Assessing the Impact of French Cultural Events on Language Attitudes in Abuja

Cultural events, including film screenings, music festivals, art exhibitions, and theatrical performances in French, have been theorised as important informal contexts for positive attitude formation toward French language and francophone cultures, complementing the formal instructional environment. Alliance Francaise Abuja regularly organises French cultural events accessible to the general public and diplomatic community, yet their impact on language attitudes has not been empirically assessed in the Nigerian context. This study assesses the impact of French cultural event participation on language attitudes among attendees of Alliance Francaise Abuja events over one programme year. A longitudinal attitude survey design was employed, with a validated French language attitude scale administered at the beginning and end of a twelve-month Alliance Francaise Abuja cultural programme calendar to a cohort of 145 attendees who participated in at least four events during the period. A control group of 80 respondents who had not attended cultural events but had equivalent school-level French exposure completed the attitude scale at matching intervals. Attitude change was measured across affective, cognitive, and behavioural dimensions. Results show significant positive attitude change on affective and behavioural dimensions among cultural event attendees, with the strongest effects among respondents who attended events featuring francophone African rather than European content. Control group attitudes showed no significant change. Frequency of event attendance correlated positively with attitude change magnitude. The study recommends a systematic francophone African content programming strategy for Alliance Francaise Abuja to maximise attitudinal impact. Keywords: French cultural events, language attitudes, Alliance Francaise, Abuja, cultural programming