188 Such an attitude towards books is understandable given their cost; at the same time,
allowing the children only limited access to them elevates their symbolic value at the expense of their practical value for learning.
The Scriptures are also the object of great respect, and owning a New Testament in English or the mother tongue is considered important in these largely Christian communities
GIC: Nso 28 July 03; GIC: Bafut 19 July 03. Yet the symbolic value of those books may outweigh their use as reading material, as argued by Mba in section 5.4.2 above. According
to Mba, the problem behind this non-use of Scriptures is the lack of sufficient reading material in the mother tongue which could change peoples perceptions about using text in
more practical ways. The language committees and their church partners, however, see this problem of non-use as a result of insufficient literacy skills; thus the church-based literacy
classes aim at increasing the numbers of church people who can read the mother tongue. However both Mba and the language committees consider that the symbolic valuing of
Scriptures is insufficient for effective written text use, and they hope to see it overcome by promoting use of the written mother tongue.
5.5.5. Summary: social uses of written text The choices which the Bafut, Kom and Nso language communities make about uses
of literacy have been strongly influenced by two factors: the assignment of written text use to particular social contexts, and the connection drawn between literacy and the English
language. Literacy is seen not as a resource to be used freely in any social context whatsoever, but as a specific set of behaviours and artefacts which are limited primarily to
particular silos of use: the church and the school. Literate strategies for learning and communication, marked by their connection to English, are associated with limited
comprehension in a way that oral strategies are not. These factors have helped to shape the social uses of written text, both English and mother tongue, among the Bafut, Kom and Nso
language communities studied here.
5.6. The future of written mother tongue
The roles and uses of written mother tongue in the Bafut, Kom and Nso language communities are framed by the availability of written text in those languages, the means
available for acquiring literacy in the mother tongue, and the institutional support in existence for written mother tongue. Social uses of literacy are centred on two silos of literacy practice:
the school and the church. Within those silos, there is evidence that the written mother tongue
189 is gaining acceptance. However these silos of literacy practice are set in a broader social
environment in which English dominates the practice of written language, and in which oral language the mother tongue is the strongly preferred means of communication. What are the
implications of all this for the future of the written mother tongue? Use and acceptance of the written mother tongue could increase in these communities
if the written mother tongue were to move further into the existing silos of literacy practice, or if contexts outside the existing silos were established for which the written mother tongue
is essential. The institutions which promote written mother tongue in these three language communities, particularly the language committees, are taking steps in both of these
directions. 5.6.1. Increasing the role of written mother tongue in school and church
Increasing the role of written mother tongue in the school context is a primary goal of BALA, the KLDC and the NLO. One way in which this is being done is to increase the sites
where PROPELCA is offered. Not only are new primary schools and teachers being sought for the PROPELCA programme, but grades other than primary are being targeted as well.
John Ambe, a BALA literacy supervisor, is developing a timetable that can be used in the two-year nursery schools CO: GNS Mambu, 4 March 03. KLDC and NLO personnel offer
the informal PROPELCA course in which mother-tongue literacy is taught as a subject in a few secondary schools where the headmaster permits it OI: Mawo 8 July 03; OI: Waingeh
14 March 03. Another means of increasing the role of written mother tongue in schools is to offer an expanding range of school texts and materials for use by teachers. The NLO, looking
to the day when the new law on using local language in schools is officially applied and included in examinations, is preparing Lamnso materials for use in all seven primary grades
and even into secondary school: geography, descriptive publications about Nso culture, and novels LCO: NLO 29 March 03.
188
Increasing the role of written mother tongue in the church context is another focus of the language committees, particularly in cooperation with CABTAL. Initiatives which
incorporate newly-translated portions of the Lamnso Old Testament into Lamnso literacy classes are being promoted by the NLO and the Lamnso CABTAL translation committee
LCO: NLO 29 March 03. The KLDC actively cooperates with CABTAL personnel in
188
Well known Nso author Kengjo Jumbam has written novels in English which are required reading in the nation secondary school curriculum; he recently gave the NLO permission to translate those novels into Lamnso
for use in the Nso schools.
190 charge of organising literacyScripture use courses in Kom. In BALA, one literacy supervisor
has been assigned to focus solely on raising awareness of the possibilities for using the Bafut New Testament in local churches LCO: BALA 21 March 03. Shey Mawo, an NLO literacy
supervisor, has developed a series of Lamnso Bible study materials and songs which are used by the Lamnso Choir Association of the Presbyterian churches in Banso. In all these ways,
the language committees are working to integrate written mother tongue into the literacy practices of the churches.
5.6.2. Establishing new contexts for written mother tongue use As for the establishment of environments outside the existing silos of literacy practice
in which the written mother tongue might play a key role, the language committees are making attempts in that direction also. This is a much more difficult task, however, as it
involves modifying social expectations about the proper contexts for the mother tongue and for written text of any kind.
Development initiatives are one area in which the language committees believe written mother tongue use could be expanded. At present, adult literacy classes in the mother
tongue informally incorporate some of the existing development literature into their learning GIS: 8 Feb 03; OI: Suuyren 29 March 03. However, development NGOs operating in the
homelands areas use English-language materials and training, relying on bilingual promoters to convey information to their target audiences orally in the mother tongue OI: Yuh 26 Nov
02; OI: Yunteh 28 Nov 02. Language committee members believe that the NGOs are aware that this approach is not very effective, and the language committees are poised to exploit this
potential niche for mother-tongue publications. Noë Ngueffo, NACALCOs adult literacy programme director, noted:
NGOs feel that on the field they have a communication problem. We are going to tell them that if they tackle it only orally, it wont be good. Let them tackle it in
written form. . . . Usually they have a booklet they use, either in French or English. So we can say, Let us come together and the language committee will
put that booklet in the mother tongue and you help print it, and then we try to put that in literacy classes OI: Ngueffo 13 Jan 03.
