Students as language experts: collaboration and correction in a bilingual Cameroonian classroom

This study examines the negotiation of language-related problems in a bilingual environmental education workshop in Cameroon. In contrast to the traditional Cameroonian classroom, where only one language is used and teachers are viewed as the exclusive source of knowledge, during the workshop, teachers' errors in French create an opportunity for both teachers and students to collaboratively restructure participant roles. This correction leads to an atmosphere where students are active and engaged co-producers of knowledge, instead of passive recipients. While much has been written about how teachers correct students, this study looks instead at teachers' linguistic errors, and how the treatment of these errors can create a more equitable classroom dynamic. It therefore uses a conversation analytic framework to analyze recordings of classroom conversation, combined with interviews with teachers surrounding their linguistic backgrounds and teaching philosophies. The results of this study contribute to discussions regarding the negotiation of multilingualism in the classroom, which is of particular significance as it becomes more common worldwide for educators to teach in languages in which they are not fluent.