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Innovative Second and Foreign Language Education in the Middle East and North Africa

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Second and Foreign Language Education

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Language and Education ((ELE))

Abstract

Just like the case in many parts of the world, second language education has been accorded much importance in the Middle East and North Africa. This chapter is intended to serve two main purposes: (1) to survey progress and problems in the development of second language education in the Middle East and North Africa and (2) to look at some of the policies and theoretical constructs pertaining to second language education in a selected number of countries. We consider here a representative number of cases covering a wide geographical area of the region. We selected Jordan, Tunisia, Turkey, and Iran as representatives of the Middle East and North Africa due to the fact that what is taking place at present in these countries illustrates themes and topics which characterize the latest developments in the fields of language teaching and language planning. The chapter is structured in five parts. The first part provides a historical background of second language education in the region. The second part focuses on policy efforts directed towards improving the quality of second language education. The third part sketches the major progress that has been made. The fourth part identifies several thorny issues in second language education that deserve serious attention from policymakers. The last part speaks of the future directions in light of the materialization of new methods, approaches, and media for second language education. It has been observed that the driving force behind the implementation of many foreign languages in the education systems is not simply a desire to prepare students for a global economy but also a result of multiple social and political factors.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Science and Arts, Department of English Language and Linguistics, Jordan University of Science and Technology, 3030, 22110, Irbid, Jordan

    Mahmoud A. Al-Khatib

Authors
  1. Mahmoud A. Al-Khatib
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Correspondence to Mahmoud A. Al-Khatib .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Center Language Study, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

    Nelleke Van Deusen-Scholl

  2. Faculty of Education and Social Work, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    Stephen May

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Al-Khatib, M.A. (2017). Innovative Second and Foreign Language Education in the Middle East and North Africa. In: Van Deusen-Scholl, N., May, S. (eds) Second and Foreign Language Education. Encyclopedia of Language and Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02246-8_22

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