Contextualizing Multilingualism in Morocco (original) (raw)
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Language and schooling in Morocco
International Journal of Educational Development, 1987
The prevailing language situation in Morocco is quite complex due to the presence and interference of three Berber dialects, three variant forms of colloquial Arabic, two foreign languages (French and Spanish) and one national language, classical Arabic. This article seeks to examine the educational implications of this multilingualism. For this purpose, a three-step analysis is carried out, involving a summary presentation of the linguistic setting in Morocco, an outline of the language situation in the schooling system and an assessment of the pedagogical impact of these factors. Two main conclusions are reached on the basis of this analysis. First, it appears that the language policy constitutes a major source of wastage in educational terms. Second, there is a close relationship between socio-cultural origin and the vehicles of instruction used at school, which introduces an element of social bias in the educational process.
Any country's choice of the medium of instruction (MOI) reveals a lot about its social, cultural, economic, and political agenda. The question of MOI in North Africa, and more precisely in Morocco, has been a thorny issue since the country's independence in 1956. This article aims at contributing to the debate around which of Morocco's two main languages, French and Modern Standard Arabic, should be chosen as MOI in public schools. The article discusses some of the reasons that led to the recent decision to reinstate French language as a MOI in Morocco's education after decades of Arabization policy. Moreover, the article examines the effects of language planning on the quality of education and the identity debate as conservative Islamist ideologies have begun to play an important role in Morocco's political discourse and cultural debate. In addition, following the recognition of Amazigh language, the paper discusses the sensitive debate concerning Morocco's multilingual and multicultural identity.
Language Debates and the Changing Context of Educational Policy in Morocco
Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective, 2019
Language is a critical basis of local identity and a vital tool for global communication. In multilingual Morocco, the issue of language instruction has been highly politicized, a factor that has contributed to poor educational practice. This article aims at providing a brief description of Morocco’s linguistic landscape together with the language policies first established in Morocco by the French colonizer. It goes on to further assess the evolution of language education policy and makes recommendations for strengthening Morocco’s multilingualism.
Problems of Arabic-French bilingualism in the Moroccan educational system
Abstract This paper is an attempt to demystify the issue of Arabization as a language planning policy in the Moroccan educational system. The focus is on the transmission and propagation of Arabic via printed documents, such as textbooks and methods of teaching. The adoption of Arabic-French bilingualism in education did not entirely solve the problem as there are different obstacles that still confront students in studying both Arabic and French. From socio-and-applied linguistic perspectives, I have tried to enumerate and examine the difficulties facing Moroccan students in studying both Arabic and French. Those difficulties are mainly concomitant to the complex linguistic map of Morocco, the inefficient and ineffective methods of teaching, the context of teaching as well as the interlingual and intralingual problems. Consequently, Arabic-French bilingualism has been faced with contradictory reactions. It is concluded that both Arabic and French, to different degrees, are relatively lagging behind with respect to the access to scientific and technological information. Besides, paper questions the true intentions of the Francophonie. Keywords: Language planning, Arabic-French bilingualism, Arabization, Francophonie
2020
Introduction In this carte blanche, the authors share insights on the complex issue of languages in Morocco, with a special focus on the growing uses of English vis-à-vis the long-established dominance of French. The discussion provides a sociolinguistic profile of the country, outlining its history of multilingualism as well as the social and cultural implications of using numerous adopted languages. It examines in particular the domain-based use of French and English by highlighting the importance of these two languages for the socioeconomic status of their users. The authors conclude by proposing an alternative to the traditional view of languages in Morocco as being in fierce competition with one another.
The geography and history of Morocco have largely determined language policy in the educational systems of this country. Geographically, Morocco is at the crossroads of the Greater Maghreb (Mauritania, Algeria, Libya and Tunisia), Europe, and the rest of the African continent. This fact rendered its frontiers porous, hence, historically, Morocco has been the target of repeated invasions and conquests by Greeks, Phoenicians, Arabs, and more recently Western Europeans. All these civilizations have deeply influenced Morocco and contributed to its linguistic and cultural diversity. This diversity was, in turn, bound to affect language policies in the educational systems of Morocco.