Abdessamad Saidi

The teaching of pronunciation has witnessed remarkable changes throughout the history of language teaching and learning. As one of the most neglected aspects of English language teaching, pronunciation has gained attention only in the past half of the 20th century with the rise of Audiolingualism and the Direct Method. Throughout history, teachers and applied linguists have been concerned with the difficulty of teaching this skill. In this respect, they have attempted to develop different methods and techniques with the reliance on other sub-disciplines such as phonetics, phonology and second language acquisition among others. Taking phonetics and phonology as a framework, teachers have tried to make use of the different components of these core disciplines in order to apply them to their classrooms. In this respect, the present essay endeavors to highlight the importance of phonetics and phonology in the teaching of pronunciation. Therefore, it will be initiated by defining and contextualizing the issue of teaching pronunciation. Second, the different components of the study of phonetics and phonology will be highlighted with their relevance to the teaching of pronunciation. Afterwards, some practical techniques and activities, which involve the use of phonetics and phonology in the teaching of pronunciation, will be presented.

Throughout the history of language teaching and learning, the teaching of writing has been the subject of focus for many teachers and applied linguists. As the pendulum swung from an approach to another, teaching writing skills has been either prioritized or neglected. More specifically, with the rise of the communicative movement, different teachers started to direct their practices mostly to speaking and communicative skills. However, with the increased focus on the learner and with the search for a holistic approach to language teaching which integrates all the major skills, the writing component has become an integrative skill that needs to be fit into any language teaching programme. At the university level, writing occupies a major component; every year, several academic writing textbooks are designed and published throughout the world incorporating different approaches and activities, all of which with a unifying purpose of developing academic writing skills among university students. The present essay endeavors to explore some of the main approaches and techniques used in the teaching of academic writing. First, it is initiated by a discussion of the notion of writing and its relevance to language teaching and learning. Then, the second section will be devoted to explore some of the main approaches that have been adopted in the teaching of academic writing. Afterwards, the third section will be concerned with some practical activities that are used in the teaching of academic writing.

The present paper attempts to establish a critical discourse analysis (CDA) of an article taken from the Guardian newspaper in its online version. It tries to bring together different discourse analytical tools in application to reveal the bias in this article. To fulfill this objective, the paper is introduced with the theoretical background on which the analysis is based. Thus, the CDA approach and the tools adopted in the analysis will be discussed. Afterwards, the next section will be devoted for the application of the CDA tools on the Guardian’s article.

The linguistic situation in Morocco is characterized by complexity. The presence of different local and foreign languages leaves room for diversity and creates many sociolinguistic issues. The languages used in Morocco are Classical Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic, Moroccan Arabic, Amazigh, French, and Spanish (as well as English, which has recently started to gain significance). The presence and interaction of these languages indicates that the vast majority of Moroccans, especially the young generation, are bilingual, if not multilingual.

The university is an essential phase of every student’s career. It is a stage where students develop their knowledge and equip themselves with the necessary skills to lead a successful life. In today’s world, the diversity found at the university forces some professors to change their methods; while some subjects require an academic background, others need more hands-on training and practice. This dichotomy divides university education between what is more academic and what is more vocational.

The Moroccan educational system has suffered from a variety of issues, and continues to be among the worst educational systems not only in the Arab world, but also around the globe. Different categories of people, from researchers and educators to laymen and illiterate people, have expressed their dissatisfaction with the status of our educational system. Despite the many reforms and “reforms of the reforms” presented by the government at different levels, one can observe that our educational system continues to suffer from serious problems across many areas.

Eating habits, just like food preparations, have undergone many changes. People, especially in rural areas, used to eat food collectively. However, with the advances in industry and invention, these habits have taken new forms; the use of all sorts of table spoons and forks has become common between different countries and civilizations. This distinction or division in eating habits can be seen in the Moroccan society. Although some people think that Moroccans should give up eating from the same dish, this habit is actually supported by cultural, religious, and ethical reasons.

In the field of language teaching and learning, one of the most difficult and challenging skills to acquire is writing. Most teachers of writing struggle over which approaches, methods and classroom activities are the most effective to fulfill the writing course objective. The general aim of teachers of writing, especially at the college level, is, generally, to lead students to produce a coherent, well-thought, and well-articulated piece of writing. Therefore, one way to help students and guide them to achieve this goal is the response to students' written errors. In this regard, the present study endeavors to investigate the role of Written Corrective Feedback (WCF) on the development of EFL learners' writing skills. With special reference to the English department in Rabat, this study purports to reveal to what extent WCF can impact the writing skills of EFL learners at the university. A further objective of this study is to show which method of WCF is more effective in the development of university students' writing skills.