Educational reform in Morocco: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Framework Law 51.17

Résumé

This study critically examines Morocco’s recent educational reform endeavors, focusing on the competition between English and French as mediums of instruction at secondary and tertiary levels. Employing a Critical Policy Discourse Analysis Framework (CPDF), the research analyzes the dispositions of framework law 51.17. Findings reveal a discrepancy in state discourse, where initiatives to promote national languages are undermined by the dominance of colonial French and a well-resourced Global English. The study also highlights the role of international language institutions and financial institutions (IFIs) like the World Bank and the IMF in promoting English as an indispensable modern-day lingua franca. This (neo)colonial agenda prioritizes English and French, weakening the status of Morocco’s constitutionally official languages: Modern Standard Arabic and Amazigh.