French as the Teaching Language of Life and Earth Sciences in Moroccan School: what’s the Teachers’ Opinion?

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.46328/ijonest.27

Keywords:

Life and earth sciences, Opinions, French language, Middle school

Abstract

The strategic vision for the recent reform in Morocco included the diversification of teaching languages by teaching scientific subjects in French. This starts in pilot’s class teaching scientific subjects in the French language. In this context, the language for teaching Life and Earth Sciences (LES) was changed from Arabic to French. This linguistic change in teaching LES aims to make the learner able to communicate in French in addition to Arabic, and to put an end to the linguistic problem that currently exists when entering universities, that teach these subjects in the French language. In this survey we interested to teachers’ opinions in order to get acquainted with their opinions in teaching Life and Earth Sciences in French for the middle school, and collecting suggestions and solutions to overcome the problem observed in classrooms. We used a questionnaire as an investigative tool for data collection distributed to life and earth sciences’ teachers of middle school. The findings of this research shows that teaching this subject in French forms an obstacle to academic achievement, and classroom interaction, whether in the rural or urban areas. This is due to reasons related to the poor language level of students, the absence of teacher continuous training in teaching the subject in French, and the weakness of the means adopted to make this change in the language of instruction. Among the solutions that have been proposed and used to overcome this educational phenomenon is the preparation of a support plan that includes a program consisting of activities targeting the communicative aspect for learners in French, as well as other activities aimed at providing the learner with skills such as analysis, description, observation and conclusion, while translating scientific words from French into Arabic.

Author Biographies

Sara Ifqiren, Cadi Ayyad University, Morocco

LIRDEF: Interdisciplinary Research Laboratory in Didactics, Education and Training, EcoleNormale Superieure, Marrakesh, MoroccoInterdisciplinary Research Laboratory in Didactics, Education and trainging, LIRDEF, NormalHigh School, Cadi Ayyad university, P.B.511, Marrakech 40000, MoroccoShe was born in May in 1993 Marrakech Morocco, where she completed her primary andsecondary studies.In 2014 she obtained her license in medical bio-analyses form the Faculty of Sciences andTechnology Marrakech and her master's degree in 2016 in teaching of life and earth sciencesform the Normal High School Marrakech Cadi Ayyad university , now she is a teacher of lifeand earth sciences in the college secondary cycle.She passionately started her doctoral studies in Sciences Didactics and Pedagogical Engineering,DSIP, at Cadi Ayyad University, Normal High School Marrakech.

Sabah Selmaoui, Cadi Ayyad University, Morocco

She is working as an adjunct professor at Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Research in Didacticsof Sciences and Technology (LIRDIST), Faculty of Sciences Dhar Mahraz, Sidi MohammedBen Abdellah University, BP 2626, Fes 30000, Morocco. Also working as a research professorin Didactics of sciences (Life and Health sciences) at Ecole Normal Superieur (ENS), CadiAyyad University, Marrakech since 1994. She is the director of Team Education Research andTraining. She is Interested in the description and understanding of problems in the teaching-learning of Life and Health sciences. The research she conducted focused on a variety of actorsin the education system (curricula, learners and teachers). Her research has been the subject ofseveral publications (books and chapters, indexed journals, conferences).

Fatima Ezahra Ait Yahia, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, Morocco

Interdisciplinary Research Laboratory in Didactics of Science and Technology, LIRDIST,Faculty of Sciences Dhar El Mahraz, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, P.B. 2626, Fez30000, Morocco.She was born in January 1992 in Marrakesh, Morocco, where she completed her primary,secondary studies and obtained her Bachelor’s degree then her Master's Degree in teaching lifeand earth sciences from the Normal High School. In 2016, she graduated from the regionalpedagogical center to work as a teacher of life and earth sciences. She is currently pursuing forher Ph.D. degree at Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah University, Faculty of Sciences, Dhar ElMahraz, Fez, Morocco.

References

Ifqiren, S., Selmaoui, S., Yahia, F. E., & Agorram, B. (2021). French as the Teaching Language of Life and Earth Sciences in Moroccan School: What’s the Teachers’ Opinion? International Journal on Engineering, Science and Technology (IJonEST), 3(1), 12-19.

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Published

2021-04-24

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 1 (2021)

Section

Science

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