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Language in education in Algeria: a historical vignette of a ‘most severe’ socio

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DOI: 10.1080/17597536.2017.1319103

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 Language & History, 2017
VOL. 60, NO. 2, 112–128
https://doi.org/10.1080/17597536.2017.1319103

Language in education in Algeria: a historical vignette of a

‘most severe’ sociolinguistic problem
Cheryl S. Le Roux
Department Education Foundations, College of Education, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa

ABSTRACT KEYWORDS
Language is inevitably bound up with power relations and is intimately Algeria; colonisation;
linked to individual and national identity. Where countries have been Arabisation; identity
colonised and the coloniser’s language imposed, the issue of language and language; identity
becomes significantly more complex, sensitive and contested. construction; language and
ideology; language policy;
An example is Algeria, which was a French colony for more than language in education
130 years. After independence in 1962 Arabisation efforts intended
as a vehicle for creating a national identity tried to eliminate all traces
of gallicisation. The impact on Algerian society was significant. The
efforts negated the existing cultural or sociolinguistic plurality
of the country. Linguistically, many Algerians found themselves
alienated. They had to adopt an official language, namely Classical
Arabic, that had hitherto been confined to religious institutions and
was foreign to the majority of the populace. Education was used
to facilitate Arabisation and Arabisation policies were instituted at
school and tertiary education levels. Many academics today view the
exclusive use of Arabic, especially in higher education as limiting.
Exposure to international discourses and trends is constrained
when the predominant medium of engagement is Arabic. Using a
modern language like French is seen as progressive and welcoming
of multinational interaction. This article examines the language in
education issue in Algeria from colonisation to the present. The
article critiques the adoption of an ideological Arabisation approach
to education and argues that a multilingual stance to education in
Algeria would ultimately be beneficial and forward thinking.

Introduction
Language is inevitably bound up with power relations and is intimately linked to culture,
history, religion, identity and determines social mobility (Berrabah 2013: 271; Ibrahimi
2015). This argument is especially evident in societies that were introduced to a foreign
language through the process of colonisation. Algeria is one such country. Algeria became
French by right of conquest, and through the colonising efforts indigenous Algerians –
Arabs and Berbers – underwent a process of acculturation and identity reconstruction
(Dunwoodie 2006: 64). Throughout Algeria’s history, language – especially language in edu-
cation – has been a highly contested, sensitive and complex issue that has been complicated

CONTACT  Cheryl S. Le Roux  Lrouxcs@unisa.ac.za

© 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

Open Rubric
 LANGUAGE & HISTORY   113

by politics and enveloping ideologies (Benrabah 2007a: 226). It needs to be remembered

that each language used in Algeria – dialectical or colloquial Arabic, Classic or Literary
Arabic, Tamazight and its variations and French – has its particular socio-cultural position
and each position is the result of a historical development. Consequently the languages
used in Algeria have acquired different statuses which are of paramount importance at
socio-linguistic and political levels (Mostari 2005: 36).
Recently, the issue of language education policies in Algeria was judged by Berger (2002:
8), as ‘the most severe problem of Algeria in its present and troubled state’. Likewise, Algerian
academic and poet Inam Bioud decried the persistent and widespread use of English and
French in universities across the Arab world (Mathews 2014) and contended that when chil-
dren who were taught in Arabic at the primary and secondary level reached university, they
received a ‘linguistic shock’ when they were compelled to pursue their studies in a foreign
language for which they were ill-equipped. Djitè (1992: 21) declares that ‘nowhere else in
Africa has the language issue been so central in the fight against colonialism [as in Algeria]’.
In this article the issue of language in education in Algeria is investigated. A primary
objective of the review is to determine the circumstances and events in Algeria from the
time of colonisation to the present that have impacted on decisions and policy in relation
to language in education and to examine the way in which Algeria serves its upcoming
generation in preparing them for a globalised future.

Language as a sociolinguistic issue

Language and its use is a primary social, political, ideological and psychological issue in
Algeria and closely connected with the citizens’ search for identity. In Algeria, the question
of language is also closely associated with the issue of French colonisation on the one hand
and Algerianisation and Arabisation on the other. Furthermore, the linguistic map of Algeria
is complex and subject to variations based on region and class (Stone 1997: 18). Benrabah
(2007a) is of the opinion that this situation makes Algeria a particularly instructive example
for a study of language in education policy.
Historically Algeria’s language in education policy has gone through a variety of phases.
The first phase in more recent history was the colonisation period [1830–1962] where edu-
cation and other facets of society were dominated by the French and the language, customs
and culture of the French were imposed on the populace through an assimilationist policy.
Extensive attempts were made to inculcate a French character in the country. At this point,
Algerian Arabic, one of the indigenous languages of the country, was banned from use in
official contexts and French, the language of the colonisers, became the only official language
(Al-Khatib 2008: 228). The Berber languages, Tamazight and other variations, were also not
recognised. The second phase of the language issue encompasses the nationalist transition.
During this phase Classical Arabic (the language of the Qu’ran) became the sole official
language of the country and was imposed in the educational sector (Benrabah 2007a: 225).
Classical Arabic differs significantly from colloquial Arabic and was generally unfamiliar
to those who had not studied it for religious purposes. The third phase coincided with the
early 2000s with the transition to the free economic market and was characterised by less
assertive Arabisation policies. The imposition of an exclusively Arabic monolingual school-
ing system implemented during the second or nationalist transition phase is considered
to be a major source of the current failure in education. This action has also given rise of
114   C. S. LE ROUX

religious fanaticism and fundamentalism and the civil war that ravaged Algeria in the early
1990s is cited as a significant outcome of the policy (Benrabah 1999: 154–60; 2004: 71–3;
Byrd 2003: 78; Coffman 1992: 147, 185).
These phases in the language in education policy are reviewed and critical turning points
are pointed out in an attempt to provide an understanding of how the language in education
policy in the country has been conceptualised, planned and implemented.

