Newsletter of the Moroccan Association of Teachers of English, Volume 28 (Issue 3-4), Winter-Spring 2008
EDITORIAL
TEFL in Morocco: A succinct overview
The make-up of the teaching of English as a foreign language (EFL)
in Morocco has undergone important changes over the last few years.
At the heart of this change, one might cite three outstanding aspects:
(i) the adoption of the standard-based approach to the teaching of
English, (ii) the publication of the new wave of textbooks, and (iii)
the establishment of a performance-based assessment. It is my
intention in this editorial
1. to overview in brief the major developments in the three aspects
mentioned above.
2. to delineate the role the Moroccan association of teachers of
English (MATE) in inspiring teachers and inspectors and in
shaping the overall scene of TEFL in Morocco.
The National Charter for Education and Training has significantly
influenced the English Department at the Ministry of Education. The
charter prioritizes interest in teaching languages, and has attempted to
set up a culture of quality and accountability. Discussions that
followed have pushed the policy makers to adopt a competency-based
education in its most recent actualisation; namely, the standard-based
movement. This new trend worldwide has impacted the ELT
curriculum and has given teachers and educators a vision of how to
make the teaching and learning of English very effective. The
standard-based ‘approach’ has tended to set very clear-cut standards
for each level. The standards relate to five content and performance
areas; namely, communication, cultures, connections, comparisons
and communities. Learners, within this framework, are actively
engaged in very challenging and well-built language activities
conducive to the exploration of the multi-dimensional aspects of the
target language. Similarly, learners are provided the opportunity to
use English to understand, gain insights into, and interact with other
cultures. Learners are also encouraged to relate what they learn in
class to their own community since the ability to serve one’s
community is the aim of the teaching-learning operation as a whole.
This new approach premises might be epitomized as follows:
9 Communication requires the integration of various skills (interpersonal,
interpretive, and presentational).
9 Cultural understanding and the comparison of languages and cultures
are keys to effective communication.
9 Connecting the English syllabus and learning modes to other school
subjects can be beneficial to students.
9 Students are more motivated and involved if the English course is
connected to the needs of their community and to the ‘outside world’.
All the newly released English textbooks adhere to the standard
approach to education. The content of these textbooks is organized
around a combination of the 5 Cs mentioned above, and a set of
topics sensitive to global issues such as citizenship, democracy,
human development, tolerance, and peace. Most language activities
are task-based and learner-centred. Learner training and opportunities
to boost up learners’ autonomy are also salient features of the new
textbooks. Learners are also encouraged to use their language abilities
MATE Newsletter Winter, Spring 2008, Volume 28 (Issue 3-4)
and skills to work on projects of interest to their class, school or
community.
Performance assessment is another main feature of TEFL in Morocco.
Assessment of students’ performance is based on two criteria: (i)
regular and continuous assessment in class that includes short
quizzes, global tests, project works and oral participation of students,
(ii) a written global test at the end of the school year. Throughout
these modes, students are required to demonstrate competencies by
applying them in real-life situations. The benefit of performance
assessment has been well-recognized in the field. Nevertheless, a lot
of teachers are doubtful about the possibility of putting it into
practice. This is due to at least three reasons: (i) these teachers feel
uncertain about being fair, (ii) they also think that performance equals
oral assessment only. Performance assessment should target reading,
writing and speaking, as it also taps learners’ projects and portfolios.
Furthermore, this type of assessment; especially within continuous
assessment framework, is criterion-referenced; it provides feedback on
what students know and can do with the language in a particular situation
related to their level and stream.
Perhaps the main challenge that we face in the TEFL in Morocco
relate to how to sensitize the English language teaching community to
the importance of adapting the new approaches to our Moroccan
context. In this respect, MATE mark is present all the time and
everywhere. MATE has organized events (conferences, colloquia,
seminars, study days…) for the benefit of hundreds of supervisors and
teachers all around Morocco. The pendulum, in the various meetings,
has swung towards practicing theory, rather than theorizing practice.
Theory; however, remains the torch to enlighten the road to effective
practice. MATE members have surely noticed that the themes of
recent events are more practice and/or learner oriented (e.g.
Supervisors Colloquium, Middle School Seminar, National
Conference, Language Summer Camps, Students’ Contests, Access
program, Students’ festivals, etc); to cite only a few.
MATE, as a non-profit organisation, is planning to reach a larger
community of teachers and learners of English across Morocco. This
is - yet- another challenge to meet.
Mohamed Hammani
1
For more details see “English Language Teaching Guidelines for Second
Year Baccalaureate”, [All Levels], Ministry of National Education, 2007.
On the Inside
* MATE mission and strategic plan (2008-2010)
* Reports on MATE Activities
* A profile of the Moroccan EFL Teacher, by A. Zaki.
* Young Learners’ Multiple Intelligences, by A. Chaibi.
* Pronunciation, M. Elfatihi
Edited by: Lahcen Ahmam, Hamid El bhioui , Lahcen
Tighoula, & Mohammed Hassim
www.mate.org.ma -1-
 MATE MISSION
(As stated in the constitution)
To contribute to the promotion of English language teaching in
Morocco, encourage communication among professionals, and
research in ELT.
MATE strategic plan (2008-2010):
In accordance with the above mission statement, MATE board
considers the following goals as its targets during the current
mandate:
1. Ongoing professional development:
- Systematic and well-planned MATE days, with optimal
geographical equity.
- Regional and national seminars
- Assisting novice teachers
- ICT workshops and seminars in different parts of Morocco:
supporting Genie project , tailored trainings for practising teachers.
2. Professionalism
- Determining teacher standards and helping teachers to meet them
- Encouraging and rewarding exemplary practices among teachers
- Public debate on professionalism and respect for values (seminars,
round tables...)
3. Culture
Minutes of MATE executive board meeting
Reported by E. Fahmi, MATE Secretary General
Venue: Centre de Formation Continue, Rabat
Date: Saturday, November 1st, 2008
Attendees: M. Hammani, A. Ghaiti, E. Fahmi, R. Senhaji, M.
Makhfi, M. Zanzoun, L. Bounsir.
Agenda : 1. Financial situation, 2. Management seminar, 3. National
conference, 4. MATE Website, 5. Any other business (AOB)
1. Mate Financial Situation
The first item discussed during this meeting was MATE financial
situation. The main conclusions drawn from the points raised are as
follows:
a. Mate has 2 accounts: An account for Access program, and
another one for MATE.
b. Decisions made are: Mr. Mustapha Zanzoun will be in charge of
collecting and sending enough information about Access students
insurance.
2. Management seminar
Due to the financial situation of MATE and the fact that the response
to the proposals to Access program II has not been announced yet,
MATE executive board decided to:
- postpone management seminar which was supposed to be held in
Ouarzazate.
- ask colleagues in Ouarzazate to organize the National ICT
conference which was supposed to be held in Beni-Mellal late April.
We are positive they will do a very good job.
- see what-colleagues in the local Branch of Beni-Mellal can organize
in their region instead of the ICT Conference.
3. MATE national conference
The national conference will be held in either Beni Mellal or
Tetouan. Ms Rachida Senhaji will be in charge of providing MATE
board with a proposal on the possibility of organizing the conference
in Tetouan, while Mr Mustapha Zanzoun will do the same thing
about Beni-Mellal. As soon as the two proposals are ready, a decision
on where to hold this conference will be made. The theme of the
conference is as follows: "Effective Classroom Practice in
Language Education".
Mr. Ghaiti will prepare a draft of the call for papers for this
conference. This document will be edited and then put on MATE
website and sent to all the places it should reach.
4. MATE Website
MATE Newsletter Winter-Spring 2007, Volume 27 (Issue 3-4)
- Strengthening ties with RELO and BC in full respect for shared
interests and values.
- More importance to intercultural education in colloquia and
workshops.
- Encouraging inter-cultural experiences for teachers and for
students, through international exchange visits and projects (in co-
operation with partners).
4. Publications
- MATE newsletter: access for all members of MATE in hard copy!
- MATE proceedings
- Electronic products: teachers’ websites, magazines…
5. Sustaining MATE image and credibility
- Better quality trainings
- Transparency in governance
- Solid and systematic communication methods with branches:
yahoo groups, visits by MATE board officials, valuing and
continuous support.
- Advertising and public information (posters, leaflets, brochures…
in schools and delegations)
- Summer camps: more centres, capacity building for teachers.
MATE website has to be updated on a regular basis. Mr Hassim and
Mr Fahmi will be in charge of this task. Mr Fahmi will prepare
documents to be posted on the website and Mr Hassim will upload
them.
5. A.O.B
a. Back to reports in English
To keep all members informed as well as to provide an easy access to
the reports of MATE board meetings, bearing in mind the important
decisions made during these gatherings, it was decided to
- go back to writing reports in English.
- send them to all board members
- publish them in MATE newsletter.
b. Equipment for MATE Access Centers
To help colleagues working in the 12 MATE Access centers with
their task, it was decided to buy the following equipment for each
center: a laptop, a video projector and a printer.
c. Communication among MATE executive board
To avoid misunderstanding and to do a better job, it was decided to
reinforce communication among MATE executive board. For
example, every member of the executive board has to CC all the
other members when sending emails to anybody. This will help them
to know what is happening and to take part in the making of all
decisions.
d. MATE Days
Undoubtedly, there is a need to improve the quality of MATE days
because of their importance and the impact they might have on
attendees as well as on the image they give about our association.
Therefore, you are kindly requested to send suggestions on how to
enhance the quality of these events. A MATE Day will be held in
Casablanca on November 5th, 2008. There are other MATE Days that
will be organized by local branches.
e. Local Branches
MATE will go on setting up as many local branches as possible, but
that will be done where there is a clear need. There are regions where
a regional branch should represent 3 or 4 cities. This can be done by
having teachers from those cities elected. Thus, we will have real
regional branches. Casablanca local branch will be set up later this
year. There should be enough preparation for such an event.
f. British council books (Donation)
The books donated by the British council will be handed in to
representatives of local branches and Access centers during the
management seminar.
www.mate.org.ma 2
 REPORTS ON MATE ACTIVITIES
Report about Human Rights Day Celebration
As the proverb goes “better late than never”, the Ouarzazate-
Zagora MATE branch celebrated the universal event of Human
Rights on Saturday 27th, 2008, at Ibn Alhaitham Technical
school. Exactly thirty two students, along with teachers of
English and some administrators attended the event. Those
students were representatives of their respective classes. The
only criterion for students to be selected was to be able to
communicate in English.
Rationale:
As it was stated in the ministerial circular 134, dated on 2nd
December, 2008, we also aimed at:
• Reinforcing the propagation and inculcation of Human
rights culture at schools’ environments by enabling and
equipping students with its principles notions and values.
• Encouraging students to take positions and behaviours
which demonstrate their awareness of their obligations
and show respect for and defending the rights others
which fosters citizenship inside and outside school.
• Reinforcing the democratic educational conducts which
should be reflected most positively in teaching methods,
and educational relations among different components of
the school environment.
• Helping students to overcome personal inhibitions
towards the culture of Human Rights, in addition to
cognitive and emotional openness on its principles and
values, and their awareness of behaviours and conducts
that are related to the culture of Human Rights, inside
and outside school.
The objectives were as follow:
1. to celebrate the Human Rights Day.
2. to get students involved in the activities.
3. to sensitise them to the importance of The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights (U D H R).
4. to embed reading, speaking, listening and writing skills
throughout the afternoon.
The activities started at 14:30. The roles were distributed
among teachers in such a way as to guarantee the participation
of all teachers and students at the same time. The teachers
MATE Newsletter Winter, Spring 2008, Volume 28 (Issue 3-4)
provided help whenever felt necessary to the students who
might themselves asked for any further clarification.
Students were split into five groups including different
levels (mixed ability group) in such a way as to have
common core, first and second baccalaureate students in
each individual group. The interaction and participation was
far above our expectation. Students proved of their decent
and above average level in their background concerning
Human Rights. They came up with certain answers that
were really a token of their rich knowledge of dealing with
such issues.
The activities included brainstorming tasks, matching
activity introducing some key words with their definitions,
multiple choice exercises, going through the 30 articles of the
U D H R and matching some photos with the articles they
represent. A case study was the activity where students
expressed their strong feeling. They were deeply engaged
that they defended the victims offering quite reasonable
solutions or alternative answers for the cases studied.
After a ten-minute break, students resumed their work.
There was a fourteen-minute video projection about three
cases of people sentenced to death for the mistake they
hadn’t committed; but later acquitted. There was a degree of
suspense but worse was the hardship and psychological
torment they underwent before they finally reached the
acquittal and the pressure the NGOs and appealing letters
exerted on the oppressors. The activities which ensued were
very interesting that students were very excited and
enthusiastic to discuss the issues.
The last activity in the schedule was the viewing of a song
that dealt with instances of human rights violation. At 17:00
we came to the end of our celebration of the day. Everybody
was satisfied with the activities and the way they were
presented. It should be mentioned that teachers of English
had met many times to finalise those activities from a bulk
collected from the internet. The question was what could be
of importance and pertinence to the students. Thanks God
we were successful to a large extent.
Reported by Madani Ait Kabbout, Secretary General
www.mate.org.ma 3
 MATEAgadir Middle School Study Day
Reported by Mr. Chana

