Language Culture and Curriculum
Editor and Book Reviews Editor: Eoghan Mac Aogain (St Patrick's College)
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Volume: 12 Number: 1 Page: 23–30
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Learning English in Gabon: The Question of Cultural Content
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Mbodouma Victor
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Gabonese students, who speak French as a second language and are educated through the medium of French, learn English using textbooks designed for students in France. Despite the obvious reasons that can
be advanced to justify this, an unresolved issue remains concerning cultural content. Can materials designed for learners in France, which lies in such close geographic and cultural proximity to Britain,
be relevant to Gabonese students in equatorial Africa? The paper examines the pedagogical issues, the goals that Gabonese students have in learning English, and the linguistic and sociolinguistic context
in which the learning of English takes place. Materials used for the teaching of English in Gabon are shown to be incompatible with learners' needs from cognitive, linguistic, and semantic points of view.
The problem is well-known to teachers of English, and also the lines along which a solution will have to be found.
© Multilingual Matters 1999
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