Abstract
With globalization, the issue of identity is gaining momentum especially in education to the extent that Hoffman (2005) refers to it as the bread and butter of the educational diet. Indeed, there is a growing body of research that demonstrates that language learning and identity are intertwined in that one shapes the other (Lave & Wenger 1991; Pierce 1995; Wenger, 1999; Norton, 2000; 2010, Hoffman, 2005; Falsafi, 2010; EL Khodadady 2012; Huizuku, 2012, Shakouri, 2013; Anbreen, 2014 among others). Thus, and as maintained in Taylor (2013) language is the main vehicle of expressing the self (Ochs, 2008) and learning a new language is often associated with learning a new identity (Lightbown&Spada, 2006; Paelenko&Lantolf, 2000). The present paper is a contribution to this line of research in that it investigates how students enrolled in the English studies department perceive their identity and examines the importance of incorporating the mother culture in the curriculum to strengthen their identity as Moroccan Arab-Amazigh students. The spring board for the present paper is that previous research supports the view that mastery of foreign languages, namely English, is vital for Moroccan students of Islamic Studies in different Higher Education institutions; namely, for interfaith communication, research and social promotion (Laaboudi, 2017; Erguig 2017). Using a mixed-methods approach, this exploratory study will elicit data from 50 students of the English Studies department on the basis of a Likert-scale questionnaire and a semi-structured interview. We will also conduct repeated interviews with “Arabic” teachers who taught “Arabic culture” and “Islamic Thought”. In accord with the findings, a few implications will be suggested for a more culturally balanced curriculum. The thrust of our argument is that there is a strong need for strengthening EFL learners’ background in the Moroccan/Arabic culture and civilization to anchor them in their Arabo-Amazigh/Muslim identity and ground them in their culture. In the absence of courses that can serve this purpose due mainly to changes in curricula due to the successive reforms, we argue that such a purpose can be achievedthrough both language and content courses that should initiate students to culturally relevant learning and teaching materials.
Keywords: identity development, English, Moroccan culture, Islam, identity continuity and change.
Bio-Data:
Assia Daouia Laaboudi is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences, UniversitéChouaïbDoukkali in El Jadida. She received her Doctorate degree from Mohamed V University in Rabat in 2004. She is an active member of both the Applied Language and Culture Studies (ALCS) and Translation, Communication and Literature (TCL) Laboratories in El Jadida. She is an alumnus of the Global Language Program (GLP) at Columbia University, New York. Her research interests range from language in use, ‘Sociolinguistics’, to Discourse Analysis to language teaching.
Reddad Erguig is enseignant-chercheur at the Faculty of Letters and the Humanities, Université Chouaïb Doukkali in El Jadida. He received his Doctorate degree from Mohamed V University in Rabat in 2003. He was a Fulbright visiting scholar at the University of Massachusetts, USA, in 2009. He was also visiting professor at Mohamed V University in Rabat in 2006 and at Ibn Toufail University in Kenitra in 2014. He is an active member of both the Applied Language and Culture Studies Lab (ALCS) based at Université Chouaïb Doukkali and the Moroccan Association of Teachers of English (MATE). His main research interests include both adult literacy education and English language teaching in Morocco. He has published many articles on adult emergent literacy and English language teaching in journals both in Morocco and abroad, and has and (co)-edited several books and journal issues on these topics. He has also presented papers and moderated workshops in many national and international conferences.