Phase one of the language in education policy: the impact of French colonisation
on the language issue
The language issue that has troubled Algeria – and which continues to do so – is gener-
ally traced back to the French colonisation of the country early in the 1800s. Algeria was
colonised in 1830 [1830–1962] – a process that was started off with a military conquest
[1830–1871] (Ghilès 2010). Algeria is the only country that has ever lived under French
integrationist colonial rule for such a long period – a total of 132 years. During this period,
an assimilationist process was imposed on the country in an attempt by the French to sub-
jugate and control Algeria and to transform it into an extension of France (Heggoy 1973:
180). The assimilation of Algerians into French culture was most clearly demonstrated in
and through education. Arab educational values and language were ousted and French
culture and language was promoted with French replacing Arabic as the official language of
the country (Turin 1983: 40, 41). Algerian Arabic and Tamazight, although spoken by the
majority of inhabitants, had no official language status. The policy also made no allowance
for the use of Classical Arabic despite it being used as an academic language and in tradi-
tional religious environments (Mostari 2005: 41). For this assimilation into the colonist’s
culture to happen, the indigenous Arabo-Muslim culture, language and value system of the
Arabs and Berbers had to be eradicated.
Education in Algeria prior to France’s invasion had consisted of instruction in reading
and writing and arithmetic with children learning basic Muslim law in secondary school
from the age of fifteen onwards. For students that could continue their studies, madrasas,
or small universities, existed in urban areas (Brooks 2016: 56). With French conquest, this
traditional structure was replaced with the French schooling system followed in France, but
tailor-made to suit the perceived Algerian circumstances. Schooling in Algeria followed a
two tiered approach in terms of the Falloux Law [1850] with one set of schools catering for
Muslim Algerian children and the other for non-Muslim Algerian children and children
of European descent. Because nineteenth-century linguists argued that Berber was linguis-
tically closer to French than Arabic, it was believed that Berbers would be more amenable
to French values and could be more easily assimilated into French culture. Consequently it
was decided that the first efforts to integrate non-European Algerians into French culture
should be to establish schools for Berber children. Several schools were opened in Kabylia
in Northern Algeria which was home to a significant Berber population (Brooks 2016:
86). Contrary to French expectations, the Kabyle were reluctant to send their children to
school and French colonial administrators found that they had to travel into the rural areas
to ‘round up’ children to attend the schools (Charvériat, 1889 cited in Brooks 2016: 88).
Despite the concerted efforts of the French, these schools were unsuccessful in assimilating
the Berber people into the French way of life and merely strengthened the gulf between the
colonisers and the colonised (Maamri 2009: 77). Various education specialists who visited
 LANGUAGE & HISTORY   115

the Kabyle schools decried the use of learning materials that were clearly unsuited to the
children’s circumstances and needs since the material related to concepts and events foreign
to them and had merely been carried over from the French continental schools. The read-
ing books were aimed at French-speaking children and although the Berber children were
indeed able to read and write French, this was merely attributed to their ability to memorise
the work. Children had no understanding of what they were learning. The situation in the
Muslim-Algerian schools was no better (Brooks 2016: 90–3).
When Emperor Louis Bonaparte (Napoleon III) visited Algeria in 1852, he was shocked
by the prevailing political and social situation – including that in schooling – and believed
that the relationship between the French and the indigenous population needed to be
improved. Setting up by Imperial Decree [1857] an Arab Kingdom with himself as King of
the Arabs, he went about creating a bilingual school system which he believed would work
towards a peaceful co-existence of the French and Algerians. Imperial colleges were estab-
lished which produced the first generation of Algerians who could serve as administrators,
interpreters, bilingual teachers and law men tasked to deal with Muslim legal matters. These
schools were meant to train a bilingual elite which would act as a buffer between the French
and the locals (Maamri 2009: 80).
However, in the 1880s Jules Ferry, France’s Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts
and staunch defender of colonialism justified the French suppression of the Algerian pop-
ulation in terms of France’s ‘civilising’ mission. Ferry believed that through education, the
Algerian population could be transformed and ‘civilised’ and he consequently legislated
the teaching of the French language, traditions and culture in all schools established by the
French. The stance taken by education officials was based on predominant social scien-
tists’ views of indigenous communities namely that biological dissimilarities differentiated
between races and ethnicities and rendered indigenous cultures different from European
cultural communities (Cohen 1980: 215). In line with this thinking, French language and
civilisation was seen to be superior to the indigenous Algerian languages and culture and
consequently, the conversion of Algerians’ mind-set to one that welcomed France and its
civilisation was of upmost significance (Brooks 2016: 54). This attitude again triggered the
restructuring of the Algerian school system along French lines with concerted attempts at
the eradication of Arabic and Islamic roots. French was declared as the official language of
the Colony, ousting Arabic and Berber (Maamri 2009: 78, 79).
The education laws of France that provided for a secular, free and compulsory education
for all were subsequently adopted in Algeria. The imposition of this legislation in Algerian
schools was fraught with problems, primarily because the vast majority of the people had
no understanding of French and children were being taught in a language they had never
heard and didn’t understand (Brooks 2016: 50). Furthermore, the compulsory education
dimension of this legislation met with limited success due to parents’ indifference to sending
their children to school and due to economic constraints. Heggoy (1973: 180) asserts that
the French were never able to build sufficient schools to educate more than a small number
of school-age Algerian children because of the limited funds available for this purpose.
Algerians resisted French inroads into their Islamic civilisation and local traditional
schools that were not restricted by the French education legislation were sustained, provid-
ing education as they had in the past. In these schools, Classical Arabic was the medium of
instruction (Vermeren 2009: 50). The education system of these traditional Algerian schools
made no distinction between schooling systems and religious institutions, and consequently
116   C. S. LE ROUX

