The place of culture in the Amazigh language textbooks in Morocco

Abstract

This paper investigates the model of Amazigh language teaching in Morocco, which has been declared to be based on the communicative approach. So the objective of the present study is to explore the cultural content of the Amazigh textbooks using content analysis as the main method to process the data drawn from the first, third, and fifth level textbooks. The analysis reveals an over-representation of mainly two aspects of the Amazigh culture, namely the articulation of the value system and the language of social interaction. The presentation of the cultural information is done through drawings and narratives at the expense of photos and dialogues. The drawings do not illustrate the Amazigh native culture but rather report a type of global culture. Therefore, the presentation of culture in the Amazigh textbooks is more geared toward transmitting knowledge about cultural themes, patterns, and behavior than the practical application of that knowledge and the cultivation of the learners' aptitude for their appropriate use, which is one of the aims of the teaching of Amazigh.