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Linguistically Redefining the Concept of Anglophone in the 21st Century in Cameroon

Until a few decades ago, Francophone Cameroonians were not really interested in the learning of English. They had a very unfavourable attitude towards it. Such a situation could be attributed to the fact that French is a dominant language in Cameroon. Today, the situation is gradually being reversed. Francophones are flooding English-medium education. A number of studies attest to this (Echu, 2004; Pen Tamba, 1993; Safotso, 2017a). Francophone Cameroonians see in English the language of opportunities. From past studies and using new data, this paper argues that the concept of Anglophone in Cameroon should be linguistically redefined in the 21st century. Keywords— Anglophone, Cameroon, Francophone, Immersion, Language.


I. INTRODUCTION
Recent research on the spread of English across the globe and the emergence of new varieties of English has really advanced over the past three decades or so. The linguistic situation of Cameroon, which is a real labyrinth of languages, is an example of that. The attitudes of French-speaking Cameroonians towards English have drastically changed from extremely negative to extremely positive from the 1990s (Atechi, 2015). While the Anglophone subsystem of education was literally invaded by children of Francophone background (Safotso, 2017a), Anchimbe (2007) sees the rush for English by Francophones as an identity opportunism, whereby speakers choose an identity or a language according to the advantages they are likely to benefit. The rush for English by French-speaking Cameroonians and the subsequent emergence of Cameroonian Francophone English (CamFE), is a significant development in respect to the linguistic landscape of Cameroon. This paper traces back the brief history of language immersion and bilingualism in Canada and in Cameroon from the perspective of Echu's immersion education programme.

Immersion Education and Bilingual Education
Language immersion programmes are a form of bilingual education which was originally designed to educate minority groups in majority languages of Europe and the United States. This kind of education is popular in Canada because the country has two official languages, English and French. In L2 language immersion programmes, students learn all the target language. Language immersion programmes offer students the greatest opportunity to have as much time as possible to use and perfect their L2 skills (Swain 1982:23).

Immersion Education: A Canadian Perspective
Canada is the birth place of immersion education. With the growing importance of French as the main working language of Quebec and increasing dissatisfaction with the linguistic barriers between English-speaking and French-speaking Canadians, a concerned group of Englishspeaking parents in St Lambert, outside Montreal, began to meet informally in the early 1960s to discuss the situation in order to find out adequate solutions (Lambert and Tucker, 1972). This period in Quebec history is referred to as the "Quiet Revolution". There was, as a result, an emerging awareness in the English-speaking community that French was becoming very useful as a language of communication in most spheres of life and, concomitantly, that English alone would no longer guarantee social and economic success in the province. Those parents attributed the two solitudes that characterized their relationship with Francophone Quebecers to their children's linguistic incompetence in French. They were determined to improve upon the quality of second language instruction in English schools and "immersion" was the educational improvement they developed. The first immersion class was opened in September 1965. The primary goals of immersion programmes were to provide the participating students with functional competence in both written and spoken aspects of French, normal levels of English-language development, and achievement in academic subjects commensurate with the students' ability and grade level. They also aimed to ensure an understanding and appreciation of French Canadian people, their language, and culture, without detracting in any way from the students' identity with an appreciation for English Canadian culture. It was also hoped that immersion programmes would result in improved relationships between English-speaking and French-speaking Quebecers and, more generally, Canadians who spoke English and French. Many parents across the country came to embrace these goals.

