Abstract
Judicial discourse can grant or deprive liberty to litigants. It is, therefore, important to ensure fair hearing during trials and even more as courtrooms have become multilingual settings. In the Court of First Instance of Bafoussam, French (one of the official languages of Cameroon) often come into contact with more than 250 national languages. Generally, lay-litigants (accused, plaintiff and witness) language proficiency in French is poor because they have national languages as their first language. The law entitles judges to determine whether or not a witness needs the assistance of an interpreter. In Bafoussam, judges determine litigant’s language proficiency through Language Self-Assessment, a method mainly used in the educational milieu to enable learners to assess their language skills. Through the non-participant's observation method, I recorded three court cases in the Court of First Instance of Bafoussam. The data reveals that judge’s usage of the self-assessment method does not follow any standard, and this uncommon use harms court hearings.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Our point of focus in this article.
Misdemeanour: it is an offence punishable with loss of liberty from 10 days to 10 years or with a fine of more than 25.000 FCFA.
Simple Offence: It is an offence punishable with a term of imprisonment of up to 10 days or a fine of not more than 25.000 FCFA.
Though this article describes Courts of First Instance judicial proceedings, for an international readership we will refer to Bench Magistrates as Judges.
Participants roles were abbreviated as such: J for judge; IN for interpreter; W for witness; and PL for plaintiff. The symbols are designed as: (.) for silence; and the author explanations are enclosed in / /.
Ghomala’ is the autonym and Bamenjou an alternate name. Ghomala’ is a Cameroon national language spoken in the west region by the Bamileke tribe (Eberhard et al., 2019).
References
Ammon, U. (2010). Linguistic inequality and its effects on participation in scientific discourse and on global knowledge accumulation—With a closer look at the problems of the second-rank language communities. De Gruyter Mouton.
Anchang, C. M. (2016). The Advocate, the Magistrate/Judge and the Court Registrar. OAA Law, 1, 0–6.
Anderson, P. L. (1982). Self-esteem in the foreign language: A preliminary investigation. Foreign Language Annals, 15, 109–115.
Bales, K. (2020, September 02). How to Assess and Teach Reading Comprehension. Retrieved from ThoughtCo., https://www.thoughtco.com/reading-comprehension-4163099.
Bernard, R. H. (2006). Research methods in anthropology: Qualitative and quantitative approaches (4th ed.). AltaMira Press.
Binam Bikoï, C., Ndongo-Semengue, M.-A.B., Tourneux, A., & Tourneux, H. (2012). Atlas linguistique du Cameroun (ALCAM). CERDOTOLA.
Bitjaa Kody, Z. D. (2003). Annuaire des langues du Cameroun. CERDOTOLA.
Blue, G. M. (1988). Self-assessment: The limits of learner independence. ELT Documents, 131, 100–180.
Breton, R. J. L., & Fohtung, B. G. (1991). Atlas administratif des langues nationales du Cameroun. ACCT, CERDOTOLA, and MESIRES.
Carli, A., & Ammon, U. (2007). Linguistic inequality in scientific communication today. Amsterdem/ Philadelphia: John Benjamins (AILA Review 20).
Chesterman, A. (1997). Memes of Translation: The spread of ideas in translation theory. John Benjamins Publishing.
Cotterill, J. (2002). Language in the legal process. Palgrave Macmillan.
Coulthard, M., & Johnson, A. (2007). An introduction to forensic linguistics: Language in evidence. New York: Routledge.
Coulthard, M., & Johnson, A. (2010). The Routledge Handbook of forensic linguistics. Routledge.
Dieu, M., Renaud, P., & Barreteau, D. (1983). Situation linguistique en Afrique Centrale: Inventaire préliminaire, le Cameroun. In Atlas linguistique de l'Afrique Centrale (ALAC); Atlas linguistique du Cameroun (ALCAM) (475 p). Paris (FRA); Yaoundé: ACCT; DGRST; CERDOTOLA.
Eberhard, D. M., Simons, G. F., & Fenning, C. D. (2019). Ethnologue: Languages of the World (22nd ed.). SIL International.
English, F. (2010). Non-native speakers in detention assessing non-native speaking detainees’ English language proficiency. In C. Malcolm & A. Johnson (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of forensic linguistics (pp. 423–439). Routledge.
Essono, J.-M. (2001). Le Cameroun et ses langues. In J.-M. Essono (Ed.), Cameroun: Politique, langues, économie et santé (pp. 61–87). L’Harmattan.
Falchikov, N., & Boud, D. (1989). Student self-assessment in higher education: A meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 59, 395–430.
Ferguson, N. (1978). Self-assessment of listening comprehension. IRAL, 16, 149–156.
Fombad, M. C. (2015). Managing legal diversity: Cameroonian bijuralism at a critical crossroad. In V. P. Vernon, Y. M. Mohamed, & A. Koppel (Eds.), Mixed legal systems, East and West (pp. 101–119). Ashgate Publishing Limited.
Human Rights Act. (1998). https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/human-rights/human-rights-act. Accessed: September 03, 2020.
Janssen-van Dieten, A.-M. (1989). The development of a test of Dutch as a second language: The validity of self-assessment by inexperienced subjects. Language Testing, 6, 30–46.
Kumar, R. (2011). Research methodology: A step by step guide for beginners (3rd ed.). Sage.
McCarthy, M., Matthiessen, C., & Slade, D. (2010). Discourse analysis. In N. Schmitt (Ed.), An introduction to applied linguistics (pp. 53–70). Hodder Education.
Naeini, J. (2011). Self-assessment and the impact on language skills. Educational Research, 2(6), 1225–1231.
Open University. (2020, September 02). How to assess your students’ listening skills in reading and listening to English. Retrieved from OpenLearn Creat, https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=57372§ion=5.
Police And Criminal Evidence Act (PACE). (1984). United Kingdom Code of Practice E & F.
Rosendal, T. (2008). Multilingual Cameroon: Policy, practice, problems and solutions (pp. 1–65). Gothenburg Africana Informal Series.
Shuy, R. (2002). To testify or not to testify? In J. Cotterill (Ed.), Language in the legal process (pp. 03–19). Palgrave Macmillan.
Taras, M. (2010). Student self-assessment: Processes and consequences. Teaching in Higher Education, 15(2), 199–209.
The Justice and Peace Commission Archdiocese of Bamenda. (2019). The judicial system in Cameroon. Retrieved on November 17, 2019 from https://www.justiceandpeacebamenda.org/attachments/article/24/The+Judicial+System+in+Cameroon.pdf.
The National Assembly. (1996). Constitution of the Republic of Cameroon. Cameroon. Retrieved on November 10, 2019 from www.dibussi.com/2008/04/law-n-2008001-o.html.
Wesche, M. B., Morrison, F., Ready, D., & Pawley, C. (1990). French immersion: Postsecondary consequence for individuals and universities. Canadian Modern Language Review, 46, 430–451.
Wride, M. (2017). Guide to self-assessment. Trinity College Dublin.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Dissake, E.M.K. Assessing litigant’s language proficiency: the case of the Bafoussam Court of First Instance. Lang Policy 21, 217–234 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10993-021-09603-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10993-021-09603-2