L’enseignement pour les sourds au Maroc : langue(s), surdité et représentation(s)

Abstract

The present contribution aims to portray the sociolinguistic realities of teaching Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) to Moroccan deaf children through the prism of deafness. Several spoken and sign languages are centered around the teaching of MSA to deaf persons in three fields: oral, signed, and written. Associative structures, serving as schools for deaf Moroccan children, are trapped in an ambivalent position between adaptation and uniformization. Should they adapt their plan to the specificities of the deaf public or meet the demands of the state education program? How is the school dealing with this specific community whose difference by essence is a mark of identification? Does the ideological and identity weight related to MSA influence deaf children’s perceptions of other oral and sign languages?

Keywords

• Morocco
• teaching
• Moroccan sign language
• bimodal bilingualism
• deafness
• Modern Standard Arabic (MSA)