Immersion Education: A Canadian Perspective
Echu (2004) remarks that there are basically two variants of immersion programme : "voluntary" and "nonvoluntary". By voluntary immersion, he refers to Francophone parents who personally send their children to Anglophone schools. Non-voluntary immersion concerns children who are bound to pursue their studies in Englishmedium or French-medium schools owing to the geographic context in which they find themselves. This group of learners is made up of children whose parents work in towns like Koutaba, Ngaoundal, Loum, and Edea. Twenty years after the independence of the country, they were obliged to send their offspring to French-speaking schools. The same process was observed with Francophone parents working at the CDC Company. Their children were enrolled in English-medium schools.
Immersion programmes in Cameroon seem to favour national unity and integration. Echu (2004:76) observes that Francophones are much more concerned by the immersion venture than Anglophones. As opposed to Francophone parents who encourage the enrolment of their offspring in English primary schools, Anglophone parents still live in total lack of confidence because cases of immersion encountered at their level are not voluntary.
In the long run, the Cameroon English immersion programme may turn in favour of Francophones. Much is still to be done and the government should intervene so that immersion is applied not only to Francophone children but also to Anglophone ones. Such an enterprise is of course a step forward in search for official bilingualism and national integration. Another point of concern is that in Cameroon today, the total number of children who attend Anglophone primary schools far outweighs the number of Anglophone children who attend Francophone primary schools (Echu:2005-665). If such a trend continues, Francophones would certainly have an extra linguistic edge over Anglophones, since in addition to French many of them will equally be proficient in English. Consequently, the evolution of official language bilingualism would be tilted on favour of Francophones, a situation likely to further endanger the place of Anglophones as a linguistic minority in the country.
With the advent of globalization, Francophone Cameroonians attitude towards English is quite positive. Professional and economic openings provided by the Anglo Saxon world encourage them to "invade" Anglophone schools. Since Francophones are the majority group in Cameroon, there is a problem of compensation in the sense that more Francophone learners study English than Anglophone students do for French. Simo Bobda (2013:300) points out that Cameroon Francophone English no longer passes unnoticed. This new development will lead to a change in the attitude of French-speaking Cameroonians.
It should be pointed out that the growing presence of Francophone children in Anglophone schools is a completely private initiative. They are instrumentally motivated and eager to learn English (Tenjoh Okwen, 1987). Echu remarks that the phenomenon of globalization seems to play in favour of the quest for Anglo-saxon education by Cameroonian city dwellers. The majority of Francophone parents are of the opinion that the Anglophone subsystem of education guarantees better opportunities for the children not only within the country but also at the international level. In the same vein, stressing the irreversible impact of immersion programme in Anglophone primary schools, he mentions the development of positive attitudes by Francophones towards English, towards Anglophones and the achievement of national unity. He rightly says whether you like it or not, voluntary immersion programmes give rise to bilinguals who feel at ease in using their L2. In fact, Francophones are gradually getting a good mastery of their L2. As a practice in the application of the official bilingualism policy, immersion education reduces the distance between the family set-up and L2, and favours positive attitudes towards L2. When the Francophone child is back home from school, he shares his daily experiences with the different members of his family. These experiences are linguistic and cultural. Very often, other family members end up by developing love for the second language. Therefore, the immersion programme contributes to the reinforcement of national unity and integration as soon as the language and the culture of the other come nearer the family set-up.
The Cameroon English Immersion Education in Anglophone primary schools is gradually becoming successful. Francophones from Anglophone institutions are progressively handling both English and French. At the same time, since language is the manifestation of culture, they are gaining cultural experiences from the Anglophone community. As a result, they will end up identifying Pupils asserted that they have no language barrier in school. The teachers confirmed that English did in no way constitute a handicap to the academic progress of children of Francophone background. They did no particularly need any extra language classes to cope with their second official language. The success rate of these children is about 90%. Some of them even feature among the best.
Immersion language teaching is an approach to teaching a new language where learners receive all or most of their instruction in the new language together with others who are learning that language. This definition of immersion will be adopted in the framework of this article. Immersion is seen as a form of bilingual education where students receive their training in their second official language together with others who are learning that language as their first official language. In this connection, I classify Cameroon immersion education programme into four categories namely: -total English immersion education; -total French immersion education; -partial English immersion education; -partial French immersion education.
Total English immersion education concerns children of Francophone parentage who are registered in English-medium primary schools. English is both the subject and the vehicle of education. This group of children can be found either in Anglophone regions or Francophone regions. They usually perform well in English language and in other subjects.
Total French immersion education incorporates children of Anglophone parentage who are immersed in French-medium primary schools. French is both a subject and the vehicle of education. This category of children can be found either in Anglophone regions or Francophone regions. They generally achieve good performance in French language and other school subjects. They are not as numerous as children of Francophone families enrolled in Anglophone primary schools. Many Anglophones are still reluctant as far as sending their offspring to Frenchspeaking primary schools is concerned.

