Institutional Inputs and Secondary School Students’ Attitudes towards the Learning of French Language in the South West Region of Cameroon

The study sought to find out how institutional inputs influence secondary school students’ attitudes towards the learning of French Language in the South West Region of Cameroon. The study employed the explanatory sequential design. Stratified sampling, simple random sampling and the convenient sampling procedures were respectively used to select a sample of 95 French teachers, 10 school heads and 100 students from selected public, confessional and lay private secondary schools in the South West region of Cameroon. The instruments for data collection were two questionnaires and an interview guide. They were validated by triangulation and the overall index value was 0.83 and a reliability coefficient of 0.851. Quantitative data were analysed using both the descriptive and inferential statistics while qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis. Students’ attitude towards the learning of French Language was measured through an attitude questionnaire. Findings revealed that extrinsic motivation, school libraries, teacher’s effectiveness and supervision by heads of department as constructs of institutional inputs significantly influence students’ attitude towards the learning of the French Language as they greatly (more than 50%) influence students’ attitude towards the learning of French Language in the South West Region of Cameroon. Interventions to help improve institutional inputs were recommended among which are that there is need for effective training on the use of specific extrinsic motivation like praises, gifts and marks in teaching French Language as well as reinforcements to foster productive students’ behaviour and to limit unwanted behaviour, school authorities should ensure that copies of good short and interesting French story books should be placed in the school library to facilitate access for both teachers and students and even institute French laboratories in their schools, teachers should make use of innovative teaching techniques like discussion, dramatisation and debates which will make their teachings of French highly effective and the relevant authorities should carry out sustained supervision of instruction of the subject to aid and guide teachers in learning to use the new teaching methods prescribed in the subject syllabus in order to raise the quality of teaching French Language. Thus, improving students’ attitudes towards the learning of the French Language.