FRENCH IN CRISIS IN THE SCIENTIFIC DEPARTMENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BURUNDI

Abstract

This article deals with the configuration of French in the Scientific Departments of the University of Burundi. It aims to show the place of French, which is both a language taught and a teaching-learning tool in Burundi. This research is based on a reflection and on a documentary analysis which essentially takes into account the models of the scientific departments of the said university. The results of the research highlight that French is taught and learned with 2 credits in the scientific departments of the Institute of Applied Pedagogy (Mathematics, Bio-chemistry and Physics and Technology). In other scientific departments of the Faculties of Science, Engineering Sciences and Natural Sciences such as the Faculty of Agronomy and Bioengineering, no places are reserved for French courses. Rather, the scientific departments give priority to English and Chinese. This study reveals an almost total abandonment of the French course which, however, is indispensable for students who are  called upon to write their reports after the third year of the baccalaureate, and this in French. This implies that students need to learn this language in order to acquire oral and written skills useful in the production of the said work which crowns their undergraduate training.