Ten Reasons to Change the Moroccan English Textbooks Noureddine Boutahar

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.

First, the world is changing and so should textbooks. Most of the texts in the Moroccan textbooks are informational and that makes them grow old very quickly and become outdated pretty fast. That is to say, the topics of such texts deal with data and information which need to be constantly renewed and replenished to keep pace with this fast-changing world where information overload and update is a daily occurrence. Additionally, because the Moroccan high school textbooks are more than a decade old, much of the information in them is either obsolete, timeless, or representative of old approaches (or all three at once). Novelty will certainly provide interest and motivation and will connect learners with the real world outside the classroom.
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.

Back to School Noureddine Boutahar

Students across Morocco are headed back to school for another school year. Their backpacks full of heavy and expensive books weighing them down. Their heads and hearts are full of false hopes, empty aspirations and sunken dreams generated by the sky rocketing unemployment among graduates and sporadic attempts of reform that usually end up in limbo and confusion. Their school year ahead is made up of a series of challenges, hurdles, and multi-faceted complex problems whose solutions are not on the near horizon. However, a detailed and in-depth analysis of the sad state of education in Morocco is beyond the scope of this post which will primarily be addressing the small drops that swell the river such as large class sizes, long school days, lack of basic materials and facilities, poor textbooks, arbitrary top-down decisions, and rife corruption.

Moroccan classrooms are typically too crowded for learning. Sometimes class size is greater than fifty students which is detrimental to the learning and teaching process especially in the early years of schooling when kids require so much of teacher time and need individual attention. Large classes, also, mean behavior problems for kids and management challenges for teachers who turn into mere babysitters. This certainly causes many students to lag behind and eventually drop out at a young age. A former education minister said that he’d rather see the kids in a crowded class than on the street. However, because of this failed policy thousands of them soon drop out as they cannot keep up with the other kids. Because of this boomerang policy Morocco ranks 4th worst educational reformer worldwide.

School refusal and hate is, also, very common among Moroccan students for various reasons such as having to do loads of homework, memorize stuff they will never need, wake up early every school day and so on. However, I for one see school day length (08-18) as one of the major reasons why our students look down on school. Our students spent most of their time and daylight hours at school; usually from dawn to dusk, nine months a year. It’s a different kind of jail with no bars but no freedom. I have spent some time in a few American schools where most high schools start at 7:30 a.m. and end at 2:30 p.m. I heard in Canada, whose ranking in education is among the top ten, the school day is even shorter – 5.5 hours a day. In these countries students have the afternoon for themselves, for extra-curricular activities, for homework and assignment, for projects, and for other activities and interests that would prepare them for adult life. Our students, on the contrary, routinely go to school in the morning, come back from school in the evening until they get extremely tired of school.

Another reason why our schools are not doing well has to do with the fact that education has become a lucrative business in this country. The weight of students’ backpacks is a perfect example of how enticing this sector is for profit-motivated businessmen who see education as another horizon for making quick money. Students’ backpacks are full of expensive school books and other school items which do nothing but provide fast and easy money to ‘The Merchants of Books’. It’s a sad and known fact that when business comes in the door, education and learning flies out the window. Too many books don’t make good students when the business mentality takes control of most aspects of education; they only drive those who cannot afford them to drop out and fall into a life of poverty, drug abuse, violence, crimes, and so on.

As for corruption, the situation is even worse, and it has taken quite a toll on Moroccan education. There have been some good-intentioned attempts to correct the failures of education but were usually nipped in the bud by corruption. Corruption in this very sensitive sector runs the gamut from bribery to embezzlement and cronyism to paid tutoring lessons by greedy teachers. Cases of entrepreneurs who have been found guilty of embezzling funds allocated to building or renovating schools and purchasing teaching materials is the talk of every street and home. Cronyism whereby some teachers can get desirable appointments and other services is a common currency in the field of education, as well. Also, the issue of “ghost teachers” is a prime example of corruption and officials’ impotence. These parasite irregular and illegal civil servants drain the already strained budget of education and expose the government’s impotence against the ruling elite who make the rules and the ultimate decisions. Other teachers are accomplices in the destruction of our system of education through the notorious shameful ‘private lessons’. These paid tutorings which pick the pockets of many poverty-stricken and middle-class families , are a disease which has plagued not only private and public schools but higher institutions as well and has, thus, eroded the educational system as a whole.

Also, the lack of basic educational resources and school facilities is a major constraint our schools are facing. Chalk and board are the only teaching materials that most Moroccan classrooms have. There are attempts, now, to equip schools with technology such as computers, internet connections, interactive whiteboards, and so on. However, it seems this is done in a hasty foolhardy manner and without a well-designed and proper planning. A perfect example of such imprudent rush is the little training teachers get which is not sufficient or adequate enough to incorporate technology into their classroom instruction. These so-called trainings are never supported by follow-ups or updates or hands-on tests or whatever to ensure competency, mastery, and continuity. Even the best and hardest working teachers need congenial and wiser training to spur them on to give the best they can. Some see the whole process only as a cash cow that earns them hard cash and others see it as a waste of time and money –especially the technophobe educators.

