1.3.3. Predictions about English in the future
David Graddol (1997) tried in his book The Future of
English? to predict the
situation of English in the future. He wrote:
There is no reason to believe that any other language will
appear within the next 50 years to replace English as the global lingua franca.
The position of English has arisen from a particular history which no other
language can in the changed world of the 21st century repeat. (p.
58)
Perhaps what might assist the expected domination is that
English could become recognised as the world language and would no longer be
linked to colonialism. Therefore, the sustaining of its domination might not to
be because of what it refers to (i.e. colonialism) but what it gives (i.e.
prosperity). In fact, its increasing presence in EFL countries especially in
education could decide much of its future (ibid). The prospect of this presence
in a number of EFL countries like Tunisia is going to be measured when
analysing the questionnaire.
Predicting the scenarios that might happen in Asia as far as
English is concerned, Graddol (1997) suggests three possibilities. The first is
that English will remain the language of communication between Asian countries.
The second is that Mandarin could become more important. The third possibility
is that there will be no dominant language, which means that people will use
many regional languages for
communication. Viewing to the rising importance of the Asian
economies and the possibility of adopting English in all sectors for them, one
could wonder about the value that today's university science students assign to
mastering this language in Tunisia as an example of EFL countries. However,
this claim could be discussed by the fact that Tunisia is connected to
francophone countries more than Anglophone ones especially in terms of economy.
Yet, it is important to mention that globalisation does not separate between
countries based on this distinction. What is meant by this is that the rising
importance of English together with the rising importance of economic world
dependence on it leads to questioning the value young university students in
the economic, technological, and scientific sections attribute to English. Such
an issue is going to be discussed in chapter four. Whatever be the results,
they are certainly influenced by the measures that have been taken to promote
English throughout history and especially after independence. These measures
are going to be discussed in the fourth section of this chapter, which tracks
the situation of English in the educational system of Tunisia and the phases of
its implementation.
1.4. English in Tunisia
This issue is going to be dealt with in four sub-sections that
describe the various phases of the promotion of English from independence until
2007 in Tunisia based primarily on works of Tunisian researchers such as Salhi
(1984), Derbel (2001), and Daoud (2001). The importance of this issue lies in
the fact that these phases reflect the value attached to English by Tunisian
governments from independence until now (2008), which contributes in the
formation of Tunisian university science students' perception of English. While
the first sub-section, which is entitled `the introduction phase' (from
independence until the end of the 1970s) tracks the first measures taken to
introduce English in Tunisia, the second sub-section, which is entitled `the
generalisation phase' ( from1970s until 1984), covers the
measures that were taken to support the learning of English. `The promotion
phase' ( from 1984 until 2000) where the study of English were more promoted is
going to be the concern of the third subsection before discussing `the present
phase' (from 2000 until 2007) in the implementation of English in the fourth
sub-section. Needless to mention that the periods could not be one hundred
percent exact as there could exist some reforms generalising the learning of
English during what was described as promotion or introduction phase and vice
versa.
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