Partial English immersion education refers to the Special Bilingual Educational Programme where children of Francophone families receive extra English and
Literature classes to facilitate the learning of their second official language. They also receive nonlinguistic subjects such Citizenship, Physical Education in the other official language. These students are also given the opportunity to practise the language they are learning through extra class activities such as club activities and reading culture. This programme is implemented in secondary and high school not in primary schools.
Partial French immersion education deals with the Special Bilingual Educational Programme where children of Anglophone families receive extra French Language and Literature classes to facilitate the learning of their second official language. They also receive nonlinguistic courses in the other official language. They do practise the language they are learning through extra class activities. It is also implemented in secondary and high school and not yet in nursery and primary schools. The implementation of this Special Bilingual Educational Programme would have been more productive if it had been applied right from nursery and primary schools where children acquire the language effortlessly.

Who is an Anglophone Cameroonian?
The term Anglophone can be defined politically, geographically, and linguistically. For some, the term Anglophone subsumes a certain culture. This is probably because an Anglophone country is one whose main language of education is English and which was colonized by Britain. Thus, Anglophones are representatives of whole linguistic communities. According to the Oxford English Dictionary (2019), an Anglophone simply means 'An English-speaking person. But you can't normally 'learn' your way into either category, you have to be born into it. In Canada, Anglophone is commonly used in areas where French is spoken to refer to the English-speaking population. Similarly, francophone is used in English speaking areas to refer to the French-speaking population. Francophone is also used in French-speaking areas to refer to French speakers. The Oxford English Dictionary simply defines 'Anglophone' as an English-speaking person, while Companion English Dictionary (2015) defines it as a person who speaks English, especially in countries where other languages are also spoken, e.g. Kenya and Zimbabwe.
As regards linguistic regions, geographically, there are ten regions in Cameroon: eight Francophone regions and two Anglophone ones. The English-speaking communities are characterized by the predominance of the , talking about the second phase of Cameroon Francophone English, observes that many Francophone Cameroonians could not yet have any interest in English per say. It was taught only in the three last classes of primary schools in a few schools of urban centres, and was not even tested at the CEP (Certificat d'Etudes Primaires), the equivalent of the First School Leaving Certificate. He stresses that though English has always been a compulsory subject at the BEPC, Probatoire and Baccalauréat, which are the three certificates of the Francophone sub system of education in Cameroon since the French colonial period, until now, and surprisingly enough, a Francophone Cameroonian child does not need a pass mark in it to pass those certificates. In Francophone primary schools, English had to wait till 2001 to become a compulsory subject at the CEP (Certicat d'Etudes Primaires). Linguistically and numerically, being the majority group in the country, despite these measures, many French-speaking Cameroonians did not yet see the necessity of English as they did not need it in their daily transactions. Many Francophone learners even saw it as a hurdle.
In the same vein, Takam (2013:3) observes that the great number of Francophone children enrolled in the Anglophone sub system of education since the 1990 is a tangible sign of failure. Parents were surely dissatisfied with the quality and the quantity of English received by their children. He suggests intensive English right from primary school with focus on oral work and activities. In primary school, the second official language could be introduced as from the very first year of training. Thus, in the long run, the second official language will be intensified with focus on listening. By so doing, the syllabus could be conceived in such a way that 25 to 30 per cent of the weekly load could be attributed to the second official language the 5th and 6th years of teaching. During lessons, vertical discussions between the teacher and the pupils and horizontal discussions among students will be stressed. If such an initiative is achieved, it will be possible for students to have a solid foundation by the end of primary education so as to follow up lessons in the second official language once in secondary school. He shows that it is not useless to underline that the great number of Francophone children enrolled in Anglophone schools is the consequence of the failure of a balanced promotion of English and French in the country.

