The new school year is here. But not much else is new as our schools are still harping on the same string and not responding to the repeated calls of parents, students and teachers for real educational reform. Among the things that real reform would have to address is the textbooks which have been on the back burner for a long time despite having long outlived their usefulness and time. For reasons of focus and space, I have chosen to shed some light only on English language books for Moroccan high schools and the necessity to change them.
Second, the Moroccan Baccalaureate English books (11th and 12th grades) share some defective commonalities, one of which is the difficulty of the texts in terms of lexis, syntax, and topics covered. The reading and listening texts teem with in unfamiliar vocabulary and challenging words and structures as well as concepts students have difficulty understanding. This has rendered the texts esoteric and alienates most readers/students. Yet, the textbook writers have not bothered to edit or simplify the material to suit the learners’ levels and ability. It might be argued that they don’t want to sacrifice content and authenticity for form which is, in my opinion, another way of saying that “the best there is, is the best there was, and the best there ever will be”. This claim is, of course, false as the libraries and bookstores worldwide are full of simplified versions of great works of literature including Shakespeare, Dickens, Twain and others that readers of all ages and levels enjoy. This is not to propose that we simplify the texts to the level of boring the learners; per contra, a balance should be struck between simplicity and complexity as is suggested by Stephen Krashen’s theory of “i plus one”.
Third, the textbooks lack reasonable progression of text difficulty which is a crucial strategy to support and facilitate the learners’ linguistic growth. Unfortunately, the Moroccan baccalaureate books put the metal to the pedal right from day one without giving the students the opportunity to smoothly build up their lexical repertoire and improve their linguistic competence. Furthermore, listening and reading texts should be sequenced from easy to difficult to give students enough time and opportunity to gradually develop and make the necessary but smooth leap to the next stage. Of course, jargon and sophisticated language and concepts on the first pages of the textbook do not scaffold students’ progression but, on the contrary, discourage and dissuade them.
Fourth, the Moroccan First and Second year Baccalaureate English books, mainly, have ignored the other easier text genres. As mentioned earlier, most of the reading and listening texts in these textbooks are informational and difficult on both linguistic and conceptual levels. This leaves education professionals and teachers to wonder why the textbook writers have opted for this approach which does not lead to any advancement in students’ proficiency because of loss of pleasure and motivation in reading such unfamiliar and demanding texts. Students, conversely, need to know and understand other different text forms and genres that they encounter everyday inside and outside school. The most regrettable absence here are the narrative and recount genres which are often easy to understand because students can predict or guess the meaning of unfamiliar words and structures with the help of the story theme, plot, and organizational structure. In addition, narratives and stories usually present information in a common sense kind of way that facilitates comprehension. Other striking examples of missing types of texts include localized texts, descriptive and procedural genres as well as functional and electronic-transactional texts with which students need to familiarize themselves because they are required to use or produce them either as an exam requirement or outside the classroom.
Fifth, speaking from personal experience, most of the topics in the textbooks do not match students’ interests. This choice of topics and text genres makes it reasonable to wonder if there had ever been any authentic research to identify Moroccan students’ interests or concerns. These imposed ‘foreign’ topics are at odds with Moroccan students’ interests and they do nothing but further daunt and frustrate students. Bottom-line, new studies need to be conducted to enhance our understanding of young Moroccans’ concerns and needs and how they learn effectively in this fast-paced world. We then need to adjust the reading and listening texts accordingly.
Sixth, the books lack aesthetic appeal. The insufficiency of beautiful and relevant illustration is off-putting and makes the books less enjoyable. We should not discount the importance of the aesthetic aspect and layout of the textbook because it may help in making the book attractive as well as help in understanding the information and vocabulary. Relevant, big-enough, and high resolution images function as a visual text and as a stimulus to the reader’s imagination which is the key to understanding and interpreting texts and lexica. It is a known fact that a well-designed textbook has plenty of tips and best practices including the opportunity to learn from illustrations and adequate visual elements.
Seventh, and in connection with the aesthetic appeal, it is worthwhile noting that the present textbooks are jam-packed with almost no space between various texts and exercises which makes the books look fuzzy for (especially, visual) learners. These (visual /spatial) learners like organization and ‘well-ventilated’ pages because the information in them is a lot less daunting and helps learners focus and minimize distractions.
Eight, the books need some grammar editing. For example some grammar errors need to be corrected like “can have visited”, and “do you know the girl whom danced with me”. Also, tricky grey areas of grammar have to be avoided at this level. In addition, detailed explanations of grammar points may confuse rather than clarify as is the case with restrictive and non-restrictive clauses in one of the baccalaureate books. Moreover, textbooks have to take grammar difficulty gradation into consideration. That is to say, books should start with simple grammar points and gradually progress to more complex ones at the end.
Ninth, Moroccan English textbooks are a one-size-fits-all kind of a garment. All sections and streams study the same book and cover the same texts and grammar points regardless of the number of hours of English courses they have per week and despite differences in interests and needs. Present books are not doing any justice to the Moroccan learners from a variety of families and backgrounds and with a variety of learning strengths and needs because they are feeding everyone the same content in the same way. What I suggest, then, is that textbook writers write specific books for each stream (science, literature, theology), or at least modify the ‘original’ textbook slightly for each of the main streams in the Moroccan high school.
Tenth, and as said earlier, Moroccan textbooks are so jammed that they leave no time or space for teachers’ creativity. Tyrant textbooks that dictate to educators absolve teachers of responsibility and stifle innovation and initiatives which in turn dissuades teachers from learning to build internal capacity through reflection, on-the-job mentoring, professional network communities, and specialized courses.
That said, I appreciate the effort put forth by the Moroccan textbook writers who should be credited for ‘liberating’ English language textbooks which had been straining at the leash of foreign powers. Also, I can say from personal experience that there is a lot of unseen effort and hard work behind the current textbooks. As Lao Tzu said, “a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step”, and the Moroccan textbook writers took the first giant steps and made auspicious beginnings. So now, the future of these textbooks rests squarely on the shoulders of the next generation of young Moroccan textbook writers to win the spurs.