In fact, in a few instances cooperation has already taken place between development organisations and language committees to produce mother-tongue publications. An AIDS
brochure prepared by the Ministry of Public Health was submitted to several Cameroonian language committees including the KLDC in mid-2003 for translation into the mother
tongue LCO: KLDC 30 July 03; the plan is to then print it and use it in Ministry
191 programmes. Another development initiative, sponsored by the environmental NGO, Living
Earth, involved translation of an environmental education text into the Kom language for use in upper primary school classes. The book, called The Environmental Cry of Afo-a-Kom: A
Geo-cultural Perspective for the Kom Language Sphere KLDC 2000 was translated by KLDC personnel and published in 2000. However, administrative obstacles blocked the
books use in Kom schools, and its conceptual difficulty makes it unlikely to be used in other contexts. This experience indicates that effective expansion of written mother tongue into the
development arena will require materials that are carefully targeted and utilised as part of a larger programme initiative, in order to interest people in purchasing and reading them.
Another potential domain for building new contexts for written mother tongue is that of the existing traditional societies and associations, using the Fons existing support to
increase interest and use of the written local language. John Ambe, a BALA literacy supervisor, described his vision for exploiting this niche:
We have to go to various meetings. In Bafut we have many meeting-groups: the farmers meeting-group, a group for dancers, a group for any other thing. We shall
have to approach those groups, do literacy work with them, write and have some written materials concerning what they are doing. So that if they are able to take
that written material to help them in what they are doing, then our objective will be achieved OI: Ambe 3 Feb 03.
The interest of traditional leaders in using written mother tongue to preserve and disseminate information within the culture has already been mentioned in chapter four. The
only apparent obstacle to this extension of written mother tongue is the availability of resources - financial and personnel - to write, publish and distribute such materials.
A third potential new context for use of written mother tongue is the more general context of leisure and family time. Noë Ngueffo, NACALCOs adult literacy programme
director, described his own vision for this kind of mother-tongue reading:
If the father can stay like this, on a Friday evening he sits down and the five-year- old boy is here, and the eight-year-old girl is here, and they are reading the story of
the tortoise in the language and laughing and feeling okay. Is that not a nice family picture? OI: Ngueffo 13 Jan 03.
It is indeed an attractive goal for broadening the environment for mother-tongue reading. On the other hand, little evidence was found in this study that would indicate any
social move in this direction. More study would be needed to assess accurately the potential role of the written mother tongue in family reading; but given the societal patterns of
communication described above, it is probable that family story time these days is more likely to involve oral story telling in the mother tongue than reading in it. On the other hand,
192 if the parents have forgotten the stories of the community, reading them from a book in the
mother tongue might be an attractive option. As for other leisure reading and writing in the mother tongue, the evidence of this
study is mixed. As Figure 5.5 shows, 80 of the 134 instances of reading or writing reported by the PROPELCA alumni survey respondents could be described as private uses of literacy:
letters, news reading and personal reading or writing. However 67 of those 80 instances involved English rather than mother tongue. Not only so, but observation evidence indicated
that, if leisure reading is taking place, it is not being done in public places such as restaurants or on public transportation.
5.6.3. Modifying the oralliterate balance in social choices for communication and learning
A final question to be considered is whether expanded use of the written mother tongue is likely to modify the oralliterate balance that exists in the Bafut, Kom and Nso
societies modes of communication and learning. If it were to do so, it would be by altering either the balance of oralwritten mother tongue or that of written Englishwritten mother
tongue. The data examined in this chapter does not answer this question, but it does allow for some speculation.
Changing the balance between oral and literate mother tongue use is likely to involve more complementarity than competition between these two strategies. As discussed in section
5.3, oral use of the mother tongue is enriched and enhanced by the use of written mother tongue. In turn, the vitality of the oral mother tongue creates the linguistic context necessary
to the emergence of the written mother tongue as a viable alternative for communication. An increase in written mother-tongue use for communication and learning is not likely to pose a
threat to the use of oral mother tongue; local cultural values support orality too strongly for that.
Written mother-tongue text use and written English text use, on the other hand, have the potential for both competition and coexistence. If mother-tongue text use expands by
displacing current uses of written English, the influence and hegemony of written English within the school silo of literacy practice is diminished. This de-linking of written text from
the English language could also could tip the oralliterate balance towards increased use of literacy, if written mother tongue text were perceived as more easily used and understood
than written English text. Indeed, it is the dysfunctional nature of learning and
193 communication via English text use that is currently providing a space for the use of written
mother tongue in PROPELCA classrooms. However, the more likely possibility is that of sustained biliteracy, once written
mother tongue is sufficiently established as a viable alternative for written communication. The position of English in the larger education system is unassailable; in fact, the language
committees argument for mother-tongue literacy in primary schools is that it enhances English text use by helping primary school children to be better prepared for their eventual
move into English schooling. At the same time, The differences between the church and school environments are
relevant here as well. Institutional authority and language-related expectations are different between the two. Trudell forthcoming observes that, at least among the Nso, English,
mother tongue and Pidgin have complementary roles in the church. Competition among the three languages is not evident. In contrast the school, as a site of reproduction of the values of
the national education system, tends to be a site of language-based power differentials. Thus, attempts to modify the Englishmother tongue balance in written text use - particularly in
school - could be expected to encounter resistance from those whose interests lie in maintaining the dominant position of English in a given domain. This resistance was seen in
the attitudes of some elites towards promotion of the mother tongue, discussed in chapter four. It is also to be found within the formal education system, which is in fact built around
the primacy of English language and English-mediated knowledge cf. Mazrui 1997.
5.7. Conclusion
