Problem Areas in EFL Writing: The Tertiary Level Fatima Bouzenirh

MATE ELT Series : Book 1

PROBLEM AREAS IN EFL

WRITING:
THE TERTIARY LEVEL
Fatima Bouzenirh

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Publication of Moroccan Association of Teachers of English (MATE)
Problem Areas in EFL Writing: The Tertiary Level Fatima Bouzenirh

MATE ELT Series : Book 1

PROBLEM AREAS IN EFL

WRITING:
THE TERTIARY LEVEL

Fatima Bouzenirh

Publication of Moroccan Association

- 1 - of Teachers
MATEof ELT
English
Series(MATE)
: Book 1
Problem Areas in EFL Writing: The Tertiary Level Fatima Bouzenirh

The views expressed in these ELT Series

do not necessarily reflect those of MATE.

Dépôt légal: 2018MO0215

ISBN: 978-9920-35-040-2

© Moroccan Association of Teachers of English (MATE), 2018.

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Problem Areas in EFL Writing: The Tertiary Level Fatima Bouzenirh

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am sincerely grateful to the various MATE organizers for

having given me the opportunity to discuss some of the
issues included in this collection within the yearly
conferences.

Special thanks for my children, Said and Kenza, for their

valuable help with word-processing at critical moments and
for their great patience with my ‘barbarian’ use of the
technology.

Book cover design: Taoufiq Elbiad

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Problem Areas in EFL Writing: The Tertiary Level Fatima Bouzenirh

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Problem Areas in EFL Writing: The Tertiary Level Fatima Bouzenirh

Foreword
MATE ELT Series is an ambitious project that the current board (2016-2018)
has launched as part of its action plan. This project is meant to continue even
after the end of this board’s mandate for its academic and strategic value. It is
based initially on MATE constitution as stated in its aims and activities; namely
encouraging research and publication in ELT. The need for this ELT series
comes from the fact that a. writings about ELT in Morocco is scattered in
different publications (newsletters, magazines, conference proceedings, online
publications…) and they need to be compiled according to themes and
qualitative products by distinguished researchers and experts in the field; b. so
many Moroccan specialists and researchers have much contributed to
conferences and seminars but they could not put their work into publication that
interested professionals can make good use of; c. there is a need for valuing the
work done by distinguished Moroccan researchers and specialists in the field of
ELT and paying tribute to them by putting their work in lasting published work;
and d. the need for MATE to make good use of its legacy and long invaluable
contribution to Moroccan ELT as a national heritage.

The first book in this series is a contribution of the distinguished Moroccan

professor Mrs Fatima Bouzenirh who spontaneously and generously put her
work at the disposal of MATE, given her long commitment and contribution to
MATE and its noble causes. In addition to its valuable content, the book draws
its importance from its coverage of a long period (1987-2013) of research and
studies in the field of language, literature and linguistics. Though it deals with
writing as a general field, the book covers varied topics like discourse analysis,
gender issues, English language teaching, culture specific issues, etc. MATE is
so grateful to professor Bouzenirh for accepting to contribute her work and be
the first to give a strong push to this project.

Before closing this foreword, I would like to thank MATE members who worked
with me and spared their precious time and expertise to make this work ready
for publication, namely Mr Elmadani Fahmi, Mr Younes Elyousfi and Mr El
Hassan Borrou. We wish this strategic project, which is at its infancy stage, a
flourishing life and promising development. For the above-stated noble reasons
and strategic aims, Moroccan researchers and specialists are called upon to
contribute to this series for the benefit of ELT development in our country and
serving the future ELT researchers and specialists.
Mohammed Hassim,
President of MATE

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Problem Areas in EFL Writing: The Tertiary Level Fatima Bouzenirh

Contents

Foreword 5
Introduction 9
Part One: Aspects of the Context. 11
1. Diglossia and Problems in Language 13
Teaching.
2. Bridging Gaps: ‘A Bridge too Far!’ 23
3. Linguistics, Literature and the Moroccan 29
EFL Context.
4. Research at What Price? 40
5. The Global Language and Creative
Writing: The Case of African Literature. 50
6. Gender and Language in Education:
Making Room for Masculinity Construct. 60
Part Two: Focus on Writing. 73
1. From Spoken to Written Language: 75
Implications for Teaching EST/EFL
Composition.
2. Errors of Composition. 90
3. Advanced Composition and the Issue of
Content. 109

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Problem Areas in EFL Writing: The Tertiary Level Fatima Bouzenirh

PROBLEM AREAS IN EFL WRITING:

THE TERTIARY LEVEL

INTRODUCTION

The analyses presented in this compilation are previous presentations mostly

given at various MATE (Moroccan Association of Teachers of English)
conferences between 1987 and 2013. They have lately been revised,
revisited. Some have been edited because of problems that have cropped up
in first publications: poor scanning, confusion in pagination, etc. These
problems have been smoothed out to allow for easier reception. They have
been re-issued by curtsey of the Rabat Faculty of Letters.

