II-The Algerian Educational System and approaches to
English Teaching
1-Introduction
This chapter describes the Algerian Educational System
structure and highlights its various objectives. Generally, ELT has many
objectives; they are of social, political, economic and cultural order.
Socially, ELT aims at supplying learners with all the magnitudes which make
them social beings who take part in the making of the world around them. This
can be done through taking charge of their learning process, sharing and
collaborating with each other and making decisions and choices regarding their
learning. Politically, ELT makes learners more engaged in open conversations
and communicative situations where they develop a democratic freedom of
interaction and negotiation with others. At the economic level, English serves
as the language of today's world markets and its functional use in economics
makes it a means of common understanding between nations around the globe.
Moreover, ELT plays a key role in keeping learners in touch with the English
culture and even with other cultures of different countries.
Beyond its objectives, the Algerian Educational System had
adopted some teaching approaches. The competency-based approach is predominant
in the Algerian Educational System in order to attain a level that makes
learners rely on themselves and compete with other people around the world
either in the field of work or in other situations. However, this alternative
approach is actually applied in middle education, and also had adopted the
communicative approach that has always been controversial in Algerian
educational institutions in the sense that it challenges the traditional
conceptions of good teaching and learning, i.e., fluency at the expense of
accuracy.
-37-
II-The Algerian Educational System and approaches to
English Teaching
2-The Algerian Educational System
During the French colonization, Algeria had no schools or
institutions to provide education for its people; therefore, only a small
minority received this education, and since there were a great number of French
children among this minority, they were forced to learn European languages,
especially French and English. Algeria gained its independence in 1962, and
thus a radical change occurred in many fields. However, education was still
oriented towards a particular elite till 1963 when the Ministry of Education
was founded. As a result, many schools and institutions were established to
make education free to all the Algerian kids. Since then, the Ministry of
Education in Algeria has changed its policy towards learning and teaching
foreign languages to ensure their success. The actual school system in Algeria
is made up of twelve years divided into three main cycles: primary education,
middle education and secondary education.
2-1-Primary Education
At the age of six, Algerian children are obliged to go to
school to receive their primary education for free. They are taught in their
native language Arabic and French as the only foreign language introduced at
this level from the third year. After studying five years, pupils take the
Sixth Grade Exam which is a national final examination through which they can
move to the Middle Cycle.
2-2-Middle Education
During this cycle, learners spend four years and study
different subjects taught by several teachers. From their first year, pupils
start learning English as the second foreign language after French. At the end
of the fourth year, they have to pass the «Brevet d'Enseignement
Moyen» (BEM), which refers to the national basic education certificate
examination, in order to move to high school.
-38-
| 
