The Amazigh Voice, December 1995 - March 1996
The Teaching of Tamazight in the Netherlands

By Abderrahman Al Aissati


Since 1992, the Department of Applied Linguistics at the University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands, has been offering a regular course (with credits) in Tamazight (Tarifit) spoken in the Moroccan Rif. This course was developed so that Dutch students experience learning a foreign language typologically unrelated to Dutch. In addition, it allows the students to get first-hand experience of what it is like for Amazigh and other students to learn Dutch. The students are required to keep a diary in which they note relevant observations and details about the teacher's attitude, difficult sounds, feelings of despair, etc. This learning method falls within the approach of ``diary studies'' proposed by researchers such as Bailey (refer to Introspective Analysis of an Individual's Language, 1980, and Research in 2nd Language Acquisition, Rowley, Mass.: Newbury House, pp.58-65).

The language learning component

For most people in the Netherlands, learning foreign languages is usually restricted to two or three European languages, typically English, French, or German. Since these languages are taught in schools and are spoken in neighboring countries, Dutch people frequently come into contact with native speakers of these languages. However, the arrival of ethnic minorities has made the Dutch aware of the existence of different languages in their midst. Compared to English, French, or German, languages such as Turkish, Tamazight, Arabic, and Vietnamese not only remain a mystery, but also represent different and exotic linguistic challenges to the Dutch.

The Tamazight course consists of 13 two-hour classes in which students are taught to listen, speak, and write in Latin script. Students also take part in classroom conversations in order to develop an elementary capacity to communicate in Tamazight. In addition, songs, poems, and other aspects of the Amazigh culture are introduced to supplement language learning. Moreover, lectures by Amazigh guest speakers are scheduled to allow the students to improve their knowledge of Tamazight and become familiar with the Amazigh culture.

The reflection component

Here the idea is to get students to think about their learning experience and assess its quality. This requires the students to reflect on their own performance, feelings, and learning strategies and detach themselves from the classroom situation in order to organize their thoughts about the course, the teacher, and classmates. A regular recording of these thoughts in a diary allows students to become more effective learners and also, as applied linguists, to gain some insight into the complexities of the language learning process.

The first session consists of the presentation and explanation of the goals and the working methods adopted in writing a language learner diary. A short reading list of relevant literature is also provided. During the semester, two or three individual tutorials are conducted on a regular basis to discuss the progress of the diary. Students are assessed on their insights into their own learning experiences as revealed by their diaries, and on the concluding report in which they sum up and evaluate their own performance.

Students are examined on both their competence in Tamazight and the quality of their diaries and final reports. To pass the course it is necessary to obtain satisfactory grades on both components. If a student fails the language component, re-sits (herkansingen) are possible. However, if a student fails the reflection component, there are no formal re-sits: the diary and/or final report must be re-written in a satisfactory manner. Certificates of successful participation in an elementary course in Tamazight are issued to students who pass the course.

The course has been a success according to both students and teachers who have shared their experiences with other schools. Taking advantage of this successful experience, the Department of Languages and Minorities of the University of Tilburg (the Netherlands) will begin offering, in January 1996, similar courses (in a sociolinguistic context) in Tamazight, Arabic, Turkish, and Kurdish. The two Tamazight courses will be taught by T. Bongaerts, who oversees the diary writing, and myself.

References used for the course

1. El Aissati, A., Nessawal Tamazight: A Basic Course in Berber (Tarifit), Nijmegen: ADRAR, 1994.

2. Tamazight-English-Dutch lexicon.

3. Two audio-cassettes: 130 min recorded dialogues and exercises.

Notes:

(1) The estimated number of Moroccan Imazighen living in the Netherlands is 126,000 (about 70% of the total Moroccan community).

(2) To our regret, we have recently learned that the Tamazight course in Nijmegen may not be offered next year due to a lack of teachers.

Biography of the Author

Abderrahman Al Aissati was born in Midar (Province of Nador in the North of Morocco). He received his B.A in English literature and language in 1982 from the University Mohamed Ben Abdellah (Fes, Morocco) and his M.A in Linguistics in 1989 from the University Mohamed V (Rabat). His Master thesis was on phonotactic studies of Asht (Ayt) Touzine Tarifit Dialect. Between 1989 and 1990 he was a lecturer in the English Department of the University of Kenitra (Morocco). In 1991, he joined the University of Nijmegen as a Ph.D student where he has been teaching Tamazight and preparing a dissertation on language loss and language shift of Moroccan Arabic in the Netherlands. Starting January 1996, he will be teaching in the Department of Languages and Minorities, University of Tilburg, the Netherlands.