<div dir="ltr"><h1 class="">The Spectrum of Language Choice for Moroccan Education</h1>
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<span class=""> <strong>Thursday 30 April 2015 - 07:01</strong></span>
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<h5 class=""><a href="http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/author/abdellatif-zaki/" title="Posts by Abdellatif Zaki" rel="author">Abdellatif Zaki</a> </h5>
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Abdellatif Zaki is a professor of Languages and Communication at
Institut Agronomique et Vétérinaire Hassan II, Rabat, Morocco. He has
taught introductory courses to the study of the Koran and Islam as well
as courses on various intercultural issues. He has ...
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<p style="text-align:justify">Rabat – Two or three years ago, a
colleague with whom I was hardly acquainted called and asked me to join
what he referred to as an elite group of Moroccan Anglophone
intellectuals and activists interested in the linguistic situation of
Morocco and eager to replace French with English as the country’s second
language. He said, not without some pride, that many leading
intellectuals and influential political, economic, and educational
figures who could weigh heavily on the linguistic situation of the
Kingdom would be of the party. He added that the initiative had received
the blessings of the United States and the United Kingdom.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify">He apologized for having included me on
the list of an international conference program that was to be held in
two days without my prior consent. I thanked him profusely and told him
that I would be delighted to participate in this conference, but only as
a citizen, and not on behalf of the non-governmental organization he
was expecting me to participate on behalf of; an organization that he
seemed to think had the main goal of spreading the English language in
the country. I explained to the colleague that the organization had
professional objectives and was aimed at supporting the teaching of
English as a foreign language and of providing all those involved in the
profession with quality services.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify">I further explained that the
organization aimed at optimizing the efficiency of pedagogical offers,
both directly through professional development and indirectly through
promoting scientific research and publishing in related subject areas.
As the colleague had, obviously, a completely different conception of an
organization he had hoped would support his mission, I made a point to
stress the fact that although the organization maintained a long history
of good-standing cooperation and working relations with the British and
American cultural authorities, which it holds in high esteem, it was
also keen to maintain its freedom and to preserve its independence. I
wanted him to know that although the organization strives to give a
voice to English language teachers in the country, it would never
compromise what it takes to be national priorities, nor will it
negotiate what it takes to be the foundations of Morocco’s identity or
indulge in any undertaking that would jeopardize it.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify">On the eve of the conference, I made it
clear to the colleague that I considered neither French nor English as
close relatives of mine. None was my mother tongue, nor did I think of
myself as a militant combatting for the prevalence of either, and that I
used both equally for professional purposes, and that I did not see any
need to substitute one for the other. My idea was that the Moroccan
educational system has specific uses for each. Shortly after this
conversation, the colleague called me again to inform me that my name
had been dropped from the list of speakers at the seminar. His excuse
was that he had not received the abstract of my presentation.
Diplomatically, he suggested that I was welcome to attend the event and
participate in the debate if I so wished.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify">For the record, I would like to mention
that I do not find the merciless war between the French and English
languages on the Moroccan educational scene as very different from the
conflict between the international powers during the early years of the
20<sup>th</sup> century, which paved the way to the colonization of the Kingdom, to which the euphemistic label of ‘protectorate’ was given.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify">I would like to remind the reader of an
important principle in sociolinguistics and historical linguistics: on
one hand, languages and varieties of the same language strive to
preserve their status within their original community and behave, on the
other hand, as if they were in a dire need to prevail over others, and
to spread beyond their natural habitat, and to gain more of an
influential status where they previously did not have any. This puts
languages in constant conflict with one another, competing for the same
privileges and to occupy new grounds in politics, economy, religion, and
culture that were once held by others.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify">Thus, some nations and social groups
have considered their languages to be productive factors to be employed
in their speakers’ political, economic and commercial relations, and
people have come to rely on them for establishing an ideological
hegemony. Likewise, many countries have depended on their languages as
pivotal elements for the construction of their identities, and have used
them as important tools for the conceptualization of their perceptions
of themselves as well as of the images they present of themselves to the
world. In the same vein, several communities have used and are still
using their languages to maintain their status among other social groups
and nations. Let us reflect on the following: language is an arena in
which all critical conflicts in a given society are fought. In Morocco,
the issue of language and language choice has been turned into a field
in which the country is cornered, to be subjected to different types of
extremely competitive cultural, intellectual, political, and economic
pressures and influences.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify">In Britain, for instance, the English
language is considered to be a complex and multidimensional product,
which is at times imposed upon other nations through various colonial
mechanisms and, at other times, through commercial and advertising
methods and through subtle cultural hegemonic strategies. This is done
using a unique network in the domain of commercializing English language
instruction and serving the strategic objective of spreading it. The
network consists of a huge number of ‘cultural’ centers that actually
function as focal points of a stock market that benefits from the direct
financial, diplomatic, political, and military support of the state.
