Cameroon’s Foreign Language Learning Culture and the Paradox of English as an Official Language

Abstract

Substantial exposure to language is one of the most effectively proven approaches to language learning. In Cameroon, however, even with a fairly considerable exposure to the English Language, foreign language learners still lack very basic communicative competencies in it relative to other foreign languages. In this study, we sought to describe EFL learners’ degree of exposure to different foreign languages in the Francophone system of education vis-à-vis their performances, explore some striking pedagogic differences in the teaching of English and other foreign languages and finally assess the extent to which learners’ motivations affect their mastery of English and other foreign languages. Drawing from an analysis of a three-year statistics of final year EFL learners’ performances in Lycee de Nkolbisson, an oral assessment, interviews on pedagogic approaches and the motivations of 60 EFL learners, we realized that though learners are more exposed to the English Language, they tend to lack very basic communicative skills in it compared to other foreign languages in the Francophone system of education. It was also realized that, besides poor motivation, there are also pedagogic lapses in the teaching of English to Francophones in the country. This led us to the conclusion that while, practically, pedagogic inconsistencies could account for the remarkable incompetence among EFL learners in Cameroon, it seems to be a micro reflection of a macro indifference towards the learning of English among Francophones in general.