It is important for the aim of this study to give an overview of English language as taught in the Libyan educational system in order to make suggestions for improving the quality of English teaching in this foreign language context. Here, foreign language (FL) refers to a language which is not the speaker‟s mother tongue. At the same time, it is not spoken in the speaker‟s own country as an official language. At present, a methodology akin to the Grammar Translation method is deployed for the teaching of English in the national schools. A shift in focus is therefore required to bring forth more modern approaches to teaching in order to enable the students to produce a more native-like version of the English language.
From primary to secondary education, the „English for Libya‟ series of textbooks is used and it is published by Garnet Education in the UK (see appendix 1). This series includes three books with a CD for listening lessons: the course book, the work book and the teachers‟ book. The materials, topics and activities in these books are primarily about Libyan life, culture and history. They were designed to improve the linguistic and communicative competence of students, specifically by
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using the communicative approach. However, many current teachers of English do not appear familiar with the communicative approach. Orafi and Borg (2009:251) point out that the new curriculum “aims to develop students‟ oral communication skills and [the] teachers‟ own limitations in this respect are .... problematic”. In addition, they add that “the curriculum recommends that English be used as much as possible by the teacher and students in the classroom”. Each unit is divided up according to language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing), grammar and vocabulary. Teaching in basic and intermediate education demands highly qualified, well trained and experienced teachers to implement the innovations of this new curriculum.
Unfortunately, the teaching of these books within the Libyan context is difficult. Although they are based on the communicative approach, as mentioned earlier, it is still the case that many Libyan teachers of English mainly teach by using the Grammar Translation method. For example, many teachers teach the rules of grammar and usually translate the materials into the students‟ L1. Orafi and Borg (2009:244) point out that “Arabic was widely used in English lessons by teachers and students”.
In addition to these issues, the lesson periods are also too short and insufficient to enable the large numbers of students in one class to practise the language. Suwaed (2011), for example, states that EFL Libyan learners‟ exposure to the English language is limited to just a few hours in the classroom, which is similar to most EFL teaching contexts. Even after the collapse of the Gaddafi regime, no updates were forthcoming concerning any possible increase in students‟ exposure to English language (in terms of the number of hours) within the various stages of the Libyan
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educational system and so presumably remains the same as explained in this section and the previous one. It is still considered as a foreign language and has no official status.
Bagigni (2016:90) states that “the role of English in the Libyan context is expanding at an unprecedented rate” and provides several reasons for this trend:
It plays a central role in the secondary education system
It plays a central role in curriculum reform,
The increasing demand for English language skills in the academic and workplace domains
Bagigni (2016) analysed the role and use of English in Libya using O‟Driscoll‟s (1999) framework which divides all language use into three macro domains: the interpersonal domain, the role-based domain and the general public domain. The method she used to collect data on the use of English in the interpersonal domain was mainly based on “personal knowledge of that society as an insider and my critical reflection as a linguist and teacher” (61) whereas in the general public domain, it was based “largely on direct observation using photography and field notes” (62). The main drawback of the first method was that it was highly subjective as it drew on personal experience, as admitted by the author. For example, she explained that it was English words and phrases such as „big problem‟, „Hi‟, „O.K.‟ which were commonly used among Libyan youth (2016:65). What is more, Libyan females tend to use phrases such as, „make-up‟, „eye shadow‟ and „perfume‟. This could be due to the impact of the beauty programmes and TV series they watch on the Arabic channels. Moreover, the use of English words has become de rigueur in Libya.
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In addition, a fairly recent development after the collapse of the Gaddafi regime has been the trend to display the signage of some public and private institutions and businesses such as hospitals, restaurants, shops and cafes in English. Bagigni (2016), for example, points out that the signage and announcements at Tripoli International Airport are written and heard in both Arabic and English. However, this practice existed during the period of Gaddafi‟s regime. However, I would argue that this would not have a significant effect on improving Libyans‟ English proficiency level since there are many signs in Arabic in, for example, Edgware Road in London and Rusholme in Manchester. This does not mean that native speakers of English will have a reasonably high proficiency in Arabic.
Although it is necessary to train teachers using specific training courses, teacher training is also important for improving the teachers‟ proficiency, and increasing their methodological competence. However, Orafi and Borg (2009:245) report that the training provided to support teachers in implementing the new curriculum is very limited.
At the higher education level, the situation is very different from primary and secondary education. Libyan university students encounter several learning and educational difficulties. From my own observations as a staff member at the University of Tripoli (the Department of English, Faculty of Arts), there appear to be several difficulties in learning English at the university:
English language has no specific curriculum at this level. A general outline for each subject is previously prepared by the department, and the choice of text books is left to the teacher when it comes to preparing a suitable scheme of work.
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The large numbers of students in one class results in limited opportunities for students to practise the language.
There are no technological facilities whatsoever at the higher education level.