Language and Cultural Immersion Programmes in Russian and French Languages in Nigeria 2012 -2022:
Problems and Prospects
Keywords:
Russian Language, French Language, Clash of cultures, clash, culture, immersion programmeAbstract
The linguistic and cultural complexities encountered by students studying Russian and French languages in Nigerian universities, especially during their immersion programmes, have become recurrent in the 21st century. Although studies have been carried out on immersion programmes, to the best of our knowledge none of these studies specifically addresses the peculiar Nigerian dimension to the problem of Nigerian students studying Russian and French languages on immersion programmes. This study investigates the problems and the prospects in language and cultural immersion programmes at the University of Lagos and the University of Ibadan. It identifies the problem of lack of finance, cultural shock, and lack of parental and emotional support as some of the challenges students of foreign languages from these two universities faced during their immersion programmes in Russian and French languages from 2012 to 2022. Furthermore, it recommends ways of addressing these identified problems. The study employs the historical research approach in analysing the progress of language and cultural immersion programmes at the two universities' under study. Questionnaires were created and distributed among 100 students of both universities who have embarked on immersion programmes.. The research employs a semi-structured technique as students were required to respond to a digital survey. The findings of this research reaffirm the importance of language and cultural immersion programmes in the study of Russian and French languages in Nigerian universities. Overall, the paper proposes that language and cultural immersion programmes are pedagogical instruments for addressing the problem of dialogue between cultures and cultural clashes.
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