FRENCH

GENERAL OBJECTIVES

The aim of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) syllabus in French is to prepare the candidates for the Board’s examination. It is designed to test candidates’ general ability to:
assess written comprehension in French; 2. apply the principles governing the structure and use of written French; 3. identify how French sounds work in speech production; 4. examine the culture of Francophone West Africa and France in relation (where possible) to home country. 

DETAILED SYLLABUS
 TOPICS/CONTENTS/NOTES OBJECTIVES      1.   Written Comprehension in French:   -   topics of general and emergent Candidates should be able to:   interest e.g. love, life, death, politics, (i)deduce answers to questions on the content,   marriage, HIV/AIDS, intent and style of proposed texts,   communication, child trafficking, (ii)   apply reasoning skills.   cultism, travel, corruption, money-   laundering, etc.  
Principles Governing the Structure and 
 Use of Written French: Candidates should be able to:   I.  Identification of basic form classes: i. identify what constitutes the basic structures   (a) Nouns: simple/compound, of written French,    singular/plural, masculine/feminine. ii.   use the principles governing the structure of   (b) Pronouns: personal, impersonal, written French to determine acceptability,    demonstrative, possessive and e.g. to transform one form; one class into    relative. another,   (c)   Verbs: reflexive and non-reflexive, iii.   apply the structure to convey diverse    their moods and tenses. messages.  
(d) Adjectives: qualifying, possessive, interrogative, demonstrative, indefinite (e.g. nul), numeral (e.g. dix) and ordinal (e.g. dixième.) (e) Adverbs: -  common forms 
i) with-ment (e.g. lentement) 
ii) with préposition + noun (e.g. par avion, à cheval, en voiture, par bateau.) 
- special forms (e.g. bien, vite, mal, mieux, le mieux, pire, le pis, ne…que.) 
- types 
- manner (e.g. debout, facilement.) 
- purpose (e.g. pour + Infinitive, afin de + infinitive.) 
- cause and consequence (e.g. pour + infinitive perfect, à cause de + noun.) 
- concession (e.g. malgré + noun.) 
- place (e.g. y, en, ici, là, là-haut, partout.) 
- time (e.g. hier, aujourd’hui, avant hier, après, demain, la veille, le matin, dans un mois.) 
(f) Prépositions: 
- simple (e.g. à, de, avec, avant, sur, dans.) 
- compound (e.g. à côté de, au milieu de.) 
(g) Conjunctions: 
- of co-ordination (e.g. mais, ou, et, donc, car, cependant, ne…ni.) 
- of subordination (e.g. afin que, quoique, à condition que, pour que, parce que.) 
(h) Articles: 
- definite, indefinite and partitive.  II. Assessment of vocabulary span: 
(words in contemporary contexts - meaning, use, opposites, Synonyms)
III. Importance of word order in: 
(a) affirmative sentences 
(b) interrogative sentences 
(c) imperative sentences 
(d) passive voice formation 
IV. Identification and application of basic processes in language structure, e.g.
(a) conjugation - in all tenses except l’imparfait du subjonctif, le passé composé du subjonctif, et… le plus-que-parfait du subjonctif. 
(b) negation (e.g. ne…pas, ne…plus, ne…rien, nul ne, ne…ni..ni, ne…personne, personne…ne, aucun….ne, rien ne….etc.) 
(c) agreement (e.g. les beaux arts, il les a vues les photos.) 
(d) pluralisation (e.g. as in cheval/chevaux, beau/beaux.) 
(e) derivation: 
-from adj, to adv – e.g. lent-lentement, -from adj. to adj. e.g. un – premier,
-from adj. to noun – e.g. bon-bonté, riche-richesse etc. -from one degree of comparison to another (using plus…que, moins….que, aussi….que e.g. plus grand que.)
NB - special forms - iv) apply communicative skills (e.g. bon, meilleur, le meilleur, la meilleure, mauvais, pire, le pire.)
V. Use of French in set expressions such as in proverbs, idioms and conventional structures as provided for in common speech acts: 
(a) proverbs (e.g. tel père tel fils, petit à petit l’oiseau fait son nid.) 
(b) idioms (e.g. avoir une faim de loup, crier sur le toit, mourir de peur.) 
(c) conventional stretches 
(e.g. enchanté, c’est dommage, c’est formidable, stationnement interdit, etc.)
(d) speech acts (e.g. proposer, conseiller, regretter, admirer espérer, interroger, reprocher, s’accorder, etc.) 
Workings of French sounds  via: Candidates should be able to:   (a) sound discrimination (i) discriminate between French sounds,    (e.g. tout/tu), (fais/fée.) (ii) deduce meanings out of sound   (b) letter-sound combinations,    correspondence (iii) use the above to enhance effective    (e.g. ai-/e/,  eau/o/.) communication,   (c) syllabification (e.g. con/tente/ment.) (iv) assess sound groupings in terms of   (d)  liaison (e.g. trois animaux, des enfants.) how they are affected by such   (e)   sense groups in reading features as syllabification, liaison,    e.g. J’ai mal à la tête. J’ai mal/pas à la e-caduc; pause, intonation, etc.    tête / mais au dos/.    Comment vas-tu, Carol?// Comment vas-    tu demain?  
(f) faux amis (e.g. librairie/library, rester/to rest, blesser/to bless.) 
(g) identification of sounds to determine similarity (e.g. maison/saison, dents/don, fond/ fonde.) 

 4. Culture and Civilization: Candidates should be able to:    Characteristics , (aspects, similarities and i. identify  the  characteristic  features  of    differences) of the educational system, the culture of Francophone Africa and    socio-economic life, political organization France greetings, dressing, food,    and culture life of Francophone Africa and leisure, marriage, festival, art,    France, with reference (where possible) to profession etc.    home country i.e Nigeria. ii. compare  these  features  with  those  of    home country ( where possible),    iii. apply reasoning skill.  

RECOMMENDED TEXTS
A    (i) Written Language
Ajiboye, T. (2014) Companion to French Grammar (4th Edition): Ibadan: Cleavoketa books Ajiboye, T. (2012) Nouvel Horizon, Book 4, New Revised Edition, Ibadan: Bounty Press Byrne and Churchill (1980) A Comprehensive French Grammar,Hatier (1980) Le Nouveau Bescherelle: L’Art de Conjuguer, Ibadan: Spectrum Book Ltd.
Maice, G et Merlo, G : (1998): Grammaire progressive du français ( Niveau intermediaire), Paris: Clé international.
Mazauric,. C, et Sirejols, E(2006) : On y va! Book 3, Ibadan : Spectrun Books Ltd. Ojo, S. A.(2000) A Comprehensive Revision Handbook of French Grammar, Ibadan: Agoro Publishing Company.Any other relevant materials on French Grammar.
(ii) Oral
Ajiboye, T. (2010) An Introduction to Practice in Oral French, Ibadan: Bounty Press. Leon, M. (1978) Initiation à la Prononciation du Français Standard.Any other materials that emphasise oral practice.
B. Culture of Francophone Countries
Girod R and Grand-Clement, F. (1979) Comment vivent les Français, Paris: Hachette Mbuko, L. (2000) French Essays on Culture and Civilisation for Schools and
Colleges, Ibadan: Bounty Press.
Any other relevant materials, e.g. French newspapers, magazines, journals, and documents on Francophone life.

C. Dictionary
Any good French/English or French dictionary.