Second and Foreign Language in Cameroon
The distinction between second and foreign language learning settings is significant since there will be radical differences not only in what is learnt and how it is learnt, but also in that the sociolinguistic conditions of learning determines the outcome of the learning process.
Regarding the Cameroon context where English and French are the two official languages, "the label EFL inaccurately refers to English in the Francophone part of the country while ESL would refer to English in the Anglophone zone. (Simo Bobda, 1997:221). It is, therefore, crucial to define EFL (English as a Foreign Language) and ESL (English as a Second Language) communities.
The distinction between second and foreign language learning settings is significant. Stressing the importance of the distinction between EFL and ESL communities, Strevens (1994:37) holds that it is more than simply whether there has been an earlier historical connection with Britain or France. To him, it makes a considerable difference when it comes to the teaching and learning of English whether the environment is foreign language or second language. It affects the extent of the learner's prior familiarity with English, it affects the learner's expectations of success and it affects both the average of attainment reached by most learners (higher overall in ESL than in EFL communities) and the ultimate goals for success which learners and teachers set themselves. Moag (1992:18), talking about Strevens' conception of EFL and ESL societies describes EFL communities as ones in which English has no special status, which make fairly restricted use of the language, and which have a When Moag talks about English with no special status, with fairly restricted use, and the native using model, Strevens is of the opinion that English has a high status, is used in court and media, is the medium of instruction at school, has a local standard rather than a foreign one. The descriptions of the EFL communities do not correspond to the characteristics of English used by children of Francophone background enrolled in Anglophone schools. Their English is commonly used as the medium of instruction at school, over the radio and television. Their English language community is rather similar to Strevens' ESL communities. Strevens (1992:36) thus arrived at the conclusion that English is a second language when it has a special standing, such as being acceptable in the courts of law, being the medium of instruction in major sectors of the educational system, being commonly used on radio or television and where there are many newspapers published in English. The case of Cameroon is quite atypical.
Strevens rightly thinks that language plays not only an institutional role, but a social one in the case of second language learning in a community. This implies that it functions as a recognized means of communication among people who use other languages as their mother tongues. It has been asserted earlier that English in non-native English-using communities will be either a second or a foreign language. However, it should further be noticed that the misleading conjunction 'or' is rather inclusive in the case of Cameroon since it includes both ESL and EFL labels. Taking into account Strevens' ESL and EFL societies, English can be considered a second language not only to Anglophone Cameroonians but also to Francophones citizens. Safotso (2017:7b) points out that, traditionally, although English is one of the official languages of Cameroon, when it is taught to French-speaking Cameroonians, it is called English as a Foreign Language, with the teaching method adapted to the subject. With the change of the attitude of Francophone children towards this language, and their enthusiasm for English medium schools until then reserved to their Anglophone peers, the first question he asks is whether English should be called second or foreign language to this new generation of Cameroonian citizens since in those schools, there is no special programme for them. They cover the same curriculum as their Anglophone classmates, and at times, perform better than them. When they complete their secondary school education with the same GCE certificate like their Anglophone classmates, the second question he raises is about the real identity of this type of Cameroonians: are they Francophone or Anglophone? With these questions, he draws attention on the fact that with the serious linguistic changes that are taking place at the beginning of the 21st century, the concept of foreign and second language should be reconsidered in Cameroon as well as that of Anglophone and Francophone. This study argues that the notions of second/ foreign language, and the concept of Francophone /Anglophone should be redefined in Cameroon.

III. METHODOLOGY
A total of four regions were selected for this study: two French-speaking regions and two English-speaking regions. The French-speaking regions were the Centre (Yaoundé) and the West (Dschang) because some of them are the main towns of the country where the phenomenon of immersion is more developed. Yaounde is the political capital of the country and Dschang is a university town as well as Yaounde.The English-speaking regions selected represent the two Anglophone regions of the country: the North West (Bamenda) and the South West (Buea). The purpose of the selection of Francophone and Anglophone regions was to compare and contrast the degree of immersion in Francophone areas an in Anglophone zones.
The sample primary schools in the Francophone area are: Rainbow Bilingual Primary School, Dschang; Government Primary School, Dschang; Parents' National Educational Union, Yaoundé; Government Bilingual High School, Dschang; Havard Nursery and Primary School; Franck Nursery School, Jumping and Jack Primary School. In the Anglophone zone, the schools selected are: National Educational Union, Kumba; Government Primary School, Kumba II; Government Nursery School, Bamenda; Government Primary School, Bamenda. The data were provided by the various schools.

