INTRODUCING TRANSLATION-BASED ACTIVITIES IN TEACHING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE: A STEP TOWARDS THE IMPROVEMENT OF LEARNERS’ ACCURATE USE OF WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS IN WRITING

The teaching of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in the world in general and in Cameroon in particular has witnessed, over the last three decades, heated debates on which methodologies to adopt in the classroom and which learning strategies to apply for effective teaching and learning so that learners do not only acquire a linguistic competence but also communicative and sociolinguistic competences. This study aims at bringing to the limelight the so-criticised Grammar Translation Method in teaching/learning EFL in Cameroon. More specifically, this work investigates the perception of Anglophone and Francophone teachers of EFL on how the introduction of translation-based activities could be a step towards achieving accuracy in learners' written productions. For data collection, a sample of certified secondary and high school EFL teachers were interviewed on the introduction of translation-based activities in their classroom practices. These teachers are unanimous that translation strategies must be adopted in the classroom for many reasons. This could foster students' accuracy in writing; thus helping the achievement of another skill in learners namely, translation. But they all agree that the use of translation should be highly monitored by the classroom teacher; it should be mostly used at beginners' level and gradually discarded as the learners progress to the end of the secondary school. From this, it is high time specialists in language planning and teaching policies rethought how the teaching of English should be done in Cameroon and this will go a long way to improve on educational success and effective official bilingualism.