schooling was autonomous from central authority and dependent only on mosques or
the headquarters of religious brotherhoods for teachers, curriculum matters and funding
(Heggoy 1984: 99; Horne 1987: 29). However, because Classical Arabic was cut off from
contemporary intellectual, technological and scientific developments, it failed to develop
the flexibility and vocabulary needed in current affairs and its relevance in these fields was
constrained (Mostari 2005: 41). In the context in which Classical Arabic was used, this
flexibility and development of vocabulary were not necessities since the schooling was of a
traditional religious nature that had no connection to intellectual or scientific development.
In the later years of the nineteenth century, there was a general collapse of the tradi-
tional Muslim education system due to the aggressive way in which the French pursued
their assimilation policies (Colonna 1975: 29). Turin (1983: 17) describes the gallicasation
policies as being underpinned by an ‘instruct-to-conquer’ philosophy. Consequently many
Algerian parents preferred that their children remain illiterate rather then send them to the
secular French colonial schools, which they perceived as an attempt to drive their offspring
from Islam (Saad 1992: 24).
With the advent of First World War, many Algerian workers – due to severe droughts and
the consequent loss of seasonal agricultural jobs – sought economic relief in emigration to
France where the war had created critical labour shortages. Apart from Algerians who were
drafted into the French army, some 79,000 Algerians found non-military employment in
France. Another 71,000 followed during the post-war reconstruction period as the need for
unskilled workers in France was at a premium. In France, the Algerians learned skills that
they would not have learned in Algeria and when these migrant workers returned to Algeria,
they brought the new skills with them and also a changed outlook on their colonisers.
Conscripts and expatriate workers’ attitudes towards the French had somewhat mellowed
due to their exposure to the French way of life. They had come to realise the significance of
modern education for social and economic advancement, something they had had occa-
sion to witness during the war years spent in France (Colonna 1975: 26). Education was
perceived as a means to achieve a better life and as a result, in the 1920s, Algerians became
more tolerant of the colonial school system that was offered in Algeria and they increasingly
supported it. More Algerians sought to enrol their children – notably their sons but not
their daughters – in French schools. Nonetheless, due to economic constraints fewer than
15% of over 2 million Algerian youth of school-going age were actually accommodated in
these French schools even as late as 1954 (Heggoy 1973: 184, 1984: 103).
Acceptance of the coloniser’s schools did not necessarily mean acceptance of the French
culture. At the time when more Algerian children were being sent to French schools, various
anti-colonial and distinctly nationalistic institutions were being developed by their elders.
These movements were closely related to economic developments and particularly to the
nearly complete lack of an industrial base in Algeria, given the absence of any sustained effort
by the French to industrialise the country. Typical of countries that found themselves in
similar positions, Algeria exported crude products and was obliged to import manufactured
goods from the colonial motherland (Heggoy 1973: 184). There was general dissatisfaction
regarding the status quo amongst the significant anti-colonial contingent, who held strong
nationalist aspirations, and many others who took a religious fundamentalist stance towards
the prevailing situation.
 LANGUAGE & HISTORY   117