The Moroccan Association of Teachers of English (MATE) – Right after the workshops, the participants met in the
Agadir Local Branch - organized the second edition of the amphitheatre for the round table. During this session the
middle school study day on Tuesday 4th 2009 At the "Centre participants thanked Mate for efforts they put to bring teachers
Pédagogique régional" CPR in Inezgane. The study day together to learn, share and meet other ELT professionals.
revolved around the theme: “Varying Classroom Practices: a However, they also voiced some worries and recommendations
Key to Professional Development.” Participants, including concerning the study day and their working conditions, and these
supervisors, teachers, trainees and a few former ALC Access could be summed up in the following points:
students attended this study day. The number of participants
reached the estimated number of fifty; they all came from the 1. The three workshops were concurrent. Participants wanted to
delegations of Souss Massa Daraa region, namely Chtouka Ait benefit from all of them and they suggested two days instead
Baha, Inzegane Ait Melloul, Agadir Idaoutanane, Taroudant of one so that they could attend all the workshops.
and Tiznit. The activities included presentations, workshops as 2. Absence of pedagogical materials which affects their
well as social activities. performance in class.
3. Absence of official texts that regulate the teaching of English
Mr. Hassane FATHI, the president of MATE-Agadir started the in middle schools.
study day with a keynote speech in which he stated the main 4. The difficulty to deal with the big number of tests they are
events and activities that MATE-Agadir has organized for ELT required to design.
practitioners. He also thanked the participants for attending the
study day, the speakers, the supervisor and all the partners who Mate-Agadir, represented by Mr. Ahmed Atlagh and the
were involved in the supervisors reacted to
organization of the these comments. They
event. Mr Hassane explained the difficulties
Fathi gave the floor to and constraints that
Mr. Ahmed ATLAGH Mate has to face to
to chair the sessions of organize such events.
the study day. The supervisors also
suggested some
The first presentation solutions to make
was presented by Mr. working conditions
Abdelatif Zoubair, favorable. After that,
ELT supervisor at the Mr. Hassan Fathi
delegation of Agadir thanked the partners for
Idaoutanane. In his their support and
presentation “Testing: contribution to the
back to basics,” the success of the study day:
speaker tried to refresh
the attendees’ memory At about 2:00 pm, the
about the major principles of testing and the main steps of test participants had lunch at a restaurant in Ait Melloul. After That,
design with samples that illustrate these principles and steps. They visited Al Yassamine High School in the suburbs of Agadir
The second presentation was delivered by Mr. Greg Samuel, an to donate some English books that Mate had received from ALC
American teacher and manager of many educational projects in Agadir to enrich the school library. The school headmaster
the region. His presentation is entitled “Emphasizing Lexis in thanked Mate for this initiative and expressed the school
the Novice Classroom.” Mr. Samuel stressed the importance readiness to cooperate with Mate.
of lexis in novice classrooms, without adopting the lexical
approach as the main approach in teaching. After that Mr. All those who attended the study day agreed that it was fruitful
ATLAGH gave the floor to participants to ask questions and and successful, and most of them were satisfied with the quality
comment on the two presentations. of the papers and workshops.

After the break, participants joined one of the three concurrent
workshops. The first workshop was run by Ms. Michaëla
Segol, Teacher at the American Language Center. It's entitled
“Lesson Planning: what’s the point?”. Mr. Lahoucine
Bouchouate, ELT supervisor and coordinator at the delegation
of Agadir Idaoutanane led a workshop entitled “Criteria for
Test Construction”. The last workshop “There is more of
dictionary use than just looking up words” was presented by
Mr. Redouan Madaoui, High school teacher in Agadir.
Please visit our website http://mateagadir.idoo.com to read
abstracts).
We would like to thank the following partners for their support
and contribution to the success of the study day:
1. Regional Academy for education and training Souss Massa
Daraa
2. Regional English inspectorate in Agadir.
3. The American Language Center in Agadir
4. Inezgane CPR administration and teaching staff.
5. Inezgan Ait melloul Delegation.
6. Association des Oeuvres Sociales pour l'Education et la
Formation Inezgane Ait Melloul.
7. Al Yassamin High School in Ait Melloul.

