JAMB Syllabus for French 2024/2025 | PDF Download

The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has recently released the French syllabus for the academic year 2024/2025.

This strategic initiative aims to assist students in adequately preparing for their upcoming Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

Objectives of JAMB Syllabus for French

The JAMB syllabus French aims to prepare the candidates for the Board’s examination and to test candidates’ understanding, knowledge, and acquisition of the following areas of the subject:

The French-language Unified Higher Education Entrance Examination (UTME) syllabus is designed to prepare candidates for the Council exams. It is designed to test a candidate’s general ability to:

•  Apply the principles of written French structure and use.
•  Recognize how French sounds work in speech production.
•  Examine the cultures of Francophone West Africa and France (where possible) in relation to their homeland.

Written Comprehension in French

• Topics of general and current interest. e.g., Life, Death, Love, Politics, Marriage, HIV/AIDS, Communications, Child Trafficking, Cults, Travel, Corruption, Money Laundering, etc.

Objectives

Candidates should be able to:

•  Derive answers to questions about the proposed text’s content, intent, and style.
•  Apply thinking skills.

Principles that Govern the Use and Structure of Language of French

• Identification of basic form classes:
• Nouns: simple/compound, singular/plural, masculine/feminine.
• Pronouns: personal, impersonal, demonstrative, possessive, and relative.
• Verbs: non-reflexive and reflexive and their moods and tenses.
• Adjectives: possessive, interrogative, qualifying, possessive, ordinal (e.g., dixième), indefinite (e.g., null), numeral (e.g., dix), and 
• Adverbs: common forms i) with-ment (e.g. lentement) ii) with préposition and noun (e.g. par avion, à cheval, en voiture, par bateau.)
• Types
• Special forms (e.g. le mieux, pire, le pis, ne…que, bien, vite, mal, mieux, 
• Manner (e.g. debout, facilement.)
• Purpose (e.g., + Infinitive, afin de + infinitive.)
• Pour cause and consequence (e.g., pour + infinitive perfect, à cause de + noun.)
• Concession (e.g. malgré + noun.)
• Place (e.g. y, en, ici,partout, là, là-haut, .)
• Time (e.g. hier, aujourd’hui, après, demain, avant hier, la veille, dans un mois, le matin.)
• Prépositions: simple (e.g. à, de, avec, avant, sur, dans.)
• Compound (e.g. au milieu de, à côté de, .)
• Conjunctions: of co-ordination (e.g. mais, ou, et, donc, car, cependant, ne…ni.) of subordination (e.g. pour que, parce que.) afin que, quoique, à condition que, 
• Articles: definite, indefinite, and partitive.
• Assessing of vocabulary span:(words in contemporary contexts – meaning,opposites, use, Synonyms)
• Importance of word order in affirmative sentences, interrogative sentences, imperative sentences, passive voice formation
• Application and Identification of basic processes in language structure, e.g.
• Negation (e.g. ne…pas, nul ne, ne…ni..ni,ne…plus, ne…rien, ne…personne, personne…ne, aucun….ne, rien ne….etc (agreement (e.g.,il les a vues les photos, les beaux arts, .
• Pluralisation (e.g. as in beau/beaux, cheval/chevaux)
• Derivation: from adj. to adj. e.g. un – premier,from adjective to noun – e.g. riche-richesse, bon-bonté, etc. -from one degree of comparison to another (using moins….que,plus…que, aussi….que e.g. plus grand que.) adjective to adverb e.g. lent-lentement, 
• NB – special forms (e.g. bon, la meilleure, mauvais, pire, le pire, meilleur, le meilleur)
• The use of French in established expressions such as proverbs, idioms, and conventional structures prescribed in common speech acts proverbs, e.g., petit à petit l’oiseau fait son nid, tel père tel fils) idioms (e.g. mourir de peur, avoir une faim de loup, crier sur le toit, .)
• Conventional stretches (e.g. enchanté, stationnement interdit, c’est dommage, c’est formidable,etc.)
• Speech acts (e.g. proposer, regretter, admirer, conseiller,espérer, interroger, reprocher, s’accorder, etc.)

Objectives

• Candidates should be able to:
• Candidates should be able to:
• Identify what constitutes the basic structure of written French,
• Understand the use of the principles that govern the structure of French sentences to determine acceptability, Converting one form, one class to another,
• Apply structure to convey mixed messages.
• Apply communication skills.

 Workings of French sounds via

• Discrimination of sound (e.g. tout/tu), (fais/fée.)
• Correspondence of letter-sound (e.g. ai-/e/, eau/o/.)
• Syllabification (e.g. con/tente/ment.)
• Liaison (e.g. trois animaux, des enfants.)
• Sense groups in reading e.g. Comment vas-tu, / mais au dos, J’ai mal/pas à la tête /
• J’ai mal à la tête. . Carol?//Comment vastu demain?
• Faux amis (e.g., rester/to rest, Librairie/library, blesser/to bless.)

Sounds Identification to acertain similarity (e.g. maison/saison, dents/don, fond/ fonde.)

Objectives

Candidates should be able to:

•  Distinguish sounds in French,
•  Derive meaning from sound combinations,
•  Use the above to reinforce effective communication.
•  Use appropriate groupings and are affected by features such as hyphenation, connections, e-caduc, pauses, intonation, etc., as determined by how they function.

Culture and Civilization

Characteristics (aspects, similarities, and differences) of Francophone Africa and France’s socio-economic life, educational system, political organization, and cultural life. Refer to home country, Nigeria.

Objectives

Candidates should be able to:

• Identify characteristics of French-speaking African and French cultures, greetings, dress, food, leisure, marriage, festivals, arts, and occupations.
• Compare these characteristics with those of your own country (if possible),
• Apply thinking skills.

PDF Download of JAMB Syllabus For French 2024/2025

You can now download the JAMB French syllabus as you prepare for your exams.

Conclusion

The French syllabus provided by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) serves as a crucial guide for focused preparation in anticipation of the upcoming JAMB examinations.

Notably, a significant majority of the examination questions—approximately 99%—are directly derived from this syllabus.

We encourage you to download the syllabus PDF from the post and share this valuable resource with your peers to enhance their chances of exceptional exam performance.