They are also supported by very powerful government-subsidized global
services and industries such as publishing, language teaching, higher
education, training, the arts, the economy, and culture. The English
language sector has thus grown to become one of the top 6 or 7
industries in the UK. Its income amounts to billions of pounds, more
than many heavy traditional industries.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify">In other words, talking about the
English language is exactly like talking about an industrial or
commercial commodity or service. It is similar to talking about an
electronic device, a vehicle, an aircraft engine, a soft drink, a
warplane, a cruise missile, or a bullet. The United Kingdom’s Ministry
in charge of Education determined that the amount of money foreign
students spend in the various schools and universities in the UK has
exceeded £10 billion in 2012, 3 billion of which coming directly from
the English language instruction industry. The figure does not include
the huge amounts of money collected in the many Council Centres
scattered all over the world. This example is mentioned only for the
purpose of clarifying things for those amongst us who might still be
under the impression that the support of the English language by some
consular services and assimilated charities has only altruistic and
generous objectives. The gains may be far more complex, but not much
less visible to the naked eye if one takes the time to look closely!</p>
<p style="text-align:justify">Moreover, when one talks about countries
intervening to spread their languages in a certain domain or foreign
country, one is actually talking about hegemony and of a sort of
interference at levels that are far from being purely linguistic. A sign
that heralds a new colonization episode is when, for example, a simple
employee in one of these language centers acquires sufficient authority
to influence a Minister’s decision, or when he takes the liberty to
interfere in a country’s policy by pushing for the urgency of granting
priority to his own language. An even more sinister sign is when such an
employee, as is unfortunately very common to see, is heeded much more
than the country’s prominent linguists, researchers, university
chancellors, and deans. The Moroccan adage goes, “expect the apocalypse
when matters are conceded to those with no qualifications to address
them…” The first and central qualification here is being a national of
the Kingdom.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify">A large number of researchers have
centered their research around English linguistic imperialism, its
secrets, its hegemonic mechanisms, and its impact on the world’s
culture, ideology, religion, finance, and economy. These studies reveal
opportunistic and racist features of the English language that exceed
those of other colonial languages like French or Spanish. Those
interested in this scientific debate can run bibliographic searches with
key words like “language and hegemony,” “linguistic imperialism,”
“English and hegemony,” “English and racism,” “language policy” or
“language planning” to strike a mine of information on the topic.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify">This is not to give the impression that
this research is of an extremist or militant nature. It has to be noted
that these studies are written in English and have been conducted by
highly proficient Scandinavian, European, and North American linguists.
Many courses based in this research are taught in these countries’ most
famous and well-established universities. Pioneering studies and
research has also been conducted in the area by African and Indian
researchers. Those advocating the rejection of French and its
replacement with English in Morocco because French is of a colonial
nature need to investigate the imperialist and racist nature of English
as discussed and documented in this relevant literature before they make
up their mind or launch their marketing campaign promoting the virtues
of the English language.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify">Anyone who prioritizes English over
French in the current Moroccan educational system on the basis that
French is a colonial language should recall these facts. Both languages
are colonial. Some scientific research shows, however, that the hegemony
of the English language is much more severe than that of any other
language, as evidenced by the military, financial, economic, and
political hegemony of the UK and the US and their allies, especially in
the so-called Arab and Islamic world. All those pushing for the English
language in Morocco should know that the two languages are waging a war,
and are engaged in many conflicts that Moroccans have no reason to take
sides in or to take part in. The Moroccan elite, to which my colleague
seemed to be so proud to belong to, should not subject the people of the
country to a new colonization and hegemony for such a cheap price. The
US and the UK invest billions of dollars in this war, most of it goes to
creating new alliances by all possible means, which are needless to
reveal here.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify">Some of the questions supporters of the
English language alternative do not seem to be sensitive to include the
feasibility of shifting to English in the Moroccan educational system
after it has invested so much in the Arabization of its primary and
secondary levels while continuing to maintain French in higher technical
and scientific education without compromising the status of other
foreign languages, including English. Since its independence, Morocco
has invested huge amounts of precious time, funds, energy, intelligence,
and imagination in training teachers in these two languages, which,
despite all these efforts, are still said to lack. How then, all of a
sudden, can the country change its language of instruction to a language
most of her teachers, who have been trained in Arabic and French, do
not understand? Are the teachers who teach sciences and mathematics in
Arabic in primary and secondary levels and in French in universities now
to be asked to switch to English to teach? Would there be any other
unfair requests? Is this not pure disregard and contempt towards these
professionals, and would it not be committing the worst injustice to the
students and to the country?</p>
<p style="text-align:justify">Or is the pretension to give a
generation of English language all the skills, competences, and tools
they need to perform the transition and secure the objective of rooting
English in the system in a blink of an eye, knowing that the venture of
qualifying teachers in Arabic and French has hardly achieved its
objectives in more than fifty years? Does the country have qualified
experts who are able to write course books and educational supporting
materials in all school subjects in the English language, and are the
country’s libraries able to provide the resources needed for this
