Being Multilingual in a Bilingual Environment: Implications for Quality Education

Abstract

With more than 250 national languages, and two official languages, English and French, used to run the affairs of the state, Cameroon is a typical example of a nation with linguistic complexity. In such a multilingual country, bilingualism is the preferred language policy. Consequently, b ilingual education, in its genuine assertion, i.e. the teaching of academic content in two languages, a native and second language, is far - fetched. Instead, the language - in - education policy is rather geared toward the syste matic exclusion of the plethora of mother tongues and the promotion of official bilingualism, i.e. the exclusive use of English and French in the education milieu. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the incongruity of promoting exclusion bili ngualism in a multilingual setting is detrimental to quality education in Cameroon. Thanks to the study of the various legal texts regulating the promotion of bilingualism, as well as the existing reports evaluating its practice in the country, we came up with the result that promoting English - French bilingualism in a multilingual environment does not guarantee inclusive and equitable quality education, i.e. the type that promotes lifelong learning opportunities for all. The paper ends by suggesting how the Cameroon government , by investing the appropriate resources into the model of extensive trilingualism language policy, and in partnership with specialised institutions, can scale - up teaching and learning to meet the national development agendas, specifica lly “The Africa We Want” by 2063. // Paper ID 230