Cameroon university students are drawn to informal small group talks as a highly valued learning strategy, particularly in relation to assessment. This research investigates this practice in-depth as an ‘instance in action,' with academic, social and cultural implications in the life of the average university learner in Cameroon. Showing the methodological limitations of current discourses on student group talks in higher education teaching and learning, the study draws from bakhtinian ‘dialogism' to underpin analysis of students' talks and interactions. Data were collected through extended observation of several small groups in three different universities in Cameroon, across several disciplinary fields, levels of undergraduate learning, linguistic and social boundaries. Findings suggest that in the process of talking and interacting informally, that is, outside of the formal structure of the classroom, learners strategically position themselves in ways that allow their individual and collective voices to emerge. Sustained in the context of discourse, emerging voices create the dialogic space within which learners con-struct their understandings of disciplinary knowledge. For it is within the dialogic space that learners, through their voices, best relate to assessment demands, to expected learning outcomes and to the social and cultural contexts of learning in Cameroon. This work contributes to knowledge by underlining the importance of learning spaces in higher education, particularly in relation to learners' voices and expected active engagement with learning. As such, it highlights the potentials of informal collaborative learning to enhance the learning experience in Cameroon universities, particularly in relation to assessment and critical thinking. Hence, it provides grounds for claims that Cameroonian students, and generally learners in other similar contexts, are usually more independent thinkers. This offers reasonable basis for questioning existing presumptions around ‘academic inferiority' of ‘foreign' students in some institutions abroad; presumptions that have continued to widen existing gaps between western universities and competing institutions in developing contexts. In addition, it foregrounds subsequent inquiries on learners' identities in Cameroon universities. Methodological innovations in investigating unconventional learning practices, particularly with the use of information technology, are also highlighted.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:720403 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Tchoumbou Ngantchop, Michel Auguste |
| Publisher | University of Sussex |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/69035/ |
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