Phase two of the language in education policy: language issues during the pre-
independence era and nationalist transition
Perhaps a starting point for nationalist aspirations among the Muslim community in Algeria
can be traced back to the migration of so many Algerians to France around First World
War for reasons mentioned previously. In France Algerians became aware of democratic
and egalitarian principles – principles that had been vigorously suppressed in Algeria and
that would form the basis of pro-self-government ambitions (Khatun 2014: 85). With these
political change movements in the late 1920s, Islamic cultural identity and language was
revived. The first anti-colonial group to be established was the Étoile Nord-Africaine (ENA)
founded in 1926 (Girard 2011). The establishment of this organisation was followed by the
founding of the Fédération des Élus in 1927 – an organisation that demanded increased
rights for Muslims within Algeria (ibid.). In 1931, the Association of Algerian Ulama, which
boldly rejected assimilation with French culture and language and which promoted an
Islamic/Arabic cultural renaissance, was established ElTayeb 1989: 259, 260). The association
founded, inter alia, around 130 private Arabic schools that were not under the control of
the laws governing the colonial schools. The reason the schools were established was that
the founder of the association, Ben Badis, who was a learned Islamic theologian, believed
that the Algerian people needed to be taught the true meaning of Islam. Pure Islam required
the ability to read the Qu’ran and hence the necessity to learn Arabic (Heggoy 1973: 188).
These schools provided instruction in oral and written Literary Arabic or Modern Standard
Arabic (MSA) – derived from Classical Arabic with simplification and modernisation both
in speaking and writing styles (Bennoune 2000: 169). The activities of these schools were
severely constrained by the colonial authorities two years later in 1933. Qu’ranic schools
within three kilometres of the French public schools were only allowed to teach during the
hours when the French schools were not in session. Furthermore, if these schools developed
full programmes (and theirs was indeed a modern curriculum offering mathematics, history,
geography and other subjects, apart from reading, writing and memorisation as offered in
the more traditional Qu’ranic schools), they were obliged to offer at least 15 h of course
work per week in French. However, these Qu’ranic schools refused to teach anything in
French and Literary Arabic remained the sole medium of instruction (Heggoy 1973: 188,
189). The efforts of this movement were to be further thwarted by a decree passed in 1938
by the colonial authorities that declared Literary Arabic a foreign language. However, the
Muslim Congress, a coalition of Algerian political and cultural organisations composed of
the ENA, the Association of Elected Muslims and the Association of Reformist Ulama, had
actively lobbied since 1936 for freedom to teach Arabic. These efforts were not in vain. In
1947 Arabic won acceptance as an official language (Heggoy 1973: 190) and furthermore
President Charles de Gaulle [1958–1969] reinstated Arabic in schools in 1961. The teach-
ing of Arabic from the primary cycle upwards became mandatory (Benrabah 2007b: 44).
Ironically, certain events that preceded Algeria’s independence in 1962 reinforced the
status of French in the country. In 1958, De Gaulle introduced forceful economic regen-
erative steps in Algeria – the Constantine Plan – which were also intended to bring sta-
bility to the region. The programme essentially envisaged accelerated industrial progress,
which by implication required the promotion of education. Substantial amounts of money
were invested in the country to promote industrialisation and agricultural development,
and schooling was also robustly promoted to support the aforementioned development
118   C. S. LE ROUX

(Begga 2014: 97). However, during the Algerian revolution [1954–1962], the French coun-
ter-revolutionary strategy was to establish regroupment camps and pacification zones that
uprooted rural populations for settlement in these areas. In so doing, the people – especially
school-going youth – were exposed to the French language and culture in schools provided
by the military (Benrabah 2007b: 45, 46). The purpose of the regroupment camps was to
control mountain and rural populations and separate them from Algerian resistance com-
batants. As many as two million Algerians were removed from their villages and settled into
these camps – many of which became the sites of permanent settlements. Soldiers replaced
teachers who were not available for service in remote and dangerous rural areas, and by
1959 some 800 primary schools had been opened or reopened by military command in the
rural areas. A 22% increase in enrolment of Algerian youth in these French schools was
hence achieved from 1954. Interestingly, more Muslims attended French schools in Algeria
between 1958 and 1962 than ever before (ibid. 46).
At the time of independence in 1962 there were two written languages in Algeria: French,
the language used in schools, and liturgical or Classical Arabic used in religious contexts.
Although French pervaded all walks of life and was seen as the language of modernity,
science and technology, Algerian nationalist leaders called for the promotion of Classical
Arabic to root out French and establish an Algerian identity. The Nationalists’ motto derived
from a nineteenth-century Ulama League leader declared that ‘Islam is our religion, Algeria
is our mother country, Arabic is our language’. The advocates of this Arabisation process
consisted of Algerian cadres educated in Qu’ranic schools and intellectuals from the Arab
universities who invariably had religious training (Maamri 2009: 82, 83). Thus, with inde-
pendence, according to the Algerian National Constitution, Classical Arabic was declared
the only official language. French was relegated to the status of a foreign language (Mostari
2004: 25; Benrabah 2007a: 228).
Abu Haidar (2000: 152) points out that it is necessary to appreciate that there is a wide gap
between the colloquial Arabic spoken by the majority of Algerians and the Classical Arabic
that was made the official language. He asserts that no one – not even in the Arab world
– speaks Classical Arabic and that most Algerians are unable to understand it. Algerian
spoken Arabic consists of several dialects that have drawn on Berber and French and differs
substantially from Classical Arabic.
Post independent Algerian society had to reconstruct and re-establish itself and thus
needed to restore the bedrock of its identity, namely the Arabic language that is a symbol
of Arabic individuality and Islamic values (Hadjarab 2000: 2). In keeping with the spirit
of the times, Algeria’s first president, Ahmed Ben Bella [1963–1965], instituted a policy
of linguistic Arabisation in primary schools. Classic Arabic tuition was mandatory at all
levels (Grandguillaume 2004a: 27), but problems were experienced in effecting this. Many
Algerians were not conversant with Classic Arabic, qualified Arabic teachers were almost
totally lacking, and French remained the preferred working language in government and
urban society. It was also so that students who obtained an education in Arabic had fewer
prospects for gainful employment without proficiency in French. These problems raised a
great deal of scepticism regarding the feasibility of the programme (US Library of Congress
n.d.).
However, Arabisation campaigns gained momentum under President Houari
Boumedienne [1965–1978] who adopted a radical approach to Arabisation. In keeping
with this stance, President Boumedienne [1968] stated:
 LANGUAGE & HISTORY   119

