The perception that students of eighth semester have about the french class at the licenciatura en lenguas modernas con énfasis en inglés y francés from University Of Quindío and its possible implications for their professional field: a qualitative case study

Abstract

The University of Quindio has a pact with the French Alliance in Armenia for the students who want to access to a course and certificate their level of competence in French. This relationship represents a great advantage for the fomentation of the language in the department, but only a few students can afford these courses. The expansion of FLE and Français langue/culture étrangère (FC/LE), especially in Colombia, opens a great working market in Europe where educational programs like Erasmus Mundus offer opportunities for foreign students having as requisite mastering French or English, though the French government offers its own programs for students but in that case the use of French is mandatory. In his study, Moreno (2007) suggests that FC/LE must be oriented not only for the perspective of a foreign language but also from the common points that both cultures, Colombian and French, have. This, according to him, would make that Colombian students see French attractive and learnable. One of the suggestions in the study was to appeal for the similarities that both languages have in terms of syntax, grammar, vocabulary, and language family. This, in his words, helps break the possible paradigms existing among the students. Publicly, the MEN has not suggested any curriculum for the teaching-learning of French ignoring the decades spent by the French government in diplomatic assistance, advisory and cultural supporting. It can be seen that English has fossilized in the governments’ agendas and that does not let them perceive that great prestige that French also counts with.