MATE Newsletter Winter, Spring 2008, Volume 28 (Issue 3-4) www.mate.org.ma 4

 Guelmim Regional Branch Report on the reading contest: February 22nd, 2009
Reported by Mr. Lahcen Tighoula, Guelmim MATE branch

The contest was the result of two months’ preparation. The including the parents and teachers was about 130. Access
announcement and student application sheet had been sent to program students entertained the audience after the contest
schools in the region well in advance. The actual participants with enjoyable short plays, public speeches, songs and poems.
were from the following areas: Their performance was very much appreciated by the parents
Guelmim: 61 students representing 8 middle, 5 high schools and teachers who attended the event.
and 1 private school.
Bouizakarne: 4 students representing one middle school and At the end of the talent show, the results were announced in a
one middle school. formal ceremony. The prize winners also got certificates
Taghjijt: 4 students representing one high school. jointly signed by MATE-Guelmim and Macmillan
Lagssabi: 3 students representing one high school. representative, Susan Thornhill. The latter expressed her
delight to be among Guelmim MATErs and students, and
The overall number of participants was 72; each school was appreciation of the good organization of all aspects of the
coached by a teacher. Prior to the contest day, all these 72 event.
students had read a Macmillan story and emailed the synopsis
to the organizing committee. Those who couldn’t email them The headmaster of the private school thanked MATE-
had to submit them to the coordinating teacher. Guelmim for the initiative and expressed his school’s
readiness to collaborate in future events.
The audience was restricted to participants, Access program
students, and the parents. The number of all attendees,

Access students entertained the audience with short plays, songs and poems.

Ouarzazate-Zagoza MATE-Pedagogical Day: 21st February, 2009.

Mohamed VI High school, Ouarzazate

Ouarzazate Zagoza MATE branch , jointly with the English
inspectorate of Ouarzazate delegation, held a MATE Day, on
February 21st , 2009 in Mohamed VI High School. 33
teachers of English attended the event. The day revolved
around the following themes:
Process Writing ( Abdenace Razouki)
Peer Coaching (Mohamed Larbi Tlemsani)
Classroom Management ( Mohamed I ElAsri)
Why not a Light Activity ? (Hamza Mahmoud)
observation in general as well as that of peers. This
observation, he added, is prone to give the teacher an insight
into his everyday work as a practitioner. He also noted the
point of collaborative work that paves the way to teachers’
reflection upon their teaching through someone else’s eyes, a
thing that leads ultimately to a refinement of teaching
practices as well as teacher development in a global sense. Mr
Tlemsani ended his presentation by asking teachers to give it a
try and develop it informally before making it formal.

The MATE-Pedagoday started with a demo-lesson by After the break, Mr Mohamed I El Asri, a high school teacher
Bennacer Razzouki, a high school teacher in Mohamed VI from Ibnou Al Haitham School, gave his presentation under
school, Ouarzazate. The lesson was about writing a letter the theme, Classroom Management. The presentation pointed
using the frame and the notes taken. The teacher conducted histhe importance of management in classroom practices, in
terms of discipline, lesson plan, teacher-students rapport and
lesson following the steps of a process writing, relying on the
students’ as well as the textbook’s prompts. At the end even the design of the furniture within the classroom. All these
students were asked to write the letter using the frame given.components contribute to an optimat learning on the part of
students. He stressed that a good management ends up in good
After the demo lesson, the second presentation was about Peer teaching as well as teacher development.
Coaching by Mr Mohamed Larbi Tlemsani, the English
Supervisor, Ouarzazate delegation. In his presentation Mr The following activity was a workshop by Mr Hamza
Tlemsani stressed the idea of the importance of classroom Mahmoud, a high school teacher from Abou Bakr High

MATE Newsletter Winter, Spring 2008, Volume 28 (Issue 3-4) www.mate.org.ma 5

school, which gave the MATE day schedule a certain variety.
It was a light activity which he conducted in a cheerful way,
making the audience thus feel involved completely in the
activity. After stressing certain points in literature regarding
the five Cs in the standard based approach, the presenter
presented the activity and introduced some vocabulary items
used in the trial and the court. He then chose two teachers to
participate in the activity. The two alibis were accused to have
stolen their head master’s seal while being in a meeting. The
audience was supposed to prove the innocence or guilt of the
two alibis by asking them separately. Towards the end, the
jury was to decipher and spot the contradictory responses of
the two alibis. Everybody was involved and Mr Mahmoud
concluded his workshop by checking with the teachers
whether the activity touches upon the Five Cs he presenter at
the beginning.
Beni Mellal Report on the visit of the American Chargé to Access students
Reported by Mr Mbarel Akaddar
On Friday, March 6th, 2009, The American Chargé paid a
short visit to Access students in Beni Mellal. At his arrival
with his wife, Mr Ouardani, Mr Driouch and Mr Akaddar
were among the greeting committee beside Mr Saidi and a the
president of la chamber off commerce.
After the official welcome speech delivered by Mr Saidi, a
non access student welcomed the visitors. Then, one of our
Access students presented Beni Mellal MATE-Access
welcome speech in front of his Excellency.
After that, Mr Akaddar animated a collective presentation on
the main points of our ICT oriented enhancement activities
for Access students. With prompting from their teacher,
students tackled the four principal elements we have so far
covered
1. Creating and sending emails
2. Joining www.englishclub.com and doing various activities
online
3. Joining www.epals.com and getting connected with
classrooms abroad
4. Collaborating on online projects at www. epals.com
The following activity of the visit programme was story telling
by Mrs Jackson .She read a beautiful story which made the
audience applaud for long.
MATE Newsletter Winter, Spring 2008, Volume 28 (Issue 3-4)
After the four presentations, the audience engaged in the
discussion in a round table. They focused mainly the
importance of such meetings and collaborative work, either
with peers in the school area, or in such pedagogical meetings
or in MATE regional and national events. More points
revolved around the remaining schedule of the Ouarzazate-
Zagora Branch, especially the regional meeting as well as the
National Conference in BeniMelal. The meeting ended with
the view of meeting on 21st March, 2009 in Kalaa Mgouna and
in Tinghir in May 2009 as parts of the components of the
annual action plan of MATE Ouarzazate and with the
collaboration of the English Inspectorate in Ouarzazate
Delegation.
Reported by
Hamid ELBHIOUI
After that Mr Khadra played his guitar singing
«Imagine», and students had a lot of fun repeating after
him.
After that students read some passages about human
rights, democracy, citizenship and freedom. But the most
surprising scene of this visit was when Mr Jackson
requested students to ask him questions.
Absolutely all questions were asked by our students in a
fluent, appropriate and meaningful way; the fact that
amazed the Chargé and his wife. Our students proved to
be very dynamic, and communicative.
When he answered students questions Mr Jackson and his
wife distributed books to all Access students. Before the
tea break, Mr Saidi offered a portrait as a present to the
Chargé.
To record the event, both teachers and students enjoyed
taking collective pictures with The Jacksons.
Although there were continuous attempts to blur reality,
we did our best to draw the chargé’s attention that those
students who performed well belong to Beni Mellal
MATE-Access Center. Generally speaking, MATE
contribution to the event was a real success
www.mate.org.ma 6
 A profile of the Moroccan EFL teacher
By Dr. Abdellatif Zaki, I.A.V., Rabat
You want to know what I think the profile of the successful
English language teacher in Morocco should be like.
Listening to colleagues and to learners at various levels of
the educational system as well as of various cultural
choices, it seems that the most urgent qualities and aptitudes
of the EFL teacher in Morocco need to include the capacity
to understand and cope with the changes that are occurring
in the Moroccan society especially those affecting the
categories of knowledge, expression, attitude, analysis and
of assessment which Moroccans have been operating with
since independence. This capacity requires the teacher (i) to
be conversant with the notions of sociology, and (ii) to be
able to develop a critical awareness of the history of
Morocco, both ancient and contemporary. This capacity also
includes the ability to integrate both in his/her discourse and
attitudes a structural tolerance of the increasing diversity
that Moroccan literature, arts, and the other forms of
individual and collective expression have been developing
painfully in the last two or three decades. This tolerance
encompasses the newer trends and movements for the
promotion of individual freedoms, cultural equity, social
justice and political action and expression.
The teacher being described is therefore an intellectual who
should not only be aware of and sensitive to the change
processes taking place in Morocco, but also one who is
active in (i) releasing imagination, (ii) creating the
conditions for her/his students to learn how to assume
responsibility for their own choices, and (iii) in how to build
the courage it takes to stand for one's choices and to protect
the right of others to express and assume their own. In other
words, the teacher being described is one whose role is not
to maintain structures, values, and traditions in any area of
knowledge, expression and/or social organization, but one
who promotes the competencies, the faculties and the skills
to make choices, to question, reassess, challenge, de-
construct, and re-shuffle hierarchies so as reassign meanings
and values according to her/his own intellectual, cognitive
and emotional capacities and priorities.
The foreign language teacher should be a multiple window
each pane of which opens on a different world, different
options, different skills and intelligences which introduce
the Moroccan learner to new instruments for valuing her/his
own historical, social and cultural assets for a conscious and
critical appropriation that allows for the construction of the
conditions for the generation of and validation of new
aesthetic, expression and behavioral references and
frameworks.
For this to be possible, no field, no subject, no area of
intellectual investigation, no words, no emotions, no
passions, no symbols and references should be off limits for
the language teacher as one of his central roles is to remove
all forms of ideological barriers to addressing those issues
that liberate minds and spirits and that ensure access to
dignity and which have been traditionally silenced,
MATE Newsletter Winter, Spring 2008, Volume 28 (Issue 3-4)
concealed and omitted in the language course, and therefore
from the necessary scrutiny of the minds of the learners. Any
of these kept away from the language classroom, for whatever
reason, would be an act of confirming the exercise of some
exclusive power over the learner and of confirming the claim
of her/his uncritical and absolute submission and surrender to
some authority that fails to find legitimacy in other than
tyranny. A person, for example, who is embarrassed by
words used in the process of a cultural and scientific analysis
has no business taking up a job in language education which
has by definition the mission of teaching language, all
language, so as to give the learners the power to think and
talk about all the issues that are related to their lives.
Language related to the intimate parts of the body, for
example, is taught in science classes and are accepted as
necessary concepts for the description and analysis of the
body. Promoting the culture of scientific discipline,
methodological neutrality, and effective analysis starts with
the emancipation of language and with helping language users
and educators to mature out of the language taboos in which
they either hide their hold on some illegitimate privileges or
suppress the claims of others to some rights. In fact, the
language teacher may be in situations that such words would
have to be used. Avoiding a word in the translation of a
historical document of a religious authority, for example,
would not be only a breach of the intellectual probity of the
teacher but also a breach to her/his commitment to the respect
of the authenticity of historical sources. (This comment is also
applicable/opposable to teachers of other humanities courses.)
As described here, the language teacher we need is one who
promotes the cultural alternative in which no subjects would
be taboo in Morocco so that no manipulation of Moroccans
would be possible because they would not have been taught
something or not allowed to discuss some issues. In fact,
Moroccans, just like many people in other Arab and Muslim
countries, have been manipulated politically, socially,
culturally, religiously and economically because they had been
kept in ignorance of their history, of their religions, and of the
languages and/or of their aspects, levels and dimensions
through which they could have investigated them and
emancipated themselves.
To conclude, the teacher I have been talking about, is one who
would be able to develop in her/his students, the principles and
values of disciplined investigation methodologies in language
and the human sciences in general as well as the love of the
pursuit of knowledge and the respect of/for difference. In
other words, she/he provides her/his students not only with
knowledge of language and culture but with the intellectual
and emotional faculties necessary to theorize, explain and
make choices about language and culture.
Now you may ask me how a language can address all these
challenges. My answer is not going to be very helpful! It has
has two facets. The first one has to do with the
training/development of the teacher and the second with the
www.mate.org.ma 7
rehabilitation of the socio political and cultural system in
Morocco. As to training/development, It has two aspects.
The teacher, in addition to his/her flawless control of the
language, MUST have studied the histori(e), the literature(s)
the culture(s), and the various aspects of her/his own society
and those of the target language(s). The second aspect is
professional training /development which should go beyond
rehearsing performances of specific pedagogical tasks to
investigating the various linguistic dimensions of language,
including the sociolinguistic dimension, and language
learning theories.
As to the rehabilitation of the sociopolitical and cultural
environment, it concerns the empowerment of teachers to
integrate in their language classes as diverse cases of linguistic
expression and genres as well as diverse themes and issues
that, on the one hand, happen to be of concern to all the layers
of their society and to their students and, on the other hand,
that open up on the free imagination of possible futures and
thinking about how to assess these possible futures and how to
choose amongst them for oneself and for one's community.