Without recovering that essential and important element which is the national language, our
efforts will be in vain, our personality incomplete and our entity a body without a soul (cited
in Bouhania 1998: 26).
Boumedienne wanted to introduce Classic Arabic as the sole language in every sector
of Algerian public life, leaving no space for French or Tamazight or even Algerian Arabic
which were the commonly spoken languages of the time (Abu-Haidar 2000: 155). The
irony of the matter was that ordinary Algerians generally knew no other languages but
colloquial Arabic, French or Tamazight and the decision to make Classic Arabic the official
language showed scant regard for the linguistic pluralism and diversity which at that time
characterised Algerian society (Benrabah 2007a: 228). Up until this time, French had been
the language used in politics and the press; above all, it was the language of technology and
modern economic management, without any equivalents in Arabic. The general perception
was that Classical Arabic was not useful for modernising Algeria, and consequently French
was perceived to be the language of progress and prosperity (Khatun 2014: 84). Nevertheless,
in 1968 Boumedienne imposed Arabisation on the civil service and much the same hap-
pened in schools with universities to follow suit (Maamri 2009: 84).
The replacement of French with Arabic was problematical since French, the inherited
language of 132  years of colonisation, had become entrenched in Algerian society and
Classical Arabic was only used in religious contexts. Moreover with independence signif-
icant numbers of French and Europeans left the country which resulted in Algeria being
left with a shortage of skilled and educated people – many of whom had been teachers and
other professional individuals (Mostari 2004: 29). Major Arabisation campaigns had to be
launched to strengthen the position of Arabic. The Arabisation of schooling was a primary
concern, but with a dire shortage of qualified Arabic teachers to meet the demand in schools,
alternative plans needed to be made. Since there were very few people in Algeria at that time
who had received any formal training in Classical Arabic, during the 1960s teachers had
to be recruited from countries such as Egypt, Syria and Iraq to meet the need in Algeria.
These recruits were entrusted to teach Algerian children in primary and secondary schools.
Officials did not seem to be concerned whether these recruits had received any formal
teacher training, since the only criterion they insisted on was that the recruits had to be
monolingual and fluent in Arabic (Abu Haidar, 2000: 155).
In another attempt to overcome the shortage of Arabic teachers, a monitorial system of
schooling was introduced. The monitorial system was an education method that became
popular on a global scale during the early nineteenth century. This method was also known
as ‘mutual instruction’ or the ‘Bell-Lancaster method’ after the British educators Dr. Andrew
Bell and Joseph Lancaster who both independently developed it (Rayman 1981: 396). The
method was based on the abler pupils being used as ‘helpers’ to the teacher, passing on the
information they had learned to other students. The monitorial system proved to be a cheap
way of making primary education more inclusive and accessible, thus making it possible to
increase the average class size and reach more pupils (ibid. 397).
Neither of these measures met with much success. The level of understanding and
knowledge of Arabic of the monitors was only slightly above that of the learners, and
the Arabic spoken by recruited teachers was incomprehensible to the local Algerians. The
Arabic vernaculars of the Maghreb and the Middle East are mutually unintelligible (Abu-
Haidar 2000: 155). Many of these teachers were also perceived to be more interested in
120   C. S. LE ROUX

transmitting religious and political ideologies than teaching (Wardhaugh 1987: 189; Saad
1992: 60; Grandguillaume 2004a: 27, 28).
Yet another complicating factor in the Arabisation process was that there were both pro-
moters of Classical Arabic and advocates for the retention of French. The former regarded
Classical Arabic as fundamental to the Algerian personality; the latter claimed that Classical
Arabic was unable to cope with modernisation and technology and, on the basis of this,
lobbied for the inclusion of French as an official language. Other significant problems were
that the population was highly illiterate and to most, French was a decidedly more familiar
language than Classical Arabic, although the latter had been given the status of official
language in 1947 (Djabri 1981: 68).
Despite the reality of the language situation in Algeria, the Arabisation process went
ahead even during the cabinet shake-ups of the 1970s. Arabisation in schools continued
notwithstanding the fact that the bulk of the Algerian population had been educated in
French and had not mastered the Arabic used in schools. The same situation applied to
university students. Arabisation plans in universities were started in 1970 with commis-
sions being set up by Mohammed Benyahia, Minister of Higher Education [1971–1977], to
develop suitable plans that would ensure Arabisation in higher education. By 1976, when
the organisation of the schooling system was changed and the Fundamental School – which
fused primary and middle school grades – was instituted, all teaching except for foreign
languages was done in Arabic (Saad 1992: 65, 66). Education was in dire straits and students
were failing dismally. In an attempt to salvage the situation, the Fundamental School system
was suspended in 1977 by the Minister of Education, Mostefa Lacheraf, and bilingualism
was re-instated in primary schools with subjects like biology and mathematics being taught
in French (Benrabah 2007a: 231).
However, when Chadli Benjedid [1979–1992] succeeded Boumediénne as president in
1979 and unabatedly continued the Arabisation process without stopping to think whether
the laws were prudent or beneficial for the country and the Algerian people as a whole,
and the Commission on Training and Teaching set out its policies on the matter between
1976 and 1980, Arabisation was followed with great alacrity. Apart from the humanities,
social and political science, law and economics, Arabisation was also introduced in some
scientific and technical fields in universities (Mostari 2004: 30). Up to this point, French was
still generally used in higher education, especially in the pure sciences and technology, but
the ensuing policies decreed Arabisation. Total Arabisation at university level was destined
for July 1997 (ibid) – ideals which seems to have been at odds with what was happening
in schools.
The impact of Arabisation was also felt in basic education at school level. From 1981
onwards, arithmetic was taught in Arabic and French was the language of instruction only
in French language classes. Arithmetic was progressively Arabised in secondary education
with total Arabisation planned for 1989 (Grandguillaume 2004b: 5, 6). In 1991 it was leg-
islated that all teaching throughout the educational system had to be in Arabic – at every
level and in all disciplines (Abu-Haidar 2000: 158). The introduction of French as a language
was postponed to grade 4 and English was introduced in grade 8 as the second mandatory
foreign language in a bid to counteract the prevalence of French (Benrabah 2007a: 232, 233).
The apparent aim of Arabisation was to replace the colloquial languages with Classical
Arabic. According to the teacher’s handbook it was the school’s task to correct a child’s
‘faulty, deviant and deficient language’ and to ‘use the child to correct the language of its
 LANGUAGE & HISTORY   121

