Ali Alalou | University of Delaware (original) (raw)

Papers by Ali Alalou

This paper explores the role of the early educated elites of colonized North Africa in the constr... more This paper explores the role of the early educated elites of colonized North Africa in the construction of identity and the politics of education. The emergence in the former colonies of new social classes is largely due to the systems of education and the administration introduced by the colonial powers. The most significant result of the newly introduced systems of education and administration is the advent of a social elite that is highly homogenous, politically shrewd, intellectually sophisticated, and administratively aware of the nots and bolts of how the state functions. Because these elites are trained in the same educational system, they tend to behave in a similar fashion. This presentation addresses the manner in which the educated elites influenced the ideological make-up of the nationalist movement in North African through the network of students’ associations in Europe like the Association of North African Muslims in France created in 1927. These elites were the product of policies like those championed by the French Resident General Lyautey. Lyautey sought to train a “transitional generation” who will take over power in Morocco, for example. The ideologies of these elites and their effect continue to reverberate in the political landscape today as the identity and culture debate takes shape

Multilingual education, 2017

Annual Review of Linguistics

This article reviews several issues that are important for understanding the sociolinguistic situ... more This article reviews several issues that are important for understanding the sociolinguistic situation in North Africa, with an emphasis on Morocco. The article surveys the manner in which North Africa's sociolinguistic profile has evolved over the last two decades (2001–2021). The topics discussed here include the tumultuous and chaotic promotion of monolingualism and the relentless efforts to erase and expunge Amazigh identity from North Africa despite the region's long history of linguistic diversity. Based on an imported ideological slant, these attempts to erase Amazigh identity lasted for decades and contributed to the marginalization of Amazigh people and other minorized communities in the region.

This proposal aims at exploring the relationship between ideology and pedagogical practices. Very... more This proposal aims at exploring the relationship between ideology and pedagogical practices. Very often, the role of ideology in the development and implementation of the methods of language teaching appear to be ignored or underestimated. It is however important to question the roots and the wisdom of certain common practices in language instruction by exploring the historical context in which they emerged and the reason for their emergence. In many methodology books, teachers of foreign languages will find historical accounts that describe the evolution of foreign language teaching methods from the most traditional to the most up-to-date practices. Rare are in-depth analyses and historical descriptions of these methods; in other words, there is a need for an archeological approach to the analysis of methods. A critique of the methods’ sociopolitical and ideological motivations is necessary to understand their origins and the motivation behind their implementation in schools. My goal in this proposal is to approach foreign language methodology from a sociolinguistics viewpoint. In doing so, I discuss the French state’s consistent use of the educational system to build national identity through language, and France’s use of methodological principles of language teaching to strengthen French language and marginalize other languages and cultures within and outside of France. This proposal explores teachers’ need to make informed decisions about methodologies and the ideology that gave birth to these practices. As some authors have already suggested, teachers should “adapt and not adopt” methods but they need to be informed of their ideological underpinnings

Since the independence movements swept over many regions of Africa in the fifties and late sixtie... more Since the independence movements swept over many regions of Africa in the fifties and late sixties, the heritage of the Francophonie has undergone and is currently undergoing numerous changes. In an article, published in the newspaper http://thinkafricapress.com, titled “Speaking the Same Language? Africa and the Future of la Francophonie” (2011), it was suggested that several African countries, including Rwanda and Gabon, have begun to move away from their francophone colonial heritage by embracing an English language and a diversified multicultural model. This presentation explores the example of North African countries where a new political order is currently unfolding. The roots of some of these developments, this paper argues, stem from the complex cultural and historical relationships that these countries have had with their Francophone and non-Francophone cultural heritage. In fact, since their independence, when the Nationalist ideology dominated both the political scene, the countries of North Africa have made various attempts to move away from the French cultural model and replace it with the Arab nationalist ideology. These efforts appear to be motivated more by a reaction to colonial domination and its legacy than by a well-planned model of society. This paper discusses the disastrous results that followed and how they are due to the fact that neither the Francophone nor the Arab Middle Eastern models were adapted to the realities of North Africa. To illustrate the ideological shifts and their impact on some North African elites, let’s quote al-Ghannouchi, currently the leader the Tunisian Ennahda party, and perhaps one of the most influential politicians in Tunisia. He explains his change of heart from Arab nationalism to Islamism: “Mille neuf cent soixante-six, le 15 juin. C’est au cours de cette nuit-là que j’ai décidé de passer de l’univers du nationalisme arabe et nassérien à celui de l’Islam. Je venais de prendre brutalement conscience que ni ce que j’étais ni ce que je vivais n’avaient quoi que ce soit à voir avec l’islam. Cette découverte a pris […] pour moi des allures de catastrophe: je réalisais que je n’étais pas musulman, que j’étais étranger à l’islam.” (1992: 48-49

