CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.0 Introduction

The presence of two official languages in Cameroon that is English and French has made Cameroon to become a bilingual nation thereby influencing the educational sectors in implementing a bilingual system of education in Cameroon.  On ensuring this, the assistance of teachers, parents and the society are important. Bilingualism is the entity to use two languages which has great influence on the educational achievement of students which are cognitive, social and even cultural. This chapter seeks to examine some aspects of the study which includes background of the study, statement of the problem, objectives of the study, research questions, the significance of the study, and the scope or delimitation and definition of key terms. Chapter will consist of review of related literature which will be under the following; subheadings; theoretical conceptual and empirical review. Chapter three will consist of the methodology that is the method that was use by the researcher to collect and analyse data on the topic. This includes the research design, area of the study, sample of the population, instrument of data collection and the method of data analysis. Chapter four will consist of findings and discussions. Chapter five deals with the discussions of the findings, summary, conclusion, recommendations, limitations and suggestions for further research.

1.1 Background of The Study

Cameroon is official a bilingual country even though most of the citizens are monolingual. Cameroons former and first president Amadou Ahidjo stated that “by bilingualism we mean the practical usage of our two official languages English and French throughout the national territory. After 1918, (the end of first world war) Cameroon as a German colony was divided in to two separate territories which were placed under the administration of the war victors which were France and Britain ( kouega 2009). When francophone and Anglophone Cameroons were united in October 1961, the new state adopted French and English as its two official languages and the government embarked on the promotion of bilingualism through the country. Part one section one of the 18th January 1996 constitution makes mention of bilingualism in Cameroon by these expressions; “the official languages of the republic of Cameroon shall English and French both languages having the same status. The state shall guarantee the promotion of bilingualism throughout the country. It shall endeavour promote and protect national languages (Cameroon 1966).”

Conceptually, the used of the term ‘bilingualism’ is thus depended upon context of linguistic proficiency and purpose. Many educators used ‘bilingual students’ in preference to students learning in order to heighten awareness of student’s linguistic knowledge and expertise as well as their cultural affiliations.  Ramption (1990) suggest replaying terms such as ‘native speakers’ and ‘mother tongue’ with language expertise, language affiliation and language inheritance. The term bilingualism here describe learns who used two or more official languages to communicate.

Bilingualism has several definition Hamers and Blanc (2006) defines bilingualism as   the “state of a linguistic community in which two languages are in contact with the result that two codes can be use in the same interaction and that a number of individuals are bilingual.”

Webster’s dictionary (1961) define bilingualism as “having or using two languages especially as spoken with the fluency characteristics of a native speaker; a person using two languages especially habitually with control and the constant oral use of two languages” that is to say only people who speak two languages perfectly can be defined as bilinguals.

Theoretically Piaget in his theory of Cognitive Development believes that humans inherit two basic tendencies that is organisation which is the tendency to combine process into logical systems and the second is adaptation which is to adjust to the environment. According to Piaget, intellectual processes transform experiences into a form that children can use in dealing with new situations

This theory is related to this research work in that, students through adaptation can adjust to new environment and situations like the introduction of a second language, which makes them bilingual. Also, through organisation, students will be able to combine processes into logical systems. That is to say students under bilingual education will have the ability to combine the two languages which enables them have a high reasoning ability.

Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory (1962) postulates that mediation is that part played by significant people in the learner’s life that is people who select and shape the learning experience which has been selected. The secret of effective learning lies in the social interaction between two or more people with different knowledge.

Contextually, this research work is carried out within the Buea Municipality Cameroon South West Region, and the research work is based on the influence of bilingualism on students’ educational achievement.

1.2 Statement of The Problem

The idea was initially conceived to work on the present study from the observation of how bilingualism influences students’ educational achievements. The desire to speak in more than one language making students bilingual has great impact on their educational achievement. It was realised that some students do not like or accept the second language introduced to them which as a result influence their education. The researcher wishes to investigate on the problem of bilingualism and how it affects students’ educational achievements.

Objectives of The Study

Main Objective of the Study

To investigate the influence of bilingualism on the students’ education in the University of Buea.

Specific Objectives

1. To find out how the cognitive benefits of bilingualism influence students’ education
2. To find out how the social benefits of bilingualism influence students’ education.
3. To find out how the cultural benefits of bilingualism influence students’ education.