Problem Areas in EFL Writing: The Tertiary Level
Fatima Bouzenirh
MATE ELT Series : Book 1
PROBLEM AREAS IN EFL WRITING: THE TERTIARY LEVEL Fatima Bouzenirh
-0MATE ELT Series : Book 1 Publication of Moroccan Association of Teachers of English (MATE)
Problem Areas in EFL Writing: The Tertiary Level
Fatima Bouzenirh
MATE ELT Series : Book 1
PROBLEM AREAS IN EFL WRITING: THE TERTIARY LEVEL Fatima Bouzenirh
Publication of Moroccan Association of ELT English - 1 - of Teachers MATE Series(MATE) : Book 1
Problem Areas in EFL Writing: The Tertiary Level
Fatima Bouzenirh
The views expressed in these ELT Series do not necessarily reflect those of MATE.
Dépôt légal: 2018MO0215 ISBN: 978-9920-35-040-2 © Moroccan Association of Teachers of English (MATE), 2018. -2-
MATE ELT Series : Book 1
Problem Areas in EFL Writing: The Tertiary Level
Fatima Bouzenirh
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am sincerely grateful to the various MATE organizers for having given me the opportunity to discuss some of the issues included in this collection within the yearly conferences.
Special thanks for my children, Said and Kenza, for their valuable help with word-processing at critical moments and for their great patience with my ‘barbarian’ use of the technology.
Book cover design: Taoufiq Elbiad
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MATE ELT Series : Book 1
Problem Areas in EFL Writing: The Tertiary Level
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Fatima Bouzenirh
MATE ELT Series : Book 1
Problem Areas in EFL Writing: The Tertiary Level
Fatima Bouzenirh
Foreword MATE ELT Series is an ambitious project that the current board (2016-2018) has launched as part of its action plan. This project is meant to continue even after the end of this board’s mandate for its academic and strategic value. It is based initially on MATE constitution as stated in its aims and activities; namely encouraging research and publication in ELT. The need for this ELT series comes from the fact that a. writings about ELT in Morocco is scattered in different publications (newsletters, magazines, conference proceedings, online publications‌) and they need to be compiled according to themes and qualitative products by distinguished researchers and experts in the field; b. so many Moroccan specialists and researchers have much contributed to conferences and seminars but they could not put their work into publication that interested professionals can make good use of; c. there is a need for valuing the work done by distinguished Moroccan researchers and specialists in the field of ELT and paying tribute to them by putting their work in lasting published work; and d. the need for MATE to make good use of its legacy and long invaluable contribution to Moroccan ELT as a national heritage. The first book in this series is a contribution of the distinguished Moroccan professor Mrs Fatima Bouzenirh who spontaneously and generously put her work at the disposal of MATE, given her long commitment and contribution to MATE and its noble causes. In addition to its valuable content, the book draws its importance from its coverage of a long period (1987-2013) of research and studies in the field of language, literature and linguistics. Though it deals with writing as a general field, the book covers varied topics like discourse analysis, gender issues, English language teaching, culture specific issues, etc. MATE is so grateful to professor Bouzenirh for accepting to contribute her work and be the first to give a strong push to this project. Before closing this foreword, I would like to thank MATE members who worked with me and spared their precious time and expertise to make this work ready for publication, namely Mr Elmadani Fahmi, Mr Younes Elyousfi and Mr El Hassan Borrou. We wish this strategic project, which is at its infancy stage, a flourishing life and promising development. For the above-stated noble reasons and strategic aims, Moroccan researchers and specialists are called upon to contribute to this series for the benefit of ELT development in our country and serving the future ELT researchers and specialists. Mohammed Hassim, President of MATE
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MATE ELT Series : Book 1
Problem Areas in EFL Writing: The Tertiary Level
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Fatima Bouzenirh
MATE ELT Series : Book 1
Problem Areas in EFL Writing: The Tertiary Level
Fatima Bouzenirh
Contents Foreword
5
Introduction
9
Part One: Aspects of the Context.
11
1. Diglossia and Problems in Language Teaching.
13
2. Bridging Gaps: ‘A Bridge too Far!’
23
3. Linguistics, Literature and the Moroccan EFL Context.
29
4. Research at What Price?
40
5. The Global Language and Creative Writing: The Case of African Literature.
50
6. Gender and Language in Education: Making Room for Masculinity Construct.
60
Part Two: Focus on Writing.
