Attribution and language learning narratives: A study of french third language learners in federal universities in South-east, Nigeria

Attribution is an important psychological concept that plays a pivotal role in language learning, explaining how language students perceive and attribute their language success and failures. However, its research in language learning has been focused extensively on learners of English as a second language, with very little attention given to learners of French as a third language. This descriptive qualitative study investigated how French third language learners attribute their language successes and failures and how sociodemographic variables contribute to individual differences in French third language learners’ perception of success and failures in learning French. Twelve participants from two Federal universities in Southeast, Nigeria took part in this study during the first semester of the 2025 academic session. Through three phases of open-ended interviews, data were gathered and analyzed using thematic content analysis approach. The investigation showed that French third language learners attribute their language success and failures to their ability, efforts and task difficulty. Furthermore, this study reveals that sociodemographic variables such as age, gender and family support contribute to individual differences in how French third language learners perceive their language successes and failures.