tremendous task? Does the country have trainers, school inspectors, and
supervisors who are qualified to coach teachers in this language? Or do
they plan on importing all this expertise and materials from the US and
the UK with loans? If this option is chosen, it would have to be called
something like ‘new colonialism’.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify">It is a lie to claim that the transition
from one secondary language to another can be carried out smoothly
without affecting additional generations of poor children. The
transition would disqualify them from mainstream development
opportunities and from socioeconomic mobility. It cannot be done without
great pain and sociopolitical and cultural injury, or without creating
wide and unbridgeable intellectual and cultural gaps and huge losses of
current assets.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify">A traitor to his own people and a liar
is he who claims that education and knowledge will spread and become
equally accessible to all Moroccans through any language other than
their mother tongues. Morocco will never be a developed, independent,
and scientific country without providing fundamental education to all of
its people in their own mother tongues. Those who are truly concerned
about the future of this country should deploy their intelligence,
expertise, experience, and wisdom to adapt strategies that would allow
the native languages of Morocco to facilitate (i) the design of suitable
curricula, (ii) the invention of appropriate pedagogical approaches,
(iii) the learning and also the generation of relevant knowledge, (iv)
the mastery of critical skills, (v) the production of innovative ideas,
and (vi) the development of the creative competencies needed for the
solution of the country’s problems.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify">Second and third foreign languages are
undoubtedly important, and should be made accessible to all learners
when they need them. They should be considered as tools to invest in to
meet well-defined specific needs and purposes, but should not be given
priority over other subjects in students’ primary and secondary
education. In fact, the need for second or third foreign language varies
from one field to another, and from one educational level to another.
There is no need for English for a well-qualified accountant, a good
surgeon, a creative architect, or a secondary school teacher of law,
history, philosophy, music, or any other subject. English may be useful
in fields such as tourism, the hotel industry, and banking.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify">The importance of this language cannot
be neglected for those specializing in advanced scientific research,
international diplomacy, trade, military, and civil aviation, or
merchant shipping vocations. These crafts will require their
practitioners to learn English and therefore the capacity and the skills
of teaching it in the best ways and at the least cost. But to adopt
English in the first years of instruction would not only be a waste of
time, energy, and money, it will be at the expense of other more
critical skills and competencies. It would seem to be more natural in
the earlier years of the educational system for Morocco to invest in
building native language capacities, strengthening the status of the
national languages, and optimizing the quality of their teaching.
Investment priorities should be on basic cognitive skills in maths,
physics, chemistry, biology, physical training, and critical thinking
aptitudes.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify">The main question to be asked is for
whom this country is training her children. Is it for Morocco, its
people, and its national economic development? Some colleagues argue
that it is easier for university graduates to find jobs abroad if they
are fluent in English. My answer is that this is absolutely true, but as
a Moroccan citizen I refuse to see Morocco’s money placed in training
qualified engineers, senior directors, and managers for Canada, the
United States, China, or Europe. Those who want to emigrate and work in
these parts of the world should then purchase the language education
they need for those ‘specific markets’ or centers and pay for them out
of their pocket. They should not spend Morocco’s tax money paid by
Morocco’s poor, its merchants, its civil servants, and its citizens who
choose to invest in the economy and industry of their country. I also
find it quite immoral for the country to invest money it borrows with
high interest rates on training skilled manpower that will return to the
very same countries that lent Morocco the money.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify">A similar excuse I have seen with is
that Morocco needs to attract foreign investment and multinational
corporations, and that they consider English an important factor in
choosing countries they settle in. This, it is argued, is a good enough
argument to convince Morocco to teach this language. To answer this
claim, I would like to say that teaching English as a foreign language
is one thing, and having it replace another language is something else.
Furthermore, the current curriculum of Moroccan public schools can
provide high school graduates with such English language proficiency
that can be further fine-tuned to a higher competency when and if
needed. Moreover, Morocco will benefit more from strengthening its
multi-linguistic capital, adding to it rather than reducing its
potential, shaking her stability, and incurring a great loss.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify">Whatever the language(s) Morocco ends up
choosing for specific purposes, the decision-making process should be
grounded in the theoretical framework in which foreign language courses
are designed and their multi-layer dimensions. It must be certain that
the hegemonic cultural, communicational, pragmatic, colonial, racist,
and imperial dimensions are accounted for and managed when the decision
is made. In fact, every foreign language course should be supported by a
pedagogy of critical thinking and the evaluation of opinions,
attitudes, perceptions, situations, and behaviors associated with it. If
the goal is to enable all those who want to learn English with the
skills they need, there should be more than one methodological option to
serve this purpose without replacing, amputating, or creating clashes
and confusions. Should the purpose be something else, and the true goals
be hidden or unstated, the issue will clearly be of a different nature.</p><p style="text-align:justify"><a href="http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2015/04/156792/spectrum-language-choice-moroccan-education/">http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2015/04/156792/spectrum-language-choice-moroccan-education/</a><br></p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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