family’. Seen in this context, Arabisation aimed to totally negate children’s home or spoken
languages (Grandguillaume 2004b: 9).
Operational language policies were a prerequisite to achieve the goal of effective
Arabisation (Mostari 2004: 26) and consequently, in 1986 the Algerian Academy of the
Arabic Language was created to promote the Arabic language in schools, the media and in
official circles (Ibrahimi 2004: 208). In 1990 a law was enacted to enforce the Arabisation
of all administrative offices and schools by 1992 and higher education institutions by 2000
(Maamri 2009: 85). These measures were reinforced in 1996, when the Algerian Transitional
Council voted to adopt a law on the generalisation of the use of the Arabic language with
the stipulation that by 1998 all communication and administration in public administration,
institutions, enterprises and associations of whatever nature were to use Arabic in all their
activities (ibid: 86). The use of any foreign language in deliberations and discussions of
official meetings was prohibited (Grandguillaume 1997: 3). In keeping with this decision,
The High Council of the Arabic Language was established in 1996 and assigned the singular
task of promoting the Arabic language and the generalisation of its use in scientific and
technological fields (Preamble: n.d.). The undisputed objective was to ensure that Algerians
were exposed to an environment that was totally Arabised (Mostari 2004: 27) and that
French was eradicated.
Meanwhile in the 1980s and 1990s, the Berber Cultural Movement aggressively lob-
bied for the rehabilitation of Berber culture and the recognition of the Berber language,
Tamazight, in education and the media. The Socialist Forces Front and the Rally for Culture
and Democracy jointly lobbied for the recognition of Kabyle culture and language specif-
ically and also advocated for the teaching of French to be maintained to keep abreast of
scientific and technological developments. However, French was not to be privileged over
Tamazight and colloquial Arabic (Maamri 2009: 88). Several years later, in 2002 Tamazight
was recognised as a national (but not official) language and introduced as a subject in schools
throughout the country in 2003 (Benrabah 2007a: 233–35).
When Mohamed Boudiaf, who had been exiled in Morocco, took over as President in
1992, he halted the aggressive Arabisation programme of his predecessor. However, his reign
was short-lived and he was assassinated in the same year in June. He was succeeded by Ali
Kafi [1992–1994] and then in turn by Liamine Zeroual [1995–1999] who reintroduced the
Arabisation programme despite declaring that schools were a ‘disaster’ due to the fact that
Islamists were manipulating the Arabisation process (Grandguillaume 2004b: 6). Zeroual
took over at a time when the country was ravished by atrocities attributed mostly to religious
fundamentalists but it remained his ideal to Arabise Algeria by 1998 (Abu-Haidar 2000:
159, 160). Up to this point the Arabisation policy aimed exclusively to place an Arab and
Muslim stamp on Algeria, to instil a non-Western identity and to entrench monolingualism
(Grandguillaume 2004b: 4).

Phase three of the language in education policy: the transition to the free economic
market
The new century was characterised by a more relaxed approach towards Arabisation policies
and strategies and one could venture that the Algerianisation of society had become more
important than forceful Arabisation.
122   C. S. LE ROUX

The consequences of Arabisation policies were clearly apparent. In relation to school edu-
cation, the introduction of Arabic had led to rote learning with scant regard for developing
children’s insight, understanding and rational thinking abilities. Schools were producing
dismal results. Furthermore, young Algerians generally failed to master Literary Arabic
(Amir 2006: 4). The impact of Arabisation is less evident in universities where the process
did not reach fruition and has mainly been imposed on studies in the humanities where in
literature, history and pedagogy, Arabisation has been integral. It has been partial in geog-
raphy, law, journalism, sociology and psychology. The imposition of Arabic at university
level is said to have ‘fossilised’ the human sciences – subjects which embody culture and
critical thinking – due to the lack of cultural content in Arabic teaching. Consequently,
university graduates’ who have qualified in these fields potential careers have been limited
to the education sector, government administration, the judiciary, careers in religion and
politics and the informal trade sector (Khelfaoui 2002: 120). Arabic as a language was
impoverished in relation to scientific and technological terminology and was unable to
meet the requirements to effectively teach in these fields of study (Grandguillaume 2004b:
13, 14). Consequently, Arabisation has remained virtually non-existent in scientific and
technical specialities such as medicine, the hard sciences and engineering. In these fields
French has generally remained the language of tuition (Mostari 2004: 30).
In the new era, Algerians as a nation were more accommodating of the linguistic and
cultural diversity that characterised the country, and despite the fact that Act No. 91–05
of 1998 prohibited all official public use of languages other than Arabic, the ambivalence
towards French and the status of the language remained – it had certainly not disappeared
from Algerians’ lives and culture (Abu-Haidar 2000: 162). President Abdelaziz Bouteflika
[1999–present] who succeeded Zeroual openly acknowledged Algeria’s cultural and linguis-
tic plurality and candidly used French in public addresses. In 1999 he stated:
Algeria does not belong to Francophonia, but there is no reason for us to have a frozen attitude
towards the French language which taught us so many things and which at any rate opened
[for us] the French culture. (cited in Morsly 2004: 181)
For this stance, the president was taken to task by the Algerian Parliament’s Committee
for Foreign Affairs as well as the High Council for the Arabic Language. In response, he
commented:
For Algeria I will speak French, Spanish and English and for that matter, and if necessary,
Hebrew. Let it be known that Algeria is part of the world and must adapt to it and that Arabic
is the national and official language. (El Watan, 1999: 3)
Bouteflika’s main concern appeared to be the necessity to eradicate illiteracy and to
establish a good education system throughout the country (Abu-Haidar 2000: 162).
With regard to foreign language teaching in schools, in 2001 the National Commission for
the Reform of the Educational System recommended that French be reintroduced as the first
mandatory foreign language in the second grade (in the late 1970s it had been introduced
in grade 4). It was also recommended that scientific subjects in secondary school should
be taught in French (Benrabah 2007a: 227) – recommendations that appear to have been
aligned a significant proportion of Algerian society’s sentiments on these issues and what
was happening at university level (Djamel 2001: 3; Chaouche 2006: 30). Further changes
were introduced into secondary schools in 2005/2006 – one of which was the inclusion of
English as a foreign language in the first year of middle school (Chaouche 2006: 30). In
 LANGUAGE & HISTORY   123

