Situation of the Practice of Mother Tongues in Cameroon and Proposal of Methods Aimed at Facilitating Their Learning

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to highlight the situation of the practice of mother tongue in Cameroon in order to provide the community with a relevant technique capable of facilitating its teaching-learning in the neediest areas. For this, the work was jointly carried out in the field and indoors. Indoors, it was a question of refining the approaches as well as the means of their application, of processing the results obtained, then of writing the final report. In the field, it was a matter of communicating about the project and carrying out the tests. Many facts emerge from this study. Thus, the closer you get to rural areas, the more the mother tongue is used, and vice versa. In both rural and urban areas, the mother tongue is used much more in families with low purchasing power. In detail, however, people from the Northern part of Cameroon (Adamaoua, Far North, and North), regardless of their area of ​​residence (in their Region of origin or not), are those who speak the maternal language the most. Many endogenous and exogenous factors can disturb the expected results; here we can cite education, the consideration attributed to ancestral culture, and the motivation of children. The most appropriate technique in urban areas to improve the practice of the mother tongue within families is that based on the alphabet (APAA); this approach can be beneficially combined with that based on the repetition of sentences and words by children without bonuses (AARPSB). It is all the more relevant as it also offers parents the opportunity to improve while supporting their children. Overall, the vast majority of parents were flattered by this project.