LINGUIST List 34.478
Tue Feb 07 2023
Calls: Language Acquisition/Morocco
Editor for this issue: Everett Green <everettlinguistlist.org>
Date: 04-Feb-2023
From: Rachid Ed-dali <flshconference2023
gmail.com>
Subject: The Problem of Learning in Morocco
E-mail this message to a friend Full Title: The Problem of Learning in Morocco
Date: 03-May-2023 - 03-May-2023
Location: Cadi Ayyad University, Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences, Marrakech, Morocco
Contact Person: Rachid Ed-dali
Meeting Email:
< click here to access email >
Linguistic Field(s): Language Acquisition
Call Deadline: 19-Mar-2023
Meeting Description:
Chomsky’s succinct observation about the nature of human knowledge is made explicit in two intriguing problems that he termed Plato’s problem and Orwell’s problem. Plato’s problem seeks to explain how we can know so much even when the evidence available to us is so scant. Orwell’s problem, on the other hand, is about why we know so little even when the evidence before our eyes is so rich. In this conference the two problems overlap and diverge but could ultimately be reduced to a single problem, that of learning. The conference grows out of the above questions and sets out to investigate a problem which has often been glossed over: the problem of learning/academic performance. To that end, the conference develops a nomadic perspective that observes the problem of learning in Morocco from vantage theoretical and empirical perspectives.
In Morocco, the chronicles of the decades-long consecutive reforms to enhance the quality of education have undergone “multiple births and baptisms”. The results, however, have been replete with doubt, contradictions, and disparities in the sense that nothing is what it seems to be. A case in point is the Moroccan Minister of Education recent alarm bell that up to 70% of students in Morocco face challenges in mathematics, reading, and writing. These statistics have confirmed long-standing doubts on the success of the various reforms adopted by different ministers and governments. Over the last three decades, Moroccan students’ performance draws attention to their average-to-poor academic performance. This ranking is worrying and continues to decline with the annual loss of significant points in mathematics and languages. Notwithstanding the efforts invested in this regard, the poor rating has not improved. Lately, the Ministry of National Education in Morocco has turned to the Indian model of education, known as ‘Teaching at the Right Level’ (TaRL), an evidence-backed educational approach that helps children develop basic reading and mathematics skills, to improve and accelerate learning.
The problem of weak student learning/performance in Morocco is the major issue that the conference aims at investigating. This problem has often been debated in light of various integrated and interrelated circles (e.g., infrastructure, pedagogy, culture). The present conference, while recognizing this, aims at isolating the problem of learning/performance and studying it on its own.
If answers to the problem of learning/performance are be answered at all, this will call for the joint synergy of many scholars in a wide range of scientific areas.
Call for Papers:
We invite proposals for presentations across disciplines on the problem of learning; we accept proposals dealing with aspects of the problem of learning in the Moroccan context. We particularly welcome studies proposals using quantitative and qualitative methods. The topics of interests include, but not limited to the following:
- New or remodelled theoretical frameworks relevant to the problem of learning, in particular with multi-methodological designs and advanced statistical modelling.
- Interdisciplinary approaches to the problem of learning
- Triangulation: combined use of international comparative data and other sources of data
- Emerging perspectives in linguistics, multilingualism, and applied linguistics perspectives on education quality.
- The nature of the interface between conceptual and linguistic structure to the study of the problem of learning
IMPORTANT DATES
- Abstract submission deadline: March 19th
- Notification of acceptance: April 3rd
- Conference: May 3rd, 2023
CONFERENCE CONVENER
- Name: Pr. Ed-dali Rachid
- Tel: 0670099194
- Email: flshconference2023
gmail.com
VENUE
Conference Room, Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences, Marrakech Rue Amarchich, Marrakesh 40000
Conference Room
Page Updated: 07-Feb-2023