[lg policy] Algeria: Students as victims of a national language malaise

Wed Dec 20 15:58:56 UTC 2017

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Students as victims of a national language malaise
Laeed Zaghlami15 December 2017 Issue No:487

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Is the inability of Algeria to decide on a dominant language impeding the
potential of its graduates and stunting economic and social development?

An article
<https://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21726743-arabic-berber-french-and-hybrid-three-vie-dominance-battle-over>
published in *The Economist* earlier this year seems to suggest so. It
quotes publisher Selma Hellal saying that young people in Algeria were
“victims of language policies which have undermined our ability to express
ourselves”.

Language is a sensitive and controversial issue in Algerian politics and
also in the education system.

“It is hard to deny the existence of a language malaise,” said Abderrezak
Dourari, professor of language sciences in the translation department of
the University of Algiers. “Algerians do not speak any language correctly,
despite their linguistic dispositions,” he said. “The study of popular
languages and cultures has long been banned under various pretexts or
considerations related to ‘national unity’,” making it difficult for
Algerians to become familiar with other foreign languages.

The linguistic landscape of Algeria, a product of its history and
geography, is characterised by the coexistence of several languages and
dialects: Berber or Tamazight (with several varieties such as Kabyle,
Chaoui, Mozabite, Targui, Chenoui, etc), Arabic and French.

However, according to Khaoula Brahimi, professor of linguistics at Algiers
University 2, this coexistence is proving to be tumultuous and often leads
to confrontation, given the way language is closely tied up with cultural
identity, and against the backdrop of relations of domination and
tendencies towards stigmatisation.

“The relationship between different languages is also strained by the
effects of a centralizing policy that exacerbates the stakes in the
Algerian identity problem,” said Brahimi.

In universities and schools, the issue over the medium of instruction
remains unresolved and “keeps shifting from Arabic to French in an
uncoordinated and sometimes anti-pedagogic manner”, she said.

After 132 years of colonisation by the French, it has been impossible to
get rid of the French language in favour of Arabic, according to Mansour
Benchehida, professor of language at Mostaghanem University, 350 kilometres
west of the capital Algiers.

“It is hard to deny the positive role and place of French language in our
society,” he said. Differences of opinion are many, he noted, referring to
Kateb Yacine, a prominent writer who once described French as ‘spoils of
war’. On the other side of the debate is Mohammed Dib, another well-known
writer, who confessed: “I did not experience a rift between the two
cultures, but opportunities multiplied.” Novelist Malek Haddad, writing in
the 1970s, said: “It is in French that I first uttered the word
independence.”

However, for official authorities, the continued privileging of the French
language in Algerian schools, colleges and universities after independence
in 1962, was considered an insult to the country’s martyrs, according to Dr
Ahmed Taleb Ibrahimi, a former minister of education.

“The adoption of Arabic in the educational system was deemed unequivocal
and irrevocable because it fitted within the cultural revolution, which
aimed to create a new citizen living in an independent Algeria,” he said.

Ibrahimi said in spite of fierce opposition from lobbies among politicians,
intellectuals and artists, the country was totally committed to
implementing the Arabic language at all levels of education. The
Arabisation process aimed at giving the Arabic language a dominant position
in the newly independent country began by reducing the presence of European
and mainly French teachers, and replacing them with teachers from Egypt,
Iraq, Tunisia and Syria.

The classical Arabic language was therefore used widely in primary schools
while French tuition was limited. In secondary schools, Arabic was extended
to the teaching of mathematics, physical sciences and natural sciences,
while at university these courses were still taught largely in French.

However, during the 1980s, social sciences at university were taught in
Arabic and this produced hundreds of pioneering graduates who held first
degrees that had been taught exclusively in Arabic.

Ironically, most of them found it hard to get a job as public institutions,
administrations and economic enterprises still required French language
proficiency. “It was a deadlocked situation,” said Salah Guemriche,
presently in charge of a human resources department in a private bank in
Algiers, and holder of an industrial psychology first degree from the
social sciences faculty in Algiers in 1981.

“I spent four years working very hard and in precarious conditions and then
at the end of the day, we were confronted with the reality of unemployment
as we could not meet recruitment requirements and missed many
opportunities. I was fortunate; I found a job but it was not the case for
many of my friends who either went abroad or changed direction completely,”
she said.

*Linguistic challenges*

Guemriche said in the mid-1980s students went on a general strike at all
universities for almost one year, to force the government to adopt urgent
measures to implement Arabisation in public institutions and
administrations.

However, despite this challenge, the situation has not improved since,
according to Ahmed Kadri, professor of law and practising attorney in
Algiers.

Another linguistic challenge arose in the 1980s when the Berbers demanded
full recognition of Tamazight, which led to the introduction of the
language into primary and secondary schools. At higher education level,
several universities in the country – Tizi Ouzou, Bejaia and Bouira – only
offered courses in Tamazight literature.

Although Arabisation was a political decision, according to Abdelkader
Saidi, professor of linguistics at Algiers University,1, on the ground,
graduated students from social sciences still face several recruitment
obstacles.

“They have to accept what is offered in the market," said Salim Benamar,
officer at the national agency of employment in Algiers. "The labour market
is very demanding in terms of language skills, especially English for
international companies operating in hydrocarbons and oil,” he said.

“The relation between language proficiency and job-relevant qualifications
remains an issue for many applicants. Even those who graduated in sciences,
physics and mathematics are still in need of language learning,” he said.

Although sciences and mathematics are taught in French, according to Said
Benhamoud, an engineer in physics from the University of Sciences and
Technology Houari Boumediene, many students struggled because of the
linguistic problem. “It was hard for them to follow; they are not quite
familiar with formulas and equations which need a clear formulation,
composed of rich terminology,” said Benhamoud.

In an attempt to provide a lasting solution to the language issue, in 2008
the Algerian government passed a national education orientation law with
the main aim being to “enable students to have a fair command of at least
two foreign languages as an opening to the world and a means of access to
documentation and exchanges with foreign cultures and civilizations”.

The bill also insisted on the need for mastery of foreign languages, and
its reintroduction into scientific branches in higher education colleges
and universities.

Regarding the Arabic language, the law calls for its real reform in terms
of content and teaching methods in order to catch up with modern languages,
particularly in terms of scientific research and development.

Despite these initiatives there remains a serious linguistic disjuncture
between Algerians in different levels and sectors of society. In a 2011
journal article
<http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=2017121313330943>
Rezig Nadia noted that “the Arabisation long-term policy with its political
and cultural dimensions created a big gap between the general education
(from primary to secondary school) and the university that prepares the
students for their professions”.

In the more recent *Economist* article, the author wonders if frustration
over language is to blame for rising violence against lecturers at
universities.

For Samir Tahri, a student in the department of translation at Algiers
University 1, English could offer a third way for universities – as the
“language of research par excellence”.

However, as tempting as this option seems, it overlooks the political and
cultural weight of Arabic and French-speaking lobbies all taking part in
the ongoing Algerian linguistic battle.
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 Harold F. Schiffman

Professor Emeritus of
 Dravidian Linguistics and Culture
Dept. of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305

Phone:  (215) 898-7475
Fax:  (215) 573-2138

Email:  haroldfs at gmail.com
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/

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