An exploration of the relationship between language attitudes and ideologies in a study of Francophone students of English in Cameroon

摘要

What are the similarities and differences between the concepts 'language attitudes' (LAs) and 'language ideologies' (LIs)? The need to answer this question arose from a study done by Abongdia in Cameroon with Francophone high school students of English to determine their attitudes towards English as well as their motivation for learning the language. The study revealed much deeper ideological positions towards English and the Anglophone community in Cameroon than what could be meaningfully captured by existing theories of attitudes and motivation. Consequently, the findings were assessed using studies on LIs by linguistic anthropologists like Kroskrity, Milroy and Haviland as theoretical framework, after an attempt to clarify the areas of similarity and difference in studies on LAs and LIs. After the presentation of the theoretical framework, this article discusses the LIs of the Francophone students against the background of the sociopolitical and historical factors that have led to these 'constructed assessments'.