From the editors

The views expressed in the newsletter are the contributors’
own and not necessarily those of the editors.

MATE Newsletter Winter, Spring 2008, Volume 28 (Issue 3-4) www.mate.org.ma 8

 Young Learners’ Multiple Intelligences: Theoretical and Practical Considerations
Ahmed Chaibi, ELT Supervisor
Theoretical considerations
It has long been surmised that we teach classes. We do not. We Bodily- • Learn by "doing" ; would rather touch
teach individual learners who do not learn only in different ways1, kinesthetically than just look; love activity, movement
but they also have ‘multiple intelligences’ as is expounded by intelligent (Can't sit still for too long); like
Gardner and others. According to the theory of multiple learners figuring out how things work; enjoy
intelligences, (i) the human mind is not a tabula rasa2; (ii)there is outdoor activities like camping, hiking
not a single intelligence3; and (iii) different individuals have or fishing; use objects skillfully; enjoy
different ‘intelligences”(Gardner)4. At the heart of this theory is sports and exhilarating experiences.
the notion that each individual’s intelligence consists of multiple Spatially • Good at solving visual puzzles; enjoy
intelligences (Blythe and Gardner) 5, each of which has its intelligent geometry in school; good at drawing;
independent operating system with the brain (Gardner). These learners can visualize pictures mentally; notice
intelligences6 include: verbal-linguistic, logical-mathematical, colors and shapes; enjoy photography;
spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, and have a sense of directions; can
intrapersonal (Gardner), and naturalist (Checkley7; Meyer8). The remember places vividly; like books
theory of multiple intelligences can serve as a template in with illustrations/ graphs/ pictures.
building strategies for students’ success in school and in • Empathetic
life. Learners with a particular intelligence exhibit common
characteristics as is shown in the table opposite: Interpersonally • Extraverted ; enjoy social events;
intelligent love groups and crowds; enjoy teaching
learners others; are friendly, nice and helpful;
Linguistically • Understand/ use the meanings of enjoy team sports; like to counsel
intelligent words in different contexts, have Good others; cooperative in groups; sensitive
learners oral and written communication skills; to other people's moods.
know the different uses for language, Intra-personally • Introverted; prefer working alone at
such as persuading suggesting a course intelligent their own pace ; philosophical about
of action and asking for and giving learners life; self-aware; extreme perfectionists;
information. intuitive; independent; spend time
logical- • Can do math mentally; enjoy science reflecting; like learning about self
mathematically experiments; organize things by Naturalistically • bothered by air pollution-related
intelligent category; think abstractly; look for a intelligent odors; enjoy having domestic pets ; like
learners rational explanations; wonder how learners to learn about nature ; appreciate
things work. scenery ; feel alive when in touch with
Musically • Can easily memorize tunes and nature ; like to camp, hike, walk and
intelligent songs; notice and enjoy different tunes; climb ; are weather conscious.
learners play musical instruments or sing
beautifully; notice an off-key note;
hare their passion for music with
everyone. Practical considerations
Adhering to this theory has implications for teachers in terms
of English instruction. We should view all intelligences as
1
. There is more than one way to learn. being equally important. We should recognize and cater to a
2.The human mind was thought by behaviorists to be a "tabula rasa" that broader range of talents and skills. Another implication is that
could be crammed, educated and trained to learn anything if taught we should create opportunities whereby students become
appropriately.
3
.Gardner’s theory draws a clear distinction between the traditional notion of
actively involved in learning experiences that are anxiety-free.
‘intelligence and ‘multiple intelligence3’. Gardner: contends that there is ‘a And yet another implication is that teachers should punctuate
multitude of intelligences which are quite independent of each other’, and each English lesson with activities /tasks that tap most or all of
that ‘ the mind is far from being unencumbered at birth’. (Gardner 1993: the intelligences. An anatomy of a multiple intelligence lesson
xxiii)3 would look something like this:
4 . Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple
intelligences. New York: Basic Books.
5 . Blythe, T, & Gardner, H. (1990). A school for all intelligences.
Educational Leadership, 47 (7), 33-37
6
Gardner also talks about ‘existentialist intelligence’ which involves the
appreciation of context of where humankind stands in the "big picture" of
existence. This intelligence is seen in the discipline of philosophy.
7. Checkley, K. (1997). The first seven ... and the eighth: A conversation
with Howard Gardner. Expanded Academic ASAP [on-line database].
Original Publication: Education, 116.
8. Meyer, M. (1997). The GREENing of learning: using the eighth
intelligence. Wilson Select [on-line database]. Original Publication:
Educational Leadership, 55.