IV. RESULTS
Francophone learners do show a lot of enthusiasm in learning English. Their initiative is mainly a private one. They seem to have understood the importance of English at the era of globalization. Though parents were the ones who decided to send them to Anglophone schools, they are not reluctant to study in the Anglophone sub system of education. The number of Francophones in Anglophone schools increases every day at an exponential rate. The Francophone parents are satisfied with the overall performance of their children. The majority of teachers  It can be noticed that Francophone learners are gradually abandoning French for English. This abandonment of French is of course due to the opportunities attached to English as the language of globalization and new technologies. Parents and learners are conscious of the fact that English can give room to many advantages and assets. The ever increasing number of Francophone background learners in Anglophone schools is getting generalized today in primary and secondary schools as table 2 shows.   During the school year 2010-2015, in the Englishspeaking regions, over 30% of learners were Frenchspeaking distributed as 33.5 % in the South West, and 27% in the North West region. Taking into account the fact that the vast majority of Francophone learners are enrolled in the English immersion education programme, it can be stated that English immersion education programme is gaining ground at the expense of French immersion education programme. For Cameroonians in general, such a situation predicts the decline of French. An Anglophone will refer to any Cameroonian who is able to handle English properly.
To sum up, a political Anglophone citizen can be linguistically a Francophone and a political Francophone citizen can be linguistically an Anglophone. From the perspective of this paper, an Anglophone is a person who does not necessarily comes from South West or North West but a person who has a good command of the English Language and the culture inherent to the language. In other words, an Anglophone is a person who is able to write and speak English though he or she may not have any connection with the North West or South West, which are English-speaking regions in Cameroon. There will be therefore a difference between an Anglophone by nature, culture, and an Anglophone by instruction, education, and acquisition of English. Thus, the term Anglophone has nothing to do with ethnic connotation since he may neither come from the North West nor from the South West. In fact, Anglophoneness may have been acquired through total immersion to English education and culture. In fact, this paper classifies the Anglophone world into four main categories namely: 1. Franco-Anglophones, i.e Francophones who were born and brought up in the Anglophone regions and attended Anglophone schools; 2. Hybrid Anglophones, i.e Francophones who were born and brought up in the Francophone regions and attended Anglophone schools; 3. Academic Anglophones are both Francophones and Anglophones who have chosen English for academic purposes; 4. Pure Anglophones or native Anglophones emanate from the North West or South West and they have the capacity to use any mother tongue from those two regions cited.

V. CONCLUSION
In summary at the dawn of the 21st century, it can be said that Cameroon is at the crossword of serious changes as far as its linguistic landscape is concerned. The attitude and motivation of Cameroonian students have quite changed towards the learning of foreign languages in general and English language in particular. They see more assets in them. Many Francophone children largely outnumber Anglophone ones in Anglophone primary schools. Therefore, it will soon be quite complex to make a clear cut difference between a Francophone Cameroonian and an Anglophone putting aside all political considerations. Taking in consideration the great number of students who are presently studying foreign languages and the fact that, at times, they master those foreign languages, the notion of Francophone/Anglophone and foreign/ second language can be questioned and redefined. Anglophone will simply refer to Cameroonians either from North, South, East or West who are capable of expressing themselves fluently in English as it is already the case with a good number of them. Thus, the traditional English taught as a second language to Anglophone Cameroonian and as foreign language to Francophone may simply be termed second language. French taught as a second language to Francophone and a foreign language to Anglophone will be viewed differently. The concept of first official language and second official language will be reconsidered depending on the mastery of the official languages.