The aim behind the re-issuing of these papers is twofold: first it is to regroup
them , and avoid a scattering of efforts, and present the reader -EFL trainee-
with an overview of the issues encountered during an in-class experience of
teaching English as a foreign language at the tertiary level in Morocco.
Also, most of the problem areas and topics addressed in these papers are still
relevant to the Moroccan EFL scene, at the beginning of the third
millennium.

1. Issues which constitute obstacles to EFL teaching pertain to the larger

context in which this teaching is taking place at university level.
Contributions dealing with this aspect have been included in the first part of
the present booklet. The focus on the relationship between literature and
linguistics in the departments of English in Morocco has been addressed in
an attempt to investigate the effects of such choices on the foreign language
learner. The analysis makes use of the orientation taken within the studies
for the Diploma in Stylistics at the university of Edinburgh with Professors
Alex Rodger, Keith Mitchell and the team. At another level, the implications
of sociolinguistics to the teaching in a diglossic situation such as the
Moroccan one have been raised in a paper produced for Professor W. F.
Mackey, at Laval University, Québec, Canada. The teaching conditions in
‘Higher Education’ and obstacles met within the ‘Instructor/Researcher’
interface have also been investigated and included in this section. The thorny
aspect of bridging gaps between secondary and tertiary levels to find out the
important gaps in the in-coming students’ level of competence is also

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Problem Areas in EFL Writing: The Tertiary Level Fatima Bouzenirh

introduced in this compilation as a means of triggering awareness about the

problem. The context of teaching has also lately raised issues of gender in
education. This issue constitutes the subject of one of these papers, and has
been addressed from the angle of masculinity construct.

2. Issues pertaining to students’ Clarity, Correctness and Relevance-‘CCR’-

in their written compositions still stand, maybe in a more serious way than
before, in the past century when the ‘old ‘ system used to provide them
with more time to digest the subjects they took. The generations of EFL
instructors and trainees still debate areas such as cohesion, coherence, reader
awareness, and have regularly to deal with issues of content, spoken vs
written forms in the EFL writing of their students. Scientific research in these
fields is taking place and will surely consolidate the foundations of EFL
teaching in our context. The practical results in the real classroom situation
and interaction can, however, still be problematic if, for instance, teaching
materials are not compatible with the learner’s level .What the foreign
language learner needs is an extended helping hand to meet his/her level of
difficulty ;the level he/she is at. Maybe any type of teaching endeavour is
just that!

Again, this collection has no theoretical pretention .It is produced as a

summary of a teaching experience and a sounding board for novice
instructors; something to read before taking a plunge in the reality of the
classroom.

I am fully responsible for any mistake of interpretation or translation that

might have occurred in the texts.

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Problem Areas in EFL Writing: The Tertiary Level
Fatima Bouzenirh
PROBLEM AREAS IN EFL WRITING:
THE TERTIARY LEVEL
The analyses presented in this compilation are previous
presentations mostly given at various MATE (Moroccan
Association of Teachers of English) conferences between 1987 and
2013. They have lately been revised, revisited. Some have been
edited because of problems that have cropped up in first
publications: poor scanning, confusion in pagination, etc. These
problems have been smoothed out to allow for easier reception.

The aim behind the re-issuing of these papers is two-fold: first it

is to regroup them, and avoid a scattering of efforts, and present
the reader with an overview of the issues encountered during an in-
class experience of teaching English as a foreign language at
the tertiary level in Morocco. Also, most of the problem areas and
topics addressed in these papers are still relevant to the Moroccan
EFL scene, at the beginning of the third millennium.

About the author

Fatima Bouzenirh was a lecturer at Mohammed V
University, Faculty of Letters and Humanities,
Rabat, Morocco, from 1975 to 2007.

She holds a Diploma in Stylistics

from Edinburgh University, an MA in Modern African Literature
from Sheffield University, and has done doctoral research on EFL
Writing at Laval University, Québec- Canada. Besides her
interests in the field of teaching, she has been involved in NGO
activism, helping to create the first shelter for women victims
of violence in Morocco.

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Publication of Moroccan Association of Teachers of English (MATE)