Abstract:
ABSTRACT
This study examines the use of reported speech in the oral expression
of level 400 students of the University of Cape Coast. A sample of 25 students
were used in the study. These students are both from the Department of French
in the Faculty of Arts and Department of Arts and Social Sciences Education
(DASSE). The reported speech of the twenty-five students were analyzed
using quantitative and qualitative methods. The findings revealed that the
indirect speech was the most used in their oral expression hence, the most
frequent. The study also found the use of introductory verb which is not
characteristic of the spoken language. This implies that, instead of applying
the rule governing the spoken language, they rather made use of the rule
regarding the written language which requires the use of the introductory verb.
While the majority of the students made use of « dire » which means « to say
» to introduce the reported speech, only one person used « déclarer » and «
ajouter » as verbs to introduce the reported speech. Some of the students could
not however apply the rule that allows the change of tense from the direct
reported speech to the indirect speech. Since the study revealed that the
students have some degree of difficulties using the reported speech in their
oral language, it was suggested that the Department of French should pay
more attention to the teaching and learning of the reported speech in oral
expression through dramatization and the use of modern technology in
teaching.
