Tamazight language education in Morocco: The importance of teacher perspectives

• In Event: Language-in-education policy change: Should we pay more attention to grassroots actors and actions on behalf of non-dominant languages?

Proposal

In 2019 the Moroccan Parliament passed Framework Law 51.17 (FL 51.17), a law that contains provisions that give direction on the future of languages in education. Article 31 of this law stipulates that all students must master both Modern Standard Arabic and Tamazight in addition to two foreign languages to obtain a secondary baccalaureate. Tamazight is the codification of three Amazigh language varieties – Tarifit, Tachelhit, and Central Atlas Tamazight – and is used only for educational purposes. Over the past two decades, the status of Tamazight in formal education has increased via affirming royal decrees and legislation. However, major implementational challenges persist that are both structural and attitudinal.

For this presentation, I use the Kosonen & Benson (2021) framework to examine Morocco’s current language policy trajectory regarding Tamazight. I share findings from virtual semi-structured interviews conducted with six in-service Moroccan primary school teachers who voice their perspectives on the potential impact of FL 51.17 on future classroom-level instruction of Tamazight. Potential impact is defined as the interpreted future trajectories of language planning and policy in education derived from the empirical knowledge of school-level practitioners. Results show that Tamazight teachers are committed to their work; however, they are troubled by several structural and attitudinal challenges that hinder the success of Tamazight language inclusion in the Moroccan education system. Tamazight teachers are generally unsatisfied with how Tamazight language in education policy has been and is being implemented. Participants perceive FL 51.17 as another political accessory designed with good intentions yet without commensurate action, and therefore having little to no potential in improving the current state of Tamazight instruction. Their responses support the view that Morocco represents a Model 1, “top-down” trajectory. Meanwhile, they express the need for more teacher input in the designing of textbooks, curriculum, and teacher training. The findings suggest an immediate need for structural interventions or a shift to Model 2, “bottom-up,” by which teachers and other actors from below are given more agency in the language planning process, which may in turn lead to more positive attitudinal perceptions of Tamazight in society.

Author

• Obi Eneh