73
1. From Spoken to Written Language: Implications for Teaching EST/EFL Composition. 2. Errors of Composition. 3. Advanced Composition and the Issue of Content. -7-
75
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MATE ELT Series : Book 1
Problem Areas in EFL Writing: The Tertiary Level
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Fatima Bouzenirh
MATE ELT Series : Book 1
Problem Areas in EFL Writing: The Tertiary Level
Fatima Bouzenirh
PROBLEM AREAS IN EFL WRITING: THE TERTIARY LEVEL INTRODUCTION The analyses presented in this compilation are previous presentations mostly given at various MATE (Moroccan Association of Teachers of English) conferences between 1987 and 2013. They have lately been revised, revisited. Some have been edited because of problems that have cropped up in first publications: poor scanning, confusion in pagination, etc. These problems have been smoothed out to allow for easier reception. They have been re-issued by curtsey of the Rabat Faculty of Letters. The aim behind the re-issuing of these papers is twofold: first it is to regroup them , and avoid a scattering of efforts, and present the reader -EFL traineewith an overview of the issues encountered during an in-class experience of teaching English as a foreign language at the tertiary level in Morocco. Also, most of the problem areas and topics addressed in these papers are still relevant to the Moroccan EFL scene, at the beginning of the third millennium. 1. Issues which constitute obstacles to EFL teaching pertain to the larger context in which this teaching is taking place at university level. Contributions dealing with this aspect have been included in the first part of the present booklet. The focus on the relationship between literature and linguistics in the departments of English in Morocco has been addressed in an attempt to investigate the effects of such choices on the foreign language learner. The analysis makes use of the orientation taken within the studies for the Diploma in Stylistics at the university of Edinburgh with Professors Alex Rodger, Keith Mitchell and the team. At another level, the implications of sociolinguistics to the teaching in a diglossic situation such as the Moroccan one have been raised in a paper produced for Professor W. F. Mackey, at Laval University, Québec, Canada. The teaching conditions in ‘Higher Education’ and obstacles met within the ‘Instructor/Researcher’ interface have also been investigated and included in this section. The thorny aspect of bridging gaps between secondary and tertiary levels to find out the important gaps in the in-coming students’ level of competence is also -9-
MATE ELT Series : Book 1
Problem Areas in EFL Writing: The Tertiary Level
Fatima Bouzenirh
introduced in this compilation as a means of triggering awareness about the problem. The context of teaching has also lately raised issues of gender in education. This issue constitutes the subject of one of these papers, and has been addressed from the angle of masculinity construct. 2. Issues pertaining to students’ Clarity, Correctness and Relevance-‘CCR’in their written compositions still stand, maybe in a more serious way than before, in the past century when the ‘old ‘ system used to provide them with more time to digest the subjects they took. The generations of EFL instructors and trainees still debate areas such as cohesion, coherence, reader awareness, and have regularly to deal with issues of content, spoken vs written forms in the EFL writing of their students. Scientific research in these fields is taking place and will surely consolidate the foundations of EFL teaching in our context. The practical results in the real classroom situation and interaction can, however, still be problematic if, for instance, teaching materials are not compatible with the learner’s level .What the foreign language learner needs is an extended helping hand to meet his/her level of difficulty ;the level he/she is at. Maybe any type of teaching endeavour is just that! Again, this collection has no theoretical pretention .It is produced as a summary of a teaching experience and a sounding board for novice instructors; something to read before taking a plunge in the reality of the classroom. I am fully responsible for any mistake of interpretation or translation that might have occurred in the texts.
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MATE ELT Series : Book 1
Problem Areas in EFL Writing: The Tertiary Level
Fatima Bouzenirh PROBLEM AREAS IN EFL WRITING: THE TERTIARY LEVEL
The analyses presented in this compilation are previous presentations mostly given at various MATE (Moroccan Association of Teachers of English) conferences between 1987 and 2013. They have lately been revised, revisited. Some have been edited because of problems that have cropped up in first publications: poor scanning, confusion in pagination, etc. These problems have been smoothed out to allow for easier reception. The aim behind the re-issuing of these papers is two-fold: first it is to regroup them, and avoid a scattering of efforts, and present the reader with an overview of the issues encountered during an inclass experience of teaching English as a foreign language at the tertiary level in Morocco. Also, most of the problem areas and topics addressed in these papers are still relevant to the Moroccan EFL scene, at the beginning of the third millennium.
About the author Fatima Bouzenirh was a lecturer at Mohammed V University, Faculty of Letters and Humanities, Rabat, Morocco, from 1975 to 2007. She holds a Diploma in Stylistics from Edinburgh University, an MA in Modern African Literature from Sheffield University, and has done doctoral research on EFL Writing at Laval University, QuĂŠbec- Canada. Besides her interests in the field of teaching, she has been involved in NGO activism, helping to create the first shelter for women victims of violence in Morocco.
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