CALL FOR BOOK CHAPTER PROPOSALS

[Palgrave Macmillan (Springer)]

Critical Issues and Frameworks in ELT in Morocco: Interculturality,

Neoliberalism and Linguistic Imperialism
Editors
Hamza R’boul – I-COMMUNITAS, Institute for Advanced Social Research, Public University of
Navarre
Mohammed Guamguami – ESEF, Mohammed Premier University, Oujda, Morocco
The global spread of English has been argued to entail linguistic governmentality that presents
itself as the only linguistic possibility of modernity and globalization. Critical sociolinguistics and
applied linguistics literature have emphasized how the global spread of English has been grounded
on structural systems, e.g., coloniality, globalization. These accounts have specifically discussed
the lingering colonial systems that have propelled the global spread of English and granted a
privileged status to its associated perspectives, ontologies and cultures. The main concern of these
perspectives is the potential impact of the supremacy of English on sociocultural fabric and
linguistic ecologies in the Global South. The production of dichotomous entities reflected in the
binary of the privileged Global North and the subaltern Global South would persist as long as the
colonial storyline underlying TESOL continues to construct ‘the linguistic and cultural norms of
the West as benchmarks against which all ESL/EFL learners are measured and found forever
lacking’ (Lin & Luke 2006, 67-68). To stymie the possible manifestations of privilege-
marginalization dynamics, the Global North has to withdraw from defining the nature of culture
and language in order to allow the Global South teachers and students to claim English and
English language teaching in their own terms (Holliday, 2009).
In particular, Morocco is a postcolonial space whose sociolinguistic situation has been
characterized by power conflicts between local and foreign languages. Morocco has been
dependent on the French language since the end of the colonial policy of the French in the 20th
century. French has been dominating sectors of education, business and diplomacy. However, in
recent years English has been increasingly spreading and Moroccans have been investing their time
and efforts to develop their English skills. As Morocco has been struggling with its linguistic
dependency, English is increasingly gaining a greater status. Therefore, English may represent a
contemporary form of linguistic coloniality that would possibly influence the language attitudes
and cultural identities of students. This book will explore the critical issues surrounding ELT in
Morocco and how researchers and teachers cope with these issues.
The book will draw on three main elements that are representative of the critical debates
surrounding the world’s most widespread lingua franca; these elements are interculturality,
neoliberalism and linguistic imperialism. This proposed book perceives Morocco as an example of
the issues that the Global South has been struggling with. This proposed book aims at examining
the potential privileged status of Anglophone perspectives and cultures as well as the possible
critical representations in Moroccan ELT that may stymie hegemonic understandings of English.
It will investigate attitudes, understandings, pedagogies and practices related to critical issues and
frameworks in ELT in Morocco. This edited book will be the first of its kind in the Moroccan
context since no previous works have examined critical issues and frameworks in Moroccan ELT.
It will feature contributions from experienced researchers as well as graduate students in Morocco.
It is a real opportunity to provide innovative and novel knowledge that illuminate important
debates that have not been discussed before in Morocco.
Although we may include additional areas of focus, at this point we are seeking submissions related
to ELT in Morocco and its intersection with intercultural communication, neoliberalism, and
linguistic imperialism. We are interested in submissions that discuss the various elements of ELT
including language policy, materials, approaches, methodologies and assessment, etc. Submissions
can focus on primary education, high school, higher education, ESP, etc. We specifically seek
theoretically-grounded and empirically-based chapters utilizing a variety of research methods and
addressing topics that of concern to the volume’s focus. As we define criticality broadly,
contributors are encouraged to examine critical topics and issues related to ELT in Morocco that
draw on linguistic, cultural and sociopolitical factors.
Submission Procedure
This edited volume is in serious consideration by Palgrave Macmillan (Springer). The editors are
coordinating with Palgrave to finalize a list of abstracts and chapter authors that can potentially
appear in this volume. Following the initial selection of proposals, a full book proposal will be sent
to the publisher for review. Upon acceptance, chapter authors will be sent detailed guidelines,
including specifications for word count, style, images and other multimedia.
Potential authors should provide a tentative chapter title, a 50-100 word biography for each
author, and a 500-word abstract that addresses the volume’s concerns and clearly explains the
chapter’s mission, aims, theoretical underpinnings and/or empirical framework. Proposals (due
February 5, 2022) should be saved as a single Microsoft Word Document or PDF, and emailed to
the editors: Hamza R’boul and Mohammed Guamguami (proposals.springer2023@gmail.com).
Chapters must be original and should not be submitted for publication elsewhere. All chapters will
be double-blind peer-reviewed (contributors may also be asked to review).
Anticipated Timeline

February 5, 2022 Chapter proposals due

February 15, 2022 Notifications of abstract acceptance/rejection sent to authors
July 1, 2022 Chapter drafts due
September 1, 2022 Initial feedback from editors sent to authors
October 1, 2022 Authors resubmit revised chapter for peer review
December 1, 2022 Feedback from peer-review sent to authors
January 1, 2023 Final chapters due (to be followed by editorial revisions)
March 1, 2023 Submission of the complete manuscript to Palgrave Macmillan
All communication is through: proposals.springer2023@gmail.com
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