MATE Newsletter Winter, Spring 2008, Volume 28 (Issue 3-4) www.mate.org.ma 9

As is clear from the structure above, ‘multiple intelligences’ hardly
ever operate separately9. They are used simultaneously and tend to
match up each other as long as learners develop skills or solve
problems. When planning a similar multiple intelligence lesson, a
number of questions help teachers explore the possibilities of
tapping into as many intelligences as possible:
Linguistic: How can I help students develop their communicative
competencies10?
Logical-Mathematical: How can I help them enhance their logical
and critical thinking?
Spatial: How can I use visual aids, art, or visual organizers?
Musical: How can I use tunes/ songs as a source of an excellent
comprehensible input?
Bodily-Kinesthetic: How can I involve the whole body or hands-
on experiences? (Will I use TPR?)
Interpersonal: How can I involve students in cooperative
learning? How can use teambuilding activities?
9
The lesson might not attend to all intelligences as is the case above.
‘Naturalisti
c intelligence’ might be focused on in similar tasks.
10
. Communicative Competence (CC) has been defined in various terms.
Canale and Swain’s definition is the most popular in applied linguistics. CC
encompasses four components:
1. grammatical competence: words and rules ;
2. sociolinguistic competence: appropriateness ;
3. discourse competence: cohesion (form) and coherence (meaning);
4. strategic competence: appropriate use of communication strategies to
repair communication breakdowns and / improve communication
effectiveness.
MATE Newsletter Winter, Spring 2008, Volume 28 (Issue 3-4)
Intrapersonal: How can I evoke students’ personal opinions/
views/ feelings or memories, or give them choices?
Naturalistic: How can I use the natural environment to
stimulate learning?
Conclusion
The theory of multiple intelligences has had many educational
implications; among these we can cite the following: (i) teachers
need to individualize teaching as much as possible; (ii) they
need to teach topics in a variety of ways; (iii) they have to
develop as many human cognitive capacities as proves
practicable.
The theory of multiple intelligences has also had an impact on
assessment: since all learners do not learn in the same way, they
cannot be assessed in the same way. It is therefore crucial that
teachers create an “intelligence profile” for each student.
Knowing how each student learns will allow the teacher to
properly assess the students’ progress (Lazear)11. Through
including assessment methods such as student portfolios,
independent projects, student journals in ‘continuous
assessment’, you will assess your students’ multiple
intelligences. For this change to take place at a sound and
smooth way; teachers need to be trained to present their lessons
( and assess impact) in a wide variety of ways using music, the
net, reading, writing, conversing, cooperative learning, art
activities, role play, field trips, inner reflection, portfolio,
project work, and much more.
11
. Lazear, David (1992). Teaching for Multiple Intelligences. Fastback
342 Bloomington, IN: Phi Delta Kappan Educational Foundation. (ED
356 227)
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 The pronunciation component in ELT in Morocco
Mohamed Elfatihi, EFL Teacher
The pronunciation component is probably the most neglected the reason why pronunciation is often referred to as “the poor
aspect of in ELT in the world as a whole (Haycraft, 1978), and in relation” of the ELT world (Brown, 1991:1). In spite of the
Morocco in particular. The reasons behind this are numerous and claim that pronunciation is part and parcel of ELT, the
they have affected the level of the Moroccan learners’ classroom reality does not corroborate this.
communicative competence. Still, a number of measures can be
taken to ensure that the learners achieve an intelligible In recent years, it has been especially difficult for
pronunciation. To investigate this issue, a field study was pronunciation to find its niche within a communicative
conducted to collect data about pronunciation in ELT in Morocco.
curriculum: Should it be treated as a separate
The sample of respondents included 55 Moroccan teachers of
component? as a series of self-paced, individualized
English working in different regions.
modules? or should it be integrated throughout the
curriculum? While such questions are debated, many of
Definition
us quietly go about our work erroneously assuming that
Almost all language dictionaries give the same definition to the
someone else is taking care of pronunciation.
term pronunciation. It is “The way in which a word or letter is
(Samuda, 1993: 757)
said, or said correctly, or the way in which a language is
spoken” (Cambridge Dictionary of American English, 2000).
Added to this is that some influential scholars are strongly
More precisely, pronunciation refers to the production of sounds
dubious about the teachability of pronunciation, for the reason
that people use to create meaning. This includes the individual
that accent is unteachable. It is, according to the same scholar,
sounds of the language, referred to as Segments, and the aspects
acquired in real life communicative interaction. Thus, one can
which accompany the production of these segments i.e. the
deduce that there is a paradox between the amount of research
Suprasegmental aspects such as stress, intonation, voice quality
devoted to investigating pronunciation learning strategies and
settings, etc. In the case of English, the inventory of segments
the richness and complexity of these strategies that learners
includes 25 consonants, and 13 to 15 vowels. All these aspects
use. This can be ascribed to the fact that many practitioners
work simultaneously when we produce an utterance, even as
think that there is an inverse relationship between what is
short as “Hello!” It is equally important to note that
teachable (segments) and what is important for communication
pronunciation entails the actual production and perception of
(suprasegmental features, especially intonation). This is
these aspects to achieve meaning in the context of the language
corroborated by Jenkins (1997), when she argued that when
use.
English is used for international communication “pitch
movement” (p.116) does not affect communication, but stress
Is pronunciation important?
placement is crucial to intelligibility. Stress, according to her, is
Usually, learners with intelligible pronunciation are more likely
subject to “clearly defined and thus teachable rules” (p.116).
to be understood by native and non-native speakers, even if they
Other scholars like Dalton and Seidlhofer (1994:72-74)
make mistakes in grammar. They are often considered
differentiate what can be isolated and generalized i.e. teachable
intelligent and well-educated by the listeners. A piece of
and what cannot be, like the attitudinal functions of intonation,
evidence is Gumper’s experiment in which he video-taped the
which are dependent on the individual’s circumstances. Still,
way a bank teller treats some clients. The first client was a non-
the question remains unanswered. Can pronunciation be taught,
native speaker of English, but who had lived in England for
and if it can, should it be?
many years. This client was not treated politely because he did
not stress his utterance correctly. The utterance was “I’d like to
To answer this question, a review of the main studies done in
deposit some money, please.” The second client, who was an
this field will be presented. This review conducted by Pardo
English person, was treated courteously. The third client, a
(2004) summarizes findings yielded by 25 studies on the effect
native speaker, was asked to say the same utterance of the two
of explicit instruction and training on pronunciation learning.
previous clients but with a non-native speaker’s stress.
For the sake of clarification only some examples of these
Surprisingly enough, this client was not treated politely (List,
studies will be mentioned. All the studies were reported in
1986). However, learners with less intelligible pronunciation, no
Pardo.
matter how perfect their grammar might be, are less likely to be
understood. Moreover, pronunciation has individual as well as
Catford and Pisoni (1970) designed a program to teach vowels
social impact on the speaker. Thus, a person with an intelligible
and consonants to two groups of learners. The first group was
pronunciation is usually judged positively by the listener;
taught with articulatory instruction, whereas the second
whereas a person with a poor pronunciation is often judged as
received auditory training. The first group performed twice
incompetent or lacking in knowledge (Adult Migrant English
better than the first in the production test, and in the
Program Research Centre, 2002).
discrimination test the first group surpassed the second.
Is Pronunciation Teachable?
Hoffman and Damico (1987) conducted an experiment to
“Pronunciation is probably the most neglected aspect of
investigate the role of teaching in developing the self-monitor,
English language teaching. Foreign teachers often lack
which they defined as “the ability to know when an accurate
confidence to teach it methodically and English teachers have a
identification was being made and to recognize when a
complex about it” (Haycraft, 1983:55). This quotation clearly
distinction was still not clear” (Yule, Hoffman and Damico,
reveals the reluctance of teachers, either native speakers or
1987: 765). They discovered that the learners who were having
foreigners, to integrate pronunciation in their classroom
difficulties identifying a phoneme during the course actually
activities. As a matter of fact, pronunciation is at worst
developed their self-monitor. The two scholars claimed to have
neglected altogether, and relegated to a subsidiary role of
discovered a stage in which there is improvement in the
broader language skills like speaking and listening at best.
learners’ certainty about when they are making correct
Many teachers still question the teachability of pronunciation
identification and when they are not.
and consider explicit pronunciation instruction of little benefit,
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Elliott (1995) conducted a study on the classroom acquisition
of Spanish. The 43 intermediate learners composing the
experimental group received 10 to 20 minutes instruction on
pronunciation in each session for about 12 weeks, with focus
on vowels, consonants, and allophones. The controlling group
was exposed to the same language input but without any
explicit teaching. The first group performed far better than the
second group in the final test.
Cenoz and Garcia Lecumberri (1996) worked with a group of
Spanish learners enrolled in a sixty hour program of English
phonetics. The study consists of measuring their discriminatory
ability before, during, and after receiving 15 hours training in
discriminatory instruction in RP vowels. The scores of the pre-
test were 22.72, whereas the ones of the post-test were 29.53.
Bongaerts, van Summeren, Planken, and Schills’s (1997) study
involved 11 Dutch college teachers who acquired English only
in an instructional environment. After receiving intensive
training in the perception and production of British English
sounds, their accentedness was measured on a scale from
1(very strong foreign accent) to 5 (no foreign accent at all).
They scored an average of 4.61almost indistinguishable from
the control group of native speakers who scored 4.85 and
another control group of Dutch learners who scored 2.59.
Derwing, Munro, and Wiebe (1997) designed an experiment in
which 12 advanced speakers of English, who had lived in an
English speaking country for 10 years, took a 3 month course
in pronunciation. The course was not only about segments but
it had a global objective. When their performance was
measured, eight of the participants showed improvement in
intelligibility, and accent. The researchers concluded than
achievement in pronunciation is attributed of all to instruction,
since the participants had lived in an English speaking country
for 10 years.
Kendrick (1997) designed a nine-month pronunciation training
in an English boarding school for 8 teenagers from different
language backgrounds. The training consisted of varied
activities, discriminating and producing segments, working
with weak syllables, rhythm exercises, word stress and role
play activities for intonation and voice quality settings, and
development of self correction strategies by self recorded
tapes. Though there was no pre-test the scholar reported that
the participations made significant improvement in both
segmental and suprasegmental aspects.
In brief, the studies above, among others, provided ample
evidence to support the claim that class instruction plays a
significant role in improving the learners’ pronunciation either
on the segmental level or the suprasegmental level. The other
studies reported by Pardo and not stated here share the same