the 1990s English had been granted the same status as French and grade 4 learners had to
choose between French and English as their first mandatory foreign language (Bennoune,
2002: 303).
Baker (2002: 237) argues that there is a specific political ideology underlying the current
government’s language policies in favour of bilingualism or even multilingualism – and
consequently an education policy that supports multilingualism. The Arabisation policies
prevalent since independence to the end of 1999 appear to have been replaced with a policy
of educational reform since 2000 (Chemami 2011: 229). Benrabah (2004: 59–78; 2007a: 228)
is of the opinion that the authorities have come to recognise ethnic and linguistic plurality
as a resource for nation-building. This stance arises from the pressures of democracy and
globalisation and the imperative this poses, namely to move away from assimilation and
homogenising policies and to recognise minority linguistic rights. After more than four
decades of intensive Arabisation efforts, French is still a strongly felt presence in Algeria and
for many Algerians French remains a reflection of modernity and education (Mostari 2004:
31). For the urban elite, French represents the medium of modernisation and technology.
French facilitates access to Western commerce and to economic development theory and
culture, and the command of the language guarantees continued social and political prom-
inence (US Library of Congress n.d.). As a consequence, French continues to be used in
technical fields while Arabic is the language of instruction in most non-technical faculties
(Clark 2006).

A present-day perspective of the socio-linguistic landscape of language use

and language in education in Algeria
In retrospect, several factors have been responsible for the complexity reflected in today’s
linguistic situation in Algeria, some are historical, others political and still others socio-cul-
tural. Of the four spoken languages in Algeria – literary Arabic, Algerian Arabic with the
regional dialects, Tamazight (and other varieties of Berber languages) and French, only one
has official language status namely Literary Arabic. Consequently the medium of instruction
in schools is undertaken in this language alone for the most part and the plurality of the
language situation in the country remains negated in the Constitution. Algerian Arabic
is used by approximately 70% of the population as their mother tongue with Tamazight,
the oldest language in Algeria being the mother tongue of about 30%. Although French
is not the general mother tongue in the country 80% of Algerians use it on a daily basis
(Chemami 2011: 228).
Furthermore, apart from being a multilingual society, the speech community of Algeria is
diglossic with two distinct variations of the same language, namely Arabic, being prevalent.
The two varieties of Arabic in the Algerian context are Algerian Arabic which is the home
language of a large proportion of the community and which is spoken informally. The other
variety of Arabic is literary Arabic, the official language of the country, and recognised pub-
lically in formal situations and used in schooling, religion and official contexts (Djennane
2014: 53–6). Other phenomena which are common amongst Algerians is code-switching,
code mixing and borrowing. Algerians are not unique in this regard since code-switching
is common in diglossic and multilingual communities. These practices are generally used
when there is a perceived need to clarify thoughts and enhance description or expression;
124   C. S. LE ROUX

