

We have assessed the needs of Francophone University students in English, in the framework
of the course called “Bilingual Training in English” (BTE). The findings prove our initial
hypotheses: (1) The learners assess their pre-tertiary level proficiency as inadequate due to poor
teaching and demotivation; (2) Both the learners and their specialty teachers think that the
Bilingual Training in English course content should mostly be built on English for university
studies and the English of each learner’s subject area; and (3) The learners prefer a teaching
approach that minimises efforts for understanding, and promote proficiency development. The
chapter sheds some light on the learners’ language needs and the learning needs. However, the
unique contribution of this chapter is a categorisation or nomenclature of students’ needs in the
Bilingual Training framework: the remediation needs, the institution needs comprising
disciplinary needs or subject needs and community needs, and the motivation needs. The
remediation needs and the community needs will likely not change much from one university
context in the nation to another, but subject needs will vary. Every other things being equal,
any other similar needs analysis could simply be limited to subject needs (the jargon of the
subject per se, and of the professional careers they open to). Therefore, we commend that a
national Bilingual Training in English curriculum be proposed for fine arts students to meet the
needs presented in this paper, and that only the subject needs be adapted from one subject area
to another, in the said curriculum.
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