Schedule 72. StuTS

Language policies in Tunisia are not thought out; they evolve implicit. Arabic has a very limited role in the Tunisian higher education system. French is the dominant language of instruction and English is gaining a ground and spreading broadly (Daoud, 2011, p.16). Moore (2007) claims that language policy, in Tunisia, seems to have greater power at the social level rather than the political one. The higher education situation is, therefore, characterized by the rivalry between Arabic and French, on the one hand, and French and English, on the other hand. However, researchers in Tunisia (e.g. Aouina, 2013; Boukadi, 2013) negatively depicted the status of English and largely ignored its recent status. English has become a medium of instruction in a number of higher education institutions and it is the language of academic research. Due to this negative presentation, policy makers in Tunisia do not draw any attention to the real status of English and issue new education laws. This presentation, thus, aims to shed light on the recent status of English and offer some insights to policy makers. Methodologically, this study leans on desk research which refers to official documents, including policy documents, published reports, educational laws, interviews and speeches, to show the real status of English in Tunisian higher education. The content analysis is used to analyze data from the policy documents. The analysis consists of these steps: a) transcribing the data, b) pre-coding and coding, c) growing ideas, and d) interpreting the data and drawing conclusions (Dörnyei, 2007, p. 246). The researcher will follow these steps by investigating the obtained data, and creating codes to highlight important data. Then, she will group relating themes for analysis, and interpretation. The presentation will start by giving an overview of the language situation in the Tunisian higher education context and language policies background. Then, it will present the results of the analysis of desk research.

The Recent Status of English in Tunisia: Insights to Policy Makers

Abstract
Language policies in Tunisia are not thought out; they evolve implicit. Arabic has a very limited role in the Tunisian higher education system. French is the dominant language of instruction and English is gaining a ground and spreading broadly (Daoud, 2011, p.16). Moore (2007) claims that language policy, in Tunisia, seems to have greater power at the social level rather than the political one. The higher education situation is, therefore, characterized by the rivalry between Arabic and French, on the one hand, and French and English, on the other hand. However, researchers in Tunisia (e.g. Aouina, 2013; Boukadi, 2013) negatively depicted the status of English and largely ignored its recent status. English has become a medium of instruction in a number of higher education institutions and it is the language of academic research. Due to this negative presentation, policy makers in Tunisia do not draw any attention to the real status of English and issue new education laws. This presentation, thus, aims to shed light on the recent status of English and offer some insights to policy makers. Methodologically, this study leans on desk research which refers to official documents, including policy documents, published reports, educational laws, interviews and speeches, to show the real status of English in Tunisian higher education. The content analysis is used to analyze data from the policy documents. The analysis consists of these steps: a) transcribing the data, b) pre-coding and coding, c) growing ideas, and d) interpreting the data and drawing conclusions (Dörnyei, 2007, p. 246). The researcher will follow these steps by investigating the obtained data, and creating codes to highlight important data. Then, she will group relating themes for analysis, and interpretation. The presentation will start by giving an overview of the language situation in the Tunisian higher education context and language policies background. Then, it will present the results of the analysis of desk research.
Keywords: Language policy, English, Tunisian higher education, desk research, policy makers.
References
Aouina, H. (2013). Globalisation and language policy in Tunisia: Shifts in domains of use and linguistic attitudes. PhD thesis. University of the West of England.

Boukadi, S. (2013). Teachers’ Perceptions about the Future of English Language Teaching and Learning in Tunisia after the 2011 Revolution. Phd thesis. University of Exeter.

Daoud, M. (2011). The sociolinguistic situation in Tunisia: Language rivalry or accommodation? International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 211, 9-33.
Dornyei, Z. (2007). Research methods in applied linguistics: Quantitative, qualitative, and
mixed methodologies. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Moore, K. (2007). Languages and loyalties: Shaping identity in Tunisia shaping identity in
Tunisia and the Netherlands. Macalester International, 25(12). Retrieved January, 7, 2020, from: http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1481&context=macintl

Info

Day: 2022-11-05
Start time: 14:15
Duration: 00:30
Room: Wiwi-Bunker — Room 4044
Track: Sociolinguistics
Language: en

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