The evolution of the status and teaching of Amazigh in Morocco:  From marginalization to institutionalization

Abdellah Idhssaine

doi:10.54475/jlt.2022.016

Authors

Abdellah Idhssaine Higher School of Education and Training (ESEF), Chouaib Doukkali University, El Jadida, Morocco https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5056-7206

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54475/jlt.2022.016

Keywords:

Amazigh language, Amazigh-in-Education Policy, IRCAM, Amazigh officialization

Abstract

The present paper provides a critical review of the trajectory of the status and teaching of the Amazigh language in Morocco in an attempt to contextualize its state of the art following the recent changes in the Moroccan language policy. The assumptions herein discussed are not based on fieldwork, but rather on previous literature, document analysis, and numerical data reported by the Ministry of Education between the years 2003 and 2010. Such an approach is expected to pave the path for future fieldwork research by investigating the extent to which some of the claims advanced tend to align with the de-facto reality of the Amazigh language in a variety of priority domains of public life, governed by the recently validated organic law 26.16, including the Moroccan educational system.

Author Biography

Abdellah Idhssaine, Higher School of Education and Training (ESEF), Chouaib Doukkali University, El Jadida, Morocco

Abdellah Idhssaine is Assistant Professor (PESA) of English Studies and Linguistics at the Higher School of Education and Training (ESEF), Chouaib Doukkali University, El Jadida. He holds a Ph.D. in Linguistics under a double-degree program from Mohammed V University in Morocco and Bayreuth University in Germany. His research interests include Language-in-Education Policies, Endangered Languages, Language Shift and Attitudes, Language Revitalization Programs, and Syntax.

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