Another obstacle that impedes real educational progress in Morocco is arbitrary top-down decision making by individual school officials or a minority group of the ruling elite. Arabization, for example, undertaken and implemented by the then minister of Education, Azzeddine Laraki, in 1977 stopped at the 12th grade (baccalaureate). This has caused many science students to avoid going to Science Colleges and other higher institutes or to drop out because of deficiencies in French, the language of instruction there and also the language par excellence for the ruling elite. In addition to arbitrariness, irresolution, bureaucracy, and individual decisions are the main defining features of this sector which has suffered many similar unfinished reforms and wrong choices for decades. The protests and demonstrations of 1965, 1981, 1984, 1990 and multiple nationwide strikes act as an authentic witness to the failure of cosmetic makeovers which have been performed by successive helpless and façade governments since independence.

One more hurdle on the way to quality education in Morocco is the imposed top-down curriculum that focuses on quantity rather than quality. The amount of books students are asked to buy each year is a clear evidence of this orientation. Also, external parties’ (parents, inspectors, principals, officials, etc) insistence on the number of lessons covered rather than the way they are covered bears witness to the emphasis on quantity, teaching, and rote learning. Besides, most teachers usually struggle with the curriculum and find it difficult to finish the number of lessons and units in due time. Some teachers work overtime to finish, others wrap up the lessons quickly at the expense of learning, critical thinking, skills development, promotion of social and universal values and so forth.

The importance of quality education is well recognized. If you take care of education, it will take care of everything else including economic growth and prosperity as well as justice and equity. So, it’s high time those who rule from behind the curtains understand that low quality education is a weapon of mass destruction and a perennial security threat. They, also, have to stop dodging responsibility, pitting parents against teachers and teacher unions, and exhibiting a cavalier attitude towards the sufferings of kids of low and modest-income families. Hopefully, the coming government officials (under the new constitution) will have a broader outlook, a clearer vision, a stronger willingness, and more freedom to take educational reform seriously and expedite its process because it’s the best investment in the future of this country and a reliable guarantee of its durable social stability and economic progress. As Thomas Friedman said, "Countries that don’t invest in the future tend to not do well there."

Secondary School Textbook Evaluation Meetings (Noureddine Boutahar)

Mr Hamid Angoud, the Inspector of English in the region of Khemisset, held some meetings about Moroccan English textbooks used in secondary schools (9th grade). I attended a couple of them as a teacher-adviser and I sometimes felt the books were subject to violent criticism by some teachers. As a veteran teacher I have to make a few comments – or say thoughts – about these books and try to render to Caesar what is Caesar's.
However, I should first thank Si Hamid Angoud for the opportunity he gave me to meet those blooming and ambitious young teachers and have honest constructive discussions. It was an opportunity to share our thoughts, experiences, as well as our grievances and aspirations for better and quality education for future generations in Morocco. Heartfelt thanks to teacher-presenters for their well thought-out presentations. Special thanks to the teacher-participants for their valuable contributions and whose criticism mostly comes out of genuine love and admiration for their profession and out of aspiration for a better system of education in general.
I am a veteran teacher but I am not claiming expertise, however. I am veteran in terms of the number of years I spent in teaching. I started teaching in the late eighties and lived both periods: before the home-made textbook and while implementing and using the Moroccan textbook. At that time, in the eighties, we had only the syllabus –an outline of the points and topics to be taught – and we had to prepare everything from scratch: reading texts, listening texts, lesson plans, activities, homework assignments, quizzes, tests, VAs and all. It was so strenuous and exhausting and we sweated a lot because it was very hard – in the absence of the Internet – to find handy material and because we were inexperienced novice teachers groping our way through the labyrinth of the teaching profession. Now, we have our homemade Moroccan textbooks, but they are not perfect books, I have to admit. However, they have made things easier for teachers, and have made their job less demanding at least because they don’t have to start everything from the ground up. They give us all somewhere -a common ground- to start from. However, these books need good teachers because good teachers know how to evaluate and adapt textbooks. Good teachers don’t throw bad textbooks under the bus; they are troubleshooters who try to improve school textbooks using their experience, their knowledge, their know-how, and their creativity. Also, with the Internet services the sky is the limit for finding material to supplement these books and make them cater for the needs of students.
As a reminder, textbooks have, among other things, the following advantages: They serve as a scaffolding for novice teachers and offer them practical help; they provide practical guidance for both novice and seasoned teachers about what to teach and how to teach it; they make it possible for absentees to catch up; they allow class to prepare in advance and good students to work independently of the teacher or even ahead of class; and they permit external legitimate parties (parents, inspectors, principals etc) to have an eye on what is going on in class.
The bottom line is, "a textbook is just one tool, perhaps a very important tool, in your teaching arsenal." They are necessary but some adaptation and improvisation is needed to keep them afloat. That is, teachers should use them wisely and not overuse them blindly.