an investigation into factors that shape francophone african efl learners’ beliefs in learning english

This study investigates the factors that shape learners’ beliefs in learning english in sub-saharan francophone africa, particularly the factors that help as well as those that do not help them learn english. the aim is to raise english teachers’ awareness of those beliefs so that they can tailor their teaching practices to reflect their learners’ uniqueness. therefore, i used learner reflective journals and focus group interviews to collect data from efl students at university (n = 20; four females and 16 males aged 24 to 42). the findings indicated that (a) teachers’ classroom practices, (b) opportunities to interact with other people to develop or test new knowledge, (c) learners’ personal effort investment, and (d) the francophone environment were the factors that affected these learners’ beliefs while learning english in francophone africa. among these factors, limited opportunities for interactive speaking activities and francophone environment did not encourage them to actively engage in english learning.