Integrating interaction through CMC for French as a second language in the Anglophone context in Cameroon: the Melff project at the University of Buea

English and French are both official languages of Cameroon. After independence, a series of events occurred that caused the Anglophone community, a minority, to consider that French was becoming the dominant language. Part of the elite continued to galvanize "Anglophone nationalism" (Dobegang, 2009). The University of Buea is situated in one of the two Anglophone regions. It is one of the few Universities where students and lecturers are obliged to work in English. In the framework of the promotion of bilingualism and national integration, English and French are taught in all state universities. It is within this context that Functional French, a level A2 (CEFR) course is offered at the University of Buea. The course is compulsory for the validation of Bachelor degrees in order to enable the students to communicate in a French-speaking environment, i.e. the majority of regions in Cameroon. These goals are never met because of many problems related to student attitudes and motivation, and the conditions in which the course is taught: time allocated to the course is limited (40 hours over two semesters), mixed-level groups, and large groups up to 80 students. With respect to the total number of students registered, many retake the course. Language competences almost exclusively focus upon reading and listening comprehension with little or no interaction. The Melff project aims to improve this situation by introducing blended learning using two online platforms: Moodle and VoiceForum (Fynn, 2010); a forum for posting text and audio with a space for teacher feedback. Melff coordinates the contents of face-to-face classes with weekly sessions in the computer resource centre (plus extra private home access). With this design we aim, while keeping constant the amount of mandatory teacher and students workloads, to offer students the first occasion for real interaction in the second language. Tests will be made in order to compare achievement in the former learning context and the new blended context. By increasing students' levels we expect to reduce the number of students who fail the course and, thus, reduce the number of years they have to wait before validating their Bachelor's. In turn, we hope to reduce the class sizes (because of exam success). We are now in the pilot phase which will finish in June 2012. This phase involves two classes - a sample of thirty students. In our communication, we will report on this pilot phase based on the oral and written forums and questionnaires concerning participation, motivation and learning benefit. Our challenge, similar to that of many other language teachers in developing countries, will be to introduce real oral and written communicative situations using CALL, despite time and resources being limited

Apprentissage du français dans une université anglophone au Cameroun : de l’expérience du quasi-synchrone à un nouveau modèle d’intégration des TIC

Information and Communication Technologies are now part of the life of many institutions of higher education, secondary education and even primary education. The benefits for these institutions, as well as for teachers and learners are established. However, there are very few cases of experiments carried out in learning Institutions with positive results.This thesis is about integrating ICTs into a French course in the Anglo-Saxon university of Buea in Cameroon. The context in which the course is taught in classrooms makes it difficult for the objectives to be met. Because of the large class size, the little time allocated to the course and the heterogeneous nature of students’ language levels, speaking, writing and interactional skills are not worked out in class. This action research thesis sets out to propose a blended learning set-up that hinges around the university IT Centre. Online classes are articulated with classroom sessions. Thus, students have the opportunity to involve in small groups, in communicative activities and in quasi synchronous mode. These communication modality, very often less studied by CMC researchers, is an efficient alternative to synchronous communication and environments that are very much reliable as far as internet quality is concerned in that part of the world. The general question that has driven the research is: How can a technology instrumented approach help in overcoming difficulties and ease learning? To answer that question, two technology based experiences were carried out. They were guided by a research protocol. Data collected enable me to analyse interactions and determine traces of language acquisition. From the circumstances surrounding the experiments, it is discovered that there are a number of obstacles to the integration of ICT in “low tech context” like that which is studied. The technology-based stet-up pattern is then questioned. This research work goes further to propose mobile learning as an alternative to the ICT integration model that concentrates all the resources in a single location.Les Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication (TIC) font désormais partie du paysage de nombreux établissements d’enseignement supérieur, secondaire et même primaire en Afrique. Les avantages pour l’Institution, l’enseignant et l’apprenant sont avérés (Mvoto Meyong, 2010). Cependant les expériences, à l’échelle des établissements de formation, sont encore peu nombreuses et peu concluantes.Cette thèse porte sur l’intégration des TIC dans un cours de français pour anglophones à l’université de Buéa au Cameroun. Le cours traditionnel, dans sa version uniquement présentiel en classe, se déroule dans un contexte limitant fortement la satisfaction d’objectifs pédagogiques essentiels. En effet, les effectifs pléthoriques, le peu de temps alloué à la formation, l’hétérogénéité des groupes d’apprenants font que les compétences de production ainsi que les compétences en interaction des intéressés ne peuvent être développées. En réponse à cet existant, cette thèse, de type recherche-action, présente un dispositif hybride articulant travail en classe et dans le centre technologique de l’université. Là sont offertes des activités de communication en petits groupes dans une modalité quasi-synchrone. Cette modalité, peu souvent étudiée dans la littérature de recherche, offre une alternative réaliste aux environnements synchrones peu fiables, compte tenu de l’état des réseaux et de l’Internet dans cette partie du monde.Afin d’étudier si ce nouveau dispositif de formation permet de dépasser les difficultés évoquées et de faciliter l’apprentissage, je l’ai déployé deux années successives, en l’entourant d’un protocole de recherche. Les données recueillies m’ont permis d’analyser les interactions, de mettre en évidence les traces d’apprentissage. Mais cette double expérimentation apporte aussi un nouvel éclairage au travers de l’analyse des obstacles qui ont handicapé la mise en oeuvre du dispositif technopédagogique. Je questionne le modèle d’intégration des TIC qui traditionnellement concentre toutes les ressources en un seul endroit, sans tenir compte des contextes technologiquement limités. J’esquisse une voie alternative destinée, grâce à l’apprentissage mobile, à intégrer les TIC dans des dispositifs de formation de langues et un contexte technologique proches de notre situation prototypique