by habit and the perception that the vocabulary of the other language is more expressive
or accurately captures the meaning the speaker wishes to convey (Chemami 2011: 229).
At university level, the Arabisation process that was enforced has been outlined. However,
stringent Arabisation at tertiary level has been challenging. Without Arabic books and
instructional materials and given a lack of Arabic-speaking teachers, instruction has suf-
fered. The lack of appropriate terminology and language in literary Arabic in the sciences
and technology has been particularly constraining and consequently French is the key
language for studies in the scientific disciplines (Benrabah 2014: 47; Net Industries 2017).
The dilemma which arises however, is that students whose schooling has been in literary
Arabic are confronted with having to learn these subjects in French at university level and
are generally ill-equipped for the task (Chaouche 2006: 28). Hamzaoui (2017: 78) comments
that in 2005 the Minister of Higher Education noted that 80% of the first year students had
failed their exams due to linguistic incompetence.
In a recent study by Chaouche (2006) undertaken in Oran, the second largest city in
Algeria, a significant majority of university students who participated in the research sur-
vey felt that teaching in Algeria should be bilingual (35%) or multilingual (46%) and that
Algeria is in need of a multilingual reform (49%). In a similar social study, the preference
for using French in a variety of social and official contexts was also manifest. Most people
would prefer to use French in education (60% as opposed to 30% who would rather not)
and in the mass media which would include television, radio, the Internet, cell phones,
SMSs and newspapers (64% as opposed to 23%). When asked in which language they
would prefer to study, respondents indicated French (61%), Algerian Arabic (33%), Classical
Arabic (16%) and Berber (10%). A general comment in relation to the use of French was
that it was ‘omnipresent in social life’ (Chaouche 2006: 34–7). In this study the majority
of respondents (79%) perceived Algeria to be bilingual with only 13% perceiving it to be
monolingual. Similarly 79% of the respondents would like to see their children bilingual
while only 16% would prefer their children to be Arabised. These responses were received
from a group of participants who saw themselves as being most competent in Algerian
Arabic (84%), French (60%), Classical Arabic (25%) and Berber (9%). Important though is
that the majority of these respondents would be bilingual or multilingual since bilingualism
and multilingualism are real socio-linguistic phenomena in Algeria. It is also interesting
to note that 61% of the respondents did not fear that the inclusion and use of French in
Algeria would jeopardise the restoration of Algeria as an Arab-Islamic state (Chaouche 2006:
53–6). A linguistic reality is that French is not perceived in a negative light and despite the
concerted Arabisation efforts since independence, French retains its presence and fills an
important space in the linguistic landscape of Algeria.

Synopsis, conclusion and recommendations

The process of Arabisation as imposed in Algeria after independence is not unlike the
assimilation policy followed by the French after their conquest of the country in 1830. Both
processes were aimed at supplanting the prevailing language and culture with an entirely
new and different one. It was the express aim of these processes to oust the essence and
very character of the prevailing culture. Wanting to underline that Algeria belonged to
the Arab Islamic world, all signs of gallicisation were to be eliminated irrespective of the
prevailing character and composition of society. Just as French culture and language were
 LANGUAGE & HISTORY   125

forced on the population without regard for the socio-linguistic plurality that existed at
the time of the French colonisation period, similarly the Arabisation of Algerian society
was imposed without taking into account the cultural diversity and language plurality and
the fact that, although Classical Arabic was used in mosques and religious institutions, the
language generally spoken by the people was French and colloquial Arabic which differed
significantly from Classical Arabic. Both processes were thus governed purely by political
agendas (Abu-Haidar 2000: 154).
Under the concerted Arabisation policies, education suffered. The Arabisation policies
ignored the socio-linguistic and cultural environments of society and the cultural and
linguistic multiplicity of students. Consequently, as a result of the Arabisation imposed
on school-going children, Algerian schools have been described as being in ‘bad shape’
(Grandguillaume 1997: 3). The Arabisation process as applied in education took place
without consultation, plan or method – especially in higher education, where teachers and
researchers who had always worked in French had to gain competence in Arabic in order to
retain their positions (Mostari 2004: 34). Arabic is ill-equipped for teaching in the scientific
and technological fields due to its restricted vocabulary and the use of Arabic at university
level in other fields has resulted in a gap between students and lecturers and the interna-
tional world, in which English or French are the commonly used languages (Mostari 2005:
45).The reality is that Algerian society is characterised by socio-linguistic multiplicity and
higher education finds itself in an expressly precarious position if Arabic alone is enforced.
The Human Sciences are in danger of ‘fossilisation’ because these subjects, which embody
culture and critical thinking, are being taught through a language which is itself utilitarian
and impoverished Djebbar (1995). Should the Arabisation of higher education persist, there
is the likelihood of universities and their graduates being marginalised and isolated from
progressive global trends.
Furthermore, in relation to the Arabisation process, it is possibly necessary to distinguish
between linguistic and ideological Arabisation: linguistic Arabisation would be described as
strengthening a language through a language-planning policy, while ideological Arabisation
is a venture led by ideologists, and in the case of Algeria, could be viewed as tantamount
to de-Algerianising the population (Benramdane 2002). Mostari (2005: 45) asserts that, as
understood in the Maghreb, Arabisation means the restoring of the Arabic language but in
the Algerian context, Arabisation is associated with two concepts – a quest for liberation
and the defence of Islamic values. President Boumedienne, the second president of Algeria
who approached the Arabisation process from a radical perspective, likened Arabisation to
a process having a revolutionary objective (Grandguillaume 1983: 120). Arabic was conse-
quently seen as the language of a freed nation, Islam and the Algerian identity.
This article has argued that Arabisation as a totalising language policy has failed and it
is time for reform. French is rooted in Algeria and maintains a significant presence. As a
language, it provides access to the global arena. French needs to be seen as the asset it is – a
point which needs to be borne in mind for Algerian language policy-makers. Algeria is in
need of more than one cultural language to achieve its objectives of being a competitive
force in the global world. Algerian authorities need to move in the direction of reforms
that support linguistic pluralism and abandon the sole and unique policy of Arabisation.
The use of Classical Arabic certainly provides Algeria with a sense of national identity,
but its exclusive use will limit interaction, collaboration and communication with global
role players. Multilingualism, on the other hand, provides for greater openness, versatility
126   C. S. LE ROUX

and integration with and competitiveness in the globalised world and would certainly be
to the benefit of Algeria.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributors
Cheryl le Roux is a professor in Educational History at the University of South Africa where she has
over 20 years of teaching and research experience. Her research interests include colonial history,
oral history research and autoethnographic research.

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