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.
Examining the intended organisation of French as a Second Language (FSL) programmes in terms of its actual implementation is an important step in the development of FSL education. Such investigations facilitate dialogues on the current state of FSL programmes and on future strategies. Through a questionnaire given to the Ontario Ministry of Education's FSL Implementation Unit as well as official document sources, this study investigated, from a language management perspective, the current framework in place in the province and its goals. The Ministry's determination to further grow its FSL programmes, making French available to all its students, while also offering differentiated education for all, shows the positive potentials in FSL learning. Taking these forward-orientated goals into consideration, potential hurdles were considered which may demand other, new proactive approaches in the future.
This study is concerned with the various uses of articles in certain non-standard dialects of British English and in Cameroon English (CamE). Variations in the use of definite and indefinite articles are dealt with. More specifically, the paper examines various contexts in which definite and indefinite articles are used in Cameroon: specific and non-specific reference, institutional and non-institutional meaning, count and noncount uses, among others. This paper is based on the observation that the influence of the British colonists, especially missionaries (many of whom were not always speakers of Standardized varieties of British English), on various CamE grammatical usages in general and article use in particular has so far been grossly under-researched. In fact, in some contexts, a sizable portion of educated CamE speakers use the articles in much the same way as speakers of certain non-standard dialects of the British Isles. One of the conclusions this paper arrives at is that the history of colonization and evangelization through mission schools might have played a major role in the transportation to, and transplantation into, the colonies (Cameroon in this case), of British non-standard dialects, many features of which eventually took root.
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