An investigation of classroom practices in some secondary schools in Yaounde : the case of GBHS Mendong and Collège la Retraite

Abstract

Although issues related to learners‘ and teachers‘ competence in Cameroon have received considerable attention over the years, issues related to the interaction between teachers and learners in the process of acquiring knowledge in the language classroom have received limited scholarly attention. Formal learning, in Cameroon, for the most part, takes place in the classroom, and generally, the focus is always geared towards facilitating learning. Therefore, in this study we set out to explore the practices in the language classroom that enhance learning. The theoretical frameworks, adopted for this study were the postmodern pedagogy, the socio constructivist theory and the input hypothesis. Research questions were raised to guide this study and they laid the foundation for the development of questionnaires, interview questions and observation checklist. The population of study was made up of 140 students and 14 teachers from two different institutions: GBHS Mendong and Collège la Retraite. Findings revealed that, though some of the teachers made conscious efforts in the use of various classroom practices to enhance learning, the majority of them didn‘t seem to bother so much, and, quite often, their lessons were mostly teacher centred. However, considering the large number of students in the classroom and their usual obstinacy in following up their lessons closely, the teachers‘ tasks were observed to be even more challenging. In effect, it was noticed that classroom activities do not sufficiently provide learners with the opportunity to practice the language communicatively. The above results suggest that classroom activities, especially in the language classroom leave much to be desired. There is, therefore, the need for learners to be at the center of the learning process.