Language, education and modernisation in the Maghreb: a comparative study.

The central argument of this thesis is that the contradictions between modernisation and restoring a national identity, drawn from the Arab-Islamic culture, have generated tensions in the Maghreb (Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia). The thesis concentrates on the particular problems posed 4y language and language policies in these contemporary circumstances. Chapter One provides an overview of the major concerns of the thesis, with a special stress on cultural and language questions. The main argument of Chapter Two is that Western theories of development are based on the assumption of the universality of the Western model, and undervalue the social and cultural elements of developing nations, including the Maghreb. Chapter Three extends the analysis to the role of language and nationalism in the process of nation building and analyses, with special reference to Algeria, the contradictions between development policies drawn from the West, and language policies stressing an Arab-Islamic identity. This chapter deals particularly with the problems of having Arabic as the national language and French as the operational language. Chapter Four examines comparatively the interrelationship between language policies and the social and educational contexts of the Maghreb. The arguments of the chapter are: that language policies have been influenced more by ideological than practical considerations; that contradictions at the political level are reflected in the social and educational contexts; that these contradictions are affecting the educational system adversely. Chapter Five draws the themes of the thesis together, and reassesses contemporary difficulties over language policies in the context of modernisation problems. The chapter makes proposals for new language policies in a complex linguistic, cultural and economic, situation, with some concluding comments on the specific case of Algeria