Cameroon, host to around 280 local languages, two European official languages (English and French) and Pidgin English, has been struggling since the 1960s to achieve official bilingualism for national unity and integration. This policy implies that each citizen should learn and use both official languages. The greatest means to implement this language policy has been formal education. However, the failure or mitigated results of the State’s initiatives to produce competent bilingual citizens led to a resurrection and fast dissemination of a defunct education programme launched by the State in 1963 and which consisted of a dual-medium (English and French) and dual-curriculum (British and French curricula) programme offered to a handful of selected Cameroonians. The many obstacles to this atypical and complex programme led the State to stopping the experiment. In 1989, an equivalent programme was launched in two private primary schools and, nowadays, dozens of such schools do the same nationwide without any official recognition. This study examines the State’s tolerance of this very demanding but rapidly spreading programme operating outside the country’s primary education curricula and pedagogical requirements, among other issues, but which seems so attractive to parents. This attractiveness comes from the fact that this dual-medium and dual-curriculum programme enables pupils to become competent bilinguals in English and French. However, because the programme entails extra burdens for parents and pupils, one of the findings this study arrives at is that the same degree of bilingualism could be obtained through a version of the content and language integrated learning (CLIL) approach.

中文翻译：

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喀麦隆英法双语教育与语言政策：自下而上还是无政策？

喀麦隆拥有大约 280 种当地语言，包括两种欧洲官方语言（英语和法语）和皮钦英语，自 1960 年代以来一直在努力实现官方双语以促进民族团结和融合。该政策意味着每个公民都应该学习和使用两种官方语言。实施这一语言政策的最大手段是正规教育。然而，该州在培养有能力的双语公民方面的举措失败或效果减弱，导致该州于 1963 年启动的一个已失效的教育计划复活并迅速传播，该计划包括双媒体（英语和法语）和双语教育。课程（英国和法国课程）计划提供给少数选定的喀麦隆人。这个非典型和复杂的计划的许多障碍导致国家停止实验。1989 年，在两所私立小学启动了类似的计划，如今，全国有数十所此类学校在没有任何官方认可的情况下开展同样的活动。本研究考察了国家对这一要求很高但迅速传播的计划的容忍度，该计划在该国的初等教育课程和教学要求之外运作，但对父母来说似乎很有吸引力。这种吸引力来自这样一个事实，即这种双媒介和双课程计划使学生能够成为称职的英语和法语双语者。然而，由于该计划会给家长和学生带来额外的负担，