Speaker
Description
Lori, (. ). F.
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION, WARRI, DELTA STATE, NIGERIA
faithex2010@gmail.com
Track: Digital Transformation in Higher Education
EMAIL ADDRESS: Faithex2010@gmail.com
PHONE NUMBER: 08035465558
TITLE: TEACHIG FRENCH FLE ONLINE WITH LIMITED CONNECTIVITY: FRUGAL STRATEGIES FOR WEST AFRICA HIGHER EDUCATION
ABSTRACT
This study examines frugal digital strategies for effective teaching of French language online on resourced constrained West African tertiary institutions. Online teaching of French FLE in West African tertiary is constrained or limited by connectivity, unreliable power as well as high data costs. The shift to online teaching and learning during and after COVID – 19 has led to deep digital inequalities in West Africa, especially for the teaching and learning of French language. The teaching of French FLR online relies on bandwidth-intensive tools such as zoom and video streaming which is inaccessible to many lecturers and students due to high cost of data, frequent power failure which has led to unreliable power supply as well poor network. Despite the increased usage of digital learning, some studies such as mobile-first pedagogical models for French FLE in low-connectivity contexts still facilitate online teaching. This gap limits the West African tertiary institutions to deliver effective online teaching and learning of French. This study therefore explores frugal digital strategies for the effective teaching of French online. This study concludes that digital divide in French FLR is a design problem, not just a technology problem. West African institutions can build future-ready ecosystems by embracing frugal mobile-first pedagogy that works in limited or low connectivity. The study therefore recommends among others that institutions should mandate offline accessible course design.
Keywords: FLE, online teaching, limited connectivity, frugal strategies, West Africa.