argument and raise further issues related to pronunciation.
These issues are:
¾ Explicit vs. implicit pronunciation instruction
¾ Audiovisual vs. audio pronunciation instruction
¾ Formal pronunciation training vs. real life acquisition
¾ Segmental vs. global pronunciation instructions (prosody
and suprasegmental)
¾ The role and types of feedback.
¾ L2 phonology acquisition and the Critical Period Hypothesis.
There is no doubt now that pronunciation can be taught, and
that the formal teaching of pronunciation has instructive effects
on the learners’ level of achievement. Still, one can observe
that learners do not achieve the same level of pronunciation
even if they are given the same instructions. This implies that
MATE Newsletter Winter-Spring 2008, Volume 28 (Issue 3-4)
there are certain factors that come to play in deciding on the
level and pace of pronunciation learning.
What factors affect the learning of pronunciation?
Learning pronunciation, like learning all other language skills is
subject to a number of factors that can either improve or hamper
the whole process. These factors can be biological, Cognitive,
affective, linguistic, or pedagogical.
Biological factors
The main biological factor that has a strong effect on
pronunciation learning is age. This is based on the known fact
that adult learners usually maintain a foreign accent, whereas
young children often manage to acquire a native-like
pronunciation. In part, this can be ascribed, as claimed by the
Critical Period Hypothesis, to the neurological maturation
during the critical period. It is a biologically defined period
usually before puberty, in which language acquisition is faster
and easier, but it becomes more difficult beyond the time of this
period. Another possible explanation is supplied by
Hammarberg (1989) who claims that children perceive and
process speech in an auditory pre-categorical mode because
their central representation of sounds is still evolving, compared
to adults, who tend to rely on a phonetic mode by making use of
previous linguistic experience in the perception of sounds. In
other words adult learners are dependent on L1sound categories
more than young children. Thus, adults often confuse L1 sounds
with those of the target language. A further point is that the main
difference between adult learners and children resides in
learning prosody, or suprasegmental aspects. Loup &
Tanomboon (1978) designed an experiment to measure the
degree of mastery of L2 segmental and suprasegmental aspects
by adult and young children. The results showed that adults are
inferior to children in learning suprasegmental features. The
interpretation that was given was that of lateralization. To put it
simply, children perceive and process linguistic input, including
suprasegmental aspects, in the right hemisphere of the brain, as
opposed to adults, who rely on the left hemisphere which is
associated with propositional, analytic, and relational thought, to
process input (reported in Pennington, et. Al 1986).
Cognitive factors
Research on SLA confirms the assumption that many of the
processes used in acquiring L1 phonology are quite similar to
the ones used in L2 learning. An example of these is that
children acquire voiceless consonants before voiced consonants
in L1. The same order applies to L2 (Hecht & Mulford, 1982;
reported in Hammarberg 1989). Another phenomenon in L1 and
L2 developmental process is simplification. Learners often tend
to simplify structures or patterns (e.g. a syllable) that seems to
them difficult. Notwithstanding, too much simplification results
in pidginization, which either persists and becomes fossilized or
undergoes a process of de-creolization to approximate the target
language system (Anderson 1983 and Schumann, 1978)
Another cognitive factor is the development of phonological
representation for the target language (L2 phonological
competence). This competence is developed through exposure to
L2 and the availability of opportunities for practice (L2
phonological performance). But, competence and performance
may sometimes not develop in parallel, especially if there is lack
of exposure or practice.
Affective factors
No one can deny that motivation is an essential requirement for
success in language learning. Many works on the affective
aspect of learning, such as Grook and Schmidt (1991), Z.
Dornyei (1998), and M. Williams and R. Burden (1997), drew
attention to the importance of motivation as a helping factor in
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language learning. As a matter of fact, two types of motivation
are usually recognized by educationalists and psychologists:
Intrinsic and Extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation derives from
personal reasons such as enjoyment of the learning process or
self-esteem realization. Extrinsic motivation, on the contrary, is
related to external factors such as expectation to get a job or a
promotion. Lambert (1967) makes a distinction between
Integrative and Instrumental motivation for language learning.
Integrative motivation means that the learner wishes to identify
with the speakers of the target language. Instrumental
motivation, however, refers to the desire to achieve practical
goals via the target language, such as getting a job. Lambert,
thus, claims that an integrative motivation is more likely to lead
to success than the instrumental one. What is relevant here is
that learners with an integrative motivation often attempt to
reach a native-like pronunciation, whereas learners with
instrumental motivation usually content themselves with an
intelligible pronunciation. There are, of course exceptions to
this rule, especially when some learners take an ESP course.
Linguistic factors
Two interrelated linguistic factors can be held responsible for
the success or failure of pronunciation learning. The first is the
influence of L1. The mother tongue of the learner certainly has
an effect on learning a second/foreign language pronunciation.
This claim is well supported by most theories of Second
Language Acquisition (Lado 1957). Thus, the learner develops a
language, usually called an interlanguage, which has aspects of
both L1 and target language. Many aspects of the target
language, either segmental or suprasegmental, are transferred
from L1 to the learner’s interlanguage. The second factor is
related to the difference and markedness of L1 and target
language. This hypothesis was first investigated by Ekman
(1977). The basic tenet of this hypothesis is the assumption that
aspects that are both different and marked between L1 and
target language are always difficult to learn, whereas those
which are not marked may not cause difficulty in learning, even
if they are different. Anderson (1987) investigated this
hypothesis with Arab and Chinese learners of English, who
found long consonant clusters (marked) more difficult to learn
than short clusters (unmarked).
Pedagogical factors
The evidence presented above proves that training and
classroom instructions decide, to a great extent, on the outcome
of learning pronunciation. Contrary to what some teachers
might think, classroom instruction is one factor that affects the
process of learning pronunciation. In addition to that, the
effectiveness of the teaching procedure is crucial in that it is
supposed to aim at attainable benchmarks and provide enough
opportunities for practice. Equally important is the fact that
learners do well when they are physically, emotionally, and
cognitively involved in the teaching/learning process.
What difficulties do the Moroccan learners face in learning
pronunciation?
A majority of teachers who took part in this study showed their
dissatisfaction with their students’ level in pronunciation. In
fact, a big number of Moroccan students are good enough at
writing, listening, and reading, but few have a satisfactory level
in pronunciation. Moroccan learners have difficulties in three
levels of pronunciation, the segmental level, the connected
speech level, and the suprasegmental level. The first level is
related to the pronunciation of single sounds.
As far as consonants are concerned, many Moroccan learners
have difficulties with the following sounds:
MATE Newsletter Winter-Spring 2008, Volume 28 (Issue 3-4)
/p/ and/b/ are often confused. e.g. “peer” /bɪə(r)/
/d/ is often pronounced as the Arabic palatal /D/ e.g “door”
/Dɔ:(r)/*
/θ/ is often pronounced as /t/ e.g “think” /tinŋk/*
/ð/ is pronounced as /d/ and sometimes as /th/ e.g. “there”
/deə(r)/
/t/ is often pronounced as the Arabic palatal /T/ e.g. “time”
/Taim/*
/ŋ/ is often pronounced as /n/ or /ng/ e.g. “speaking”
/spi:kɪn/* or / spi:kɪng/*
The dark /ɫ/ is often realized as a normal /l/.e.g. “learn”
/lɜ:(r)n/
As far as vowels are concerned, Moroccan learners tend to have
difficulties with vowel length and vowel quality. Thus,
/i:/ is used interchangeably with /ɪ/ e.g. “team”
/tɪm/
/u:/ is used interchangeably with /u/. e.g. “moon”
/mun/*
/əʊ/ is often pronounced as /ɔ:/. “hope” /hɔ:p/*
/ʌ/ and /æ/ are often confused. e.g. “cup” /kæp/, and
“hat” /hʌt/
/ei/ is pronounced as /æ/ e.g. “late” /læt/*
The difficulties of the second level, the connected speech level,
are usually more serious and more important in that they affect
the intelligibility of the speaker. The first area in which the
Moroccan learners have difficulties is vowel reduction. A
Moroccan learner is often supposed to have difficulty perceiving
and producing the schwa in a sentence like “I can do that”,
/Kən/. This difficulty is often manifested when the learner is
exposed to authentic material in a listening activity. The second
area is sound deletion, as in “We don’t like it.” /wɪ dəʊn’ laik it/.
In this example the learner might be unable to realize the
omission of the sound /t/, and as a result he/she may not be able
to understand the utterance. Another area of difficulties is sound
blending or linking. An example would be “He is a bad boy”,
/Hɪz ə bæbɔɪ/. In this example the sound /d/ is deleted to avoid
the consonants cluster. In addition to these two areas, Moroccan
learners often have difficulties in connected speech when
phonological processes such as assimilation, linking, and
insertion are used.
Moroccan learners also have difficulties in the suprasegmental
level of pronunciation. In fact, it is this level which most
teachers find it difficult to deal with in the classroom. It includes
stress, intonation, and voice quality settings. Stress can function
at the word level or at the sentence level. In word level, a
syllable is usually stressed at the expense of other syllables.
Thus, when a syllable is stressed, it is louder in volume, longer
in duration, and higher in pitch. For example, the word
“professor” is usually stressed on the second syllable,
/prə ’fesə(r)/. At the sentence level, a word is often given
prominence over the other words because it carries the focal
meaning of the sentence. It is worth mentioning that failure to
stress the right word in the sentence results in the change of
meaning. For example, the following sentence may have, at
least, three stress patterns and each has a different meaning.
1. John was here yesterday.
2. John was here yesterday.
3. John was here yesterday.
The first pattern might mean that it is John who was here, not
Mark or Peter. In the second pattern the meaning might be that it
was here where John was, not there. Finally, the third pattern
might mean that it was yesterday that John was here not today.
In this regard, a majority of the teachers who took part in this
www.mate.org.ma 13
study had difficulties in dealing with stress. The difficulties that
Moroccan learners face in stress might be ascribed to the fact
that English is a stress-timed language par excellence. In
addition, most Moroccan learners try to apply French and
Arabic stress patterns on English, which results in a heavy
foreign accent. Furthermore, the majority of teachers who were
asked to answer the questionnaires reported that they rarely
teach stress in the classroom. They usually content themselves
with teaching the different sounds, especially the ones which are
not familiar to the students. As a result of this, a vast majority of
learners, including advanced learners, have serious problems
with stress.
Closely related to stress is intonation. It refers to the way
different kinds of meaning are conveyed in discourse through
the use of pitch patterns (Dalton & Seidlhofer, 1994 and Roach,
2000). In English five patterns of intonation are prevalent:
falling, rising, rise-fall, fall-rise, and level (Brazil, 1997).
Obviously, of all the suprasegmental features of the English
pronunciation, intonation can be considered the most difficult
for the Moroccan learners. One reason behind this is that there
is little exposure to authentic input, either in Media or in
everyday life. The importance of intonation resides in the fact
that it affects not only the locutionary meaning, but the
illocutionary meaning as well. Consider the following example.
