Abstract
It should be said from the outset that, apart from Esambe’s (1999) MA thesis, no comparative research, to the best of our knowledge, has so far been devoted to the study of language policy in education in both Canada and Cameroon. Yet, these two countries offer a fascinating basis for comparison because English and French (which were instituted at roughly the same time in these two countries) are the two official languages in each country, but the minority status is reversed. This study, which rests on the observation that students from technical training programmes generally underperform or lack interest in their second official language (SOL), aims at comparing the current policies of SOL in education in order to see how both countries’ experiences can be mutually informing. To achieve its purpose, this research focuses on the analysis of the policies of official languages (OLs) in education in both countries, specifically regarding technical training programmes. More clearly, language policy in education and SOL education policy as obtained in both countries will be comparatively examined. The comparison, it is hoped, will reveal the fundamental causes of the overall poor performance or lack of interest observed in Cameroon and Canada respectively.
Highlights
Introduction and BackgroundThe most striking feature Cameroon and Canada share is undoubtedly their two official languages: English and French
It should be noted that, in spite of its minority status, English is fast gaining ground in French Cameroon because it has become the dominant world language and so, many free online resources that support the teaching of English as a second language (ESL), English as a foreign language (EFL) and English for Specific purposes (ESP) are available
Regarding the technical vocabulary exercise, it was quite surprising to see that up to 46% of technical education students could not even list one workshop tool of their trade with just 12% scoring above 5 out of 10. It was not surprising for 46% of students from general education to score 0 out of 10 as they are not expected to have learnt a technical jargon. These results clearly show the minority official language development in technical education in Cameroon is a serious cause for concern both regarding English in general and ESP in particular
Summary
The most striking feature Cameroon and Canada share is undoubtedly their two official languages: English and French. It was not surprising for 46% of students from general education to score 0 out of 10 as they are not expected to have learnt a technical jargon These results clearly show the minority official language development in technical education in Cameroon is a serious cause for concern both regarding English in general and ESP in particular. In the advanced teacher training college for technical education in Cameroon too, we noticed, among colleagues involved in language teaching in general and ESL teaching in particular, that students from technical high schools performed very poorly as compared to their peers in general education. To tentatively answer the question above, it was deemed interesting to comparatively examine, after outlining the theoretical grounding of this study, in turn, the official language policies in education and second official language education policies of Cameroon as well as Canada with a focus on technical training programmes
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