The Language Situation of Twenty-First-Century Algeria

This chapter discusses the language issue in Algeria in light of language ideologies and political considerations. Politics dominates the realm of education. Hence, the constant plea of many people (politicians, trade-unionists, teachers, etc.) to establish English as the first foreign language is put forward against simple and factual parameters that call upon a different stand or a rethinking of the dynamics of all language vernaculars coexisting in the informal (family-society) and formal settings (school, administration) of the country. Because of the presence of French in the socio-educational environment, Algerians have a blurred vision of the hierarchy they see between languages.