If a person answers a casual remark like “The weather is fine
today, isn’t it” “YesÌ” with a rising intonation, this means that
he/she is ready to start a conversation. If, however, the “YesÍ”
is said with a falling or even level intonation, this might mean
that he/she declines the invitation to start the conversation. The
following examples make the point clearer.
ƒ What are you doing? Ì
ƒ What are you doing? Í
The first example, said with a rising intonation, is clearly a
genuine question, since usually a question is accompanied with
rising intonation. In the second example there is a violation of
this rule. The utterance acquires a new meaning. It is more of an
indirect imperative than a question. The meaning would be “Do
not do that”.
Now we turn to the last suprasegmental feature of
pronunciation, voice quality setting. Esling & Wong (1983)
define voice quality settings as “the long-term articulatory
postures of a speaker which determine the overall pattern of
suprasegmental features that characterize the voice of the
speaker and the accent of the speaker's particular language”.
Voice quality settings function linguistically by characterizing
the language or dialect spoken or the social group of the
speaker, paralinguistically by showing the mood or emotions of
the speaker in the conversation context, and extra-linguistically
by identifying or characterizing the speaker himself/herself. The
importance of voice quality settings stems from the fact that
they can characterize the accent of both the native speaker and
the ESL/EFL learner. They are also crucial to intelligibility,
since they influence understanding just like the articulation of
sounds does. Voice quality settings refer to the posture of the
larynx, pharynx, tongue, velopharyngeal system, and lips. As a
matter of fact, there is not one standard voice quality
configuration for the same language, let alone for different
languages. These settings differ according to the individual,
his/her region, and social background. Still one can give
examples of settings which are mostly common in a variety. In
North American Standard English, as a case in point, the
following settings are more or less common to most speakers.
¾ Spread lips
¾ Open jaw
¾ Palatalized tongue body position
¾ Retroflex articulation
MATE Newsletter Winter-Spring 2008, Volume 28 (Issue 3-4)
¾ Nasal voice
¾ Lowered larynx
¾ Creaky voice
(Esling & Wong, 1983)
It might seem very ambitious to expect the Moroccan learners,
especially those learning English for no obvious purpose, to
master this feature. It might also be too demanding to expect the
Moroccan EFL teachers to master all the details of voice quality
settings. However, the teachers’ awareness of these aspects will
certainly help them guess what is wrong with their students’
pronunciation. It would also make them able to decide on which
area to do remedial work.
In brief, the Moroccan learners seem to have difficulties in three
major areas of pronunciation, the segmental level, the connected
speech level, and the suprasegmental level. In part, this is due to
the interference of the mother tongue, or any other L2, to
overgeneralization, but mostly to the fact that pronunciation is
not adequately integrated in the curriculum.
What do teachers think about teaching pronunciation?
The results of this study revealed that most Moroccan teachers
are rather dissatisfied with their students’ level in pronunciation.
Surprisingly enough, most of them reported that they rarely
teach pronunciation in class. This seems to be the case not only
in Morocco but all over the world. Many eminent scholars, like
Samuda, corroborate this state of affairs.
In recent years, it has been especially difficult for
pronunciation to find its niche within a communicative
curriculum: Should it be treated as a separate component?
as a series of self-paced, individualized modules? Or
should it be integrated throughout the curriculum? While
such questions are debated, many of us quietly go about
our work erroneously assuming that someone else is
taking care of pronunciation. (Samuda, 1993: 757)
The reasons behind the Moroccan teachers’ reluctance to
integrate pronunciation in the classroom activities are varied.
One such reason is the assumption that pronunciation is
unteachable. Few teachers believe that pronunciation cannot be
taught through formal classroom instruction, but it is acquired in
real-life interaction with native speakers. Though it has some
truth in it, this belief is not totally based on credible evidence,
for research has proven that pronunciation can be taught through
classroom activities. Another reason is the uncertainty among
some teachers regarding the importance of teaching
pronunciation. These teachers believe that since most Moroccan
learners study English for no obvious purpose, they do not need
to develop an intelligible pronunciation. A third reason is related
to the lack of training in teaching pronunciation. Few teachers
reported that they were not adequately trained to teach
pronunciation in the classroom in the way they were trained to
teach other skills such as reading and writing. Others however
ascribe their reluctance to the lack of appropriate material.
Obviously, teachers are not the only ones responsible for the
situation, because there is uncertainty as to what standards of
pronunciation the Moroccan learners should attain. In this
respect, little is said about pronunciation in the official
guidelines for the teaching of pronunciation in high school; not
to mention that there are not yet any official guidelines for
junior high school.
What can be done?
The investigation of the issue of pronunciation in this study
revealed the following symptoms:
• The majority of Moroccan students have serious problems
with pronunciation.
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• Most of the Moroccan learners’ difficulties are related to the
connected speech level or the suprasegmental level.
• Many Moroccan teachers rarely teach pronunciation in the
classroom.
• The lack of training and materials prevent teachers from
integrating pronunciation in the classroom activities.
• The Ministry of education’s guidelines for the teaching of
English does not provide enough assistance for teachers
concerning pronunciation.
Accordingly, a number of implications can be drawn to improve
the teaching and learning of pronunciation in the Moroccan
schools.
To start with, the objectives of teaching pronunciation need to
be redefined and made clear. This will certainly help teachers
integrate pronunciation in their classroom activities, and it will
specify the standards that the learners should meet. In addition
to that, redefining objectives and specifying standards and
methodology of teaching and assessment will define the roles of
all the stakeholders and make their work focused. Related to
this is the fact that pronunciation needs to be integrated in the
curriculum and related to the other skills and language items,
namely listening, speaking and spelling. To achieve this,
textbooks need to be supplemented with enough materials to
cater for the learners’ needs and facilitate the teachers’ job. This
implies that teachers and learners need to be provided with
varied and appropriate materials, including audio material.
Finally, the teacher training institutes need to consider taking
pronunciation into account in the training of future teachers of
English. This can be achieved by devoting special sessions to
the method of teaching and designing materials related to
pronunciation.
On another level, teachers need to reconsider the importance of
pronunciation in the development of the learners’
communicative competence, and give it due importance.
Moreover, teaching pronunciation in the classroom presupposes
training the Moroccan learners to perceive and produce the
sounds and the suprasegmental aspects of the English
pronunciation with minimum repetition. To achieve this goal,
pronunciation should be taught through communicative
activities that are both relevant and interesting for the learners.
For example, learners can memorize dialogues, short poems, or
roles in a play, and focus their attention on the intonation
patterns. Games can also be used to draw the learners’ attention
to different sounds and suprasegmental features. More
important is the fact that the learners need to be involved
physically, cognitively, and emotionally in the pronunciation
activities, so as to guarantee an adequate level of achievement.
Teaching and assessment are usually two components that
cannot be divorced from each other. This means that in order to
fully integrate pronunciation in the curriculum, it should be
given a share in assessment. Though assessing pronunciation
may not seem an easy task, a number of tests can be designed to
measure the learners’ level of achievement. Thus, pronunciation
can be assessed communicatively by measuring its contribution
to the learners’ communicative skills. An example of a test
might be to ask two students to carry out a conversation on a
given topic, each taking turns asking and answering questions.
In the mean time the teacher assesses, with the help of a
checklist, the pronunciation element that he/she wants to test.
Conclusion
Pronunciation is part and parcel of the English language
teaching and learning. It is not only a language component that
should be taught, learnt, and assessed, but it is an essential part
MATE Newsletter Winter-Spring 2008, Volume 28 (Issue 3-4)
of the communicative competence of the learner. Pronunciation
has individual as well as social effects on the learner. Listeners
often make judgments about the speaker based on his/her level
of pronunciation. Moreover, the mastery of pronunciation gives
the learner a sense of achievement. For all of these reasons, and
others, pronunciation should be given due importance in
syllabus design and methodology of teaching and assessment.
Contrary to what many teachers think, pronunciation can be
taught through classroom activities. Research has provided
ample evidence to support the idea that classroom instruction is
crucial to learning the pronunciation of English as a
foreign/second language. In addition, learning pronunciation is
affected by five main factors, namely biological factors,
cognitive factors, affective factors, linguistic factors, and
pedagogical factors.
The Moroccan learners actually do have difficulties in
pronunciation at three levels, the segmental level, the connected
speech level, and the suprasegmental level. The difficulties of
the first level are usually easier to overcome compared to the
second and even the third level. These difficulties are related to
a number of reasons, namely the phonological and phonetic
nature of the English language, the interference of the mother
tongue and the second language of the learners, and the lack of
enough classroom teaching. Among the three reasons, the lack
of classroom teaching seems to have the biggest share. Thus,
pronunciation need to be integrated in the classroom activities,
and importance should be given to the suprasegmental aspect
because it affects directly communication more than the other
aspects.
References
Anderson, J.I. 1987. “The markedness differential hypothesis and
syllable structure difficulty”. In G. Ioup and S.H.
Weinnberger(eds.) Interlanguage phonology: The acquisition
of second language sound system.Cambridge, MA: Newbury
House.350-361.
Brazil, David.1997. Pronunciation for Advanced Learners of
English: Teacher’s Book. Cambridge University Press.
Brown, Adam Ed .1991. Teaching English Pronunciation: A Book
of Readings. London: Routledge.
Cambridge Dictionary of American English. 2000. Cambridge
University Press.
Ekman. F.R. 1977. “Markedness and contrastive analysis
hypothesis”. Language learning. 27.2.315-330.
Esling, John H. Wong, Rita F. 1983. “Voice Quality Settings and
the Teaching
of Pronunciation ». TESOL Quarterly. Vol. 17, No. 1, March, 1983.
Haycraft, John.1983. An Introduction to English Language
Teaching. Longman.
Hammarberg, Bjorn.1989. “Acquisition of Phonology”. Annual
Review of Applied Lingistics. Vol. 9, 1988.Cambridge
University Press.
Lado, R. 1957. Linguistics across Cultures. Ann Arbor, MI:
University of Michigan Press.
List, Kathleen. 1986. “Pronunciation: the Intrigue in Front of the
Difficulty”. Proceedings of the Sixth Annual Conference of the
Moroccan Association of Teachers of English. March, 1986.
Pardo, Dario Barrera.2004. “Can Pronunciation Be Taught? A
Review of Research and Implications for Teaching”. Revista
Estudios Ingleses.Vol. 17, 2004
Pennington, Martha C., Richard, Jack C. 1986. “Prononciation
Revisited”. TESOL Quarterly. Vol. 20, No. 2, June 1986.
Samuda, Virginia. 1993. “Pronunciation Textbooks”. Quarterly.
Vol. 27, No. 4, Winter 1993.
Online References
Adult Migrant English Program Research Centre.2002.
http://www.nceltr.mq.edu.au/pdamep
www.mate.org.ma 15
 Thirty years on ...
MATE National Conferences: Themes, Venues and Presidents