African Languages and Literatures in the 21st Century, 2019

Sociolinguists and academics have recognized the centrality of ideology as one of the hidden agen... more Sociolinguists and academics have recognized the centrality of ideology as one of the hidden agendas of language policies that aim at selecting one dominant language over others in multilingual societies. Looking principally at the post-independence era in North Africa, this chapter discusses the evolution of the sociolinguistic situation of Morocco from the nationalist ideology to the era of twenty-first-century global phenomenon. While the chapter focuses mainly on Morocco, its insights are relevant to the countries of the Maghreb in general because of their common use of French and their similar language planning policies. The chapter provides a working definition of the concept of globalization and discusses the emergence of the signs of globalization and its impact on Morocco’s multicultural and multilingual landscape.

IEP Reading Instruction During the COVID-19 Emergency Remote Teaching, 2022

Using a mixed method explanatory sequential design, this study investigates intensive English pro... more Using a mixed method explanatory sequential design, this study investigates intensive English program (IEP) instructors' perceptions of the impact of COVID-19 emergency remote teaching on reading instruction. Forty-four IEP instructors completed an online survey, and seven of them participated in follow-up interviews. Both quantitative and qualitative results confirmed the impact on the teaching of reading. Some instructors reported having to leave out supplemental learning outcomes and focus on core learning objectives only. Most participants also experienced a decrease in student engagement and student-student interaction during reading and vocabulary instruction. However, student-teacher interaction did not seem impacted. This research supports the view that the teaching of reading is contingent upon multiple factors, particularly the instructional environment.

Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 2014

1. Introduction (by Katz Bourns, Stacey) 2. Acknowledgements 3. Part I. Grammatical constructions... more 1. Introduction (by Katz Bourns, Stacey) 2. Acknowledgements 3. Part I. Grammatical constructions 4. The information structure of ditransitives: Informing scope properties and long-distance dependency constraints (by Goldberg, Adele E.) 5. Non-promotional passives and unspecified subject constructions: Navigating the typological Kuiper Belt (by O'Connor, Catherine) 6. On the relationship between sentence focus category, subject-verb order, and genericity: A preliminary analysis of some Italian unaccusatives (by Russi, Cinzia) 7. Frames and the interpretation of omitted arguments in English (by Ruppenhofer, Josef) 8. Interactional frames and grammatical constructions (by Blyth, Carl S.) 9. Topics at the left periphery in Russian (by Polinsky, Maria) 10. Part II. Topics in French Grammar 11. Final compression in French as a phrasal phenomenon (by Fery, Caroline) 12. Pourquoi in Spoken French: Corpus-based function-form mapping (by Myers, Lindsy L.) 13. Processing constraints and information structure as moderating factors on first- and second-language use of the causal conjunction parce que (by Reichle, Robert V.) 14. Contrasting c'est -clefts and it-clefts in discourse (by Katz Bourns, Stacey) 15. Left dislocation in French: Information structure vs. (?) interactional linguistics (by Kerr, Betsy) 16. Index

Emergency Medicine Journal, 1989

Four hundred and fifteen patients aged over 75 were compared with a comparable group of 351 below... more Four hundred and fifteen patients aged over 75 were compared with a comparable group of 351 below 75 adult attenders. The over 75s were referred by 999 call and general practitioners more frequently. They also suffered more fractures and multiple injuries. The implications of these different injury patterns for the accident service are discussed.

The French Review, 2006

... Language and Ideology in the Maghreb: Francophonie and Other Languages. by Ali Alalou ... sec... more ... Language and Ideology in the Maghreb: Francophonie and Other Languages. by Ali Alalou ... secularism, its cultural content is fundamentally traditional (108). Interestingly,similar remarks were made about the teaching of French in high school by Benchama, who writes: Page 6. ...

Journal of African Languages and Linguistics, 1993