THEMES VENUES DATES President

st
1 Teaching English as a Foreign Language in Morocco Marrakech 1981 A. El Youssi
2nd Teaching English as a Foreign Language in Morocco Fes March 1982 A. Benhallam
3rd Testing in EFL El Jadida March 1983 M. Mkoun
4th English for Communication Tangier March 1984 F. Sabil
5th Problem areas in TEFL Meknes March 1985 A. Bendkia
TEFL in Morocco: Bridging the gap between Secondary and
6th Safi March 1986 A. Ezzaki
Tertiary levels
7th Integrating Language Skills Marrakech March 1987 A. Meziani
8th ELT in Morocco: Directions for the Nineties Rabat March 1988 A. Zaki
Teacher Education and Development
9th Continuous assessment in the New Baccalaureate El Jadida March 1989 M. El Haddad
System in Morocco
10th English Language Teaching: The Maghrebi Experience Agadir Dec. 1989 A. Zaki
English Language Teaching in the Maghreb: Current
11th Oujda Dec. 1990 M. Ouakrime
issues in Evaluation
English Language Teaching in the Maghreb: Focus on
12th Tetouan Dec. 1991 K. Zizi
the Learner
13th The Communicative Approach: Felicity or Breakdown? Ouarzazate March 1993 M. El Haddad
14th Classroom Oriented Research Beni Mellal March 1994 M. Ouaqqa
Education for Development: The Role of English as a
15th Casablanca March 1995 A. Bendkia
Foreign Language
16th ELT in Morocco: Perspectives for the 21st Century Mohammedia March 1996 A. Fawzi
17th ESP in the Arab World: Reality Check and Prospects Erfoud March 1997 M. El Haddad
18th Issues in English Language Teaching Materials Salé April 1998 A. Ait Ali
19th ELT Curriculum: New challenges, New Solutions Marrakech 1999 H. El Boustani
20th The New Education System: The Role of English Kenitra March 2000 M. Ahellal
The Teaching and Testing of English for Global
21st Essaouira March 2001 A. Zaki
Purposes
Enhancing ELT Quality through evaluation and
22nd MDIQ April 2002 A. Zaki
information technology
Enhancing relevance and quality: focus on human resources
23rd Fes April 2003 A. Zaki
and the curriculum
24th Innovations and Challenges in Coursebooks Agadir April 2004 S. Berdouz
25th Language Education and Citizenship Ouarzazate April 2005 S. Berdouz
26th Teacher Education for Sustainable Development Tangiers April 2006 S. Berdouz
27th Leadership and Values in Language Education Bouznika April 2007 M. Hassim
28th Assessing Quality in Language Education EL Jadida April 2008 M. Hassim
29th Effective Classroom Practices in Language Education Beni Mellal March 2009 M. Hammani

MATE Website: www.mate.org.ma

MATE email: matemorocco@yahoo.com

MATE Newsletter Winter-Spring 2008, Volume 28 (Issue 3-4) - 16 -