The English Language in Algeria
To know different issues about the English language in Algeria, one should first know something about the sociolinguistic situation in that country. Understanding how the social environment works in terms of languages facilitates acquiring knowledge about English, its status, when and how it is used. Since the dissertation is concerned with teaching English as a foreign language, the researcher seeks to explore how English is taught in Algeria and at which level. The sociolinguistic situation in Algeria can be a topic of inquiry for many sociolinguists. Why? Because there are different languages used in the Algerian society. It is worth remembering that the official language of Algeria is Modern Standard Arabic that is recognized by the constitution as the language used in administrative papers. MSA is a standard language with its grammar, rules and dictionary. It is considered as the medium of instruction especially at the first stages of institutional education. Algerian Arabic is also used by the Algerian speakers; this refers to the dialects used for daily communication. It is a non-standard language since it has no grammatical rules, no dictionary, and no written form, and it is not official. A group of people (the Amazigh), use a language called Tamazight. Now it started to be taught at schools, and it has a national status, whereas French is considered as a second language, which starts to be taught at the Algerian primary schools (3rd year primary school). Because of colonial reasons, French influenced Algerians i.e. some people use it as a means of daily communication. Concerning English, it represents a foreign language for the Algerians. It is not taught at the primary level, but starts to be taught at the middle school level (1st year middle school).
Teaching English as a Foreign Language
Teaching English to non-native speakers is a challenging experience for teachers. TEFL refers to teaching English in formal contexts and English in that case represents a foreign language for learners. Stern defines language teaching as the activities which are intended to bring about language learning (1983: 21). In other words, language teaching is more than instructing a class, it is a process which involves different activities, and it is the responsibility of the teacher to discover when and how to engage learners in the classroom environment. EFL teachers are interested in providing their learners with the knowledge needed to be competent to a certain extent in the target language. According to Canale and Swain (1980, 1981); to be competent is in terms of three dimensions. In other words, they have defined communicative competence as having knowledge of grammatical rules and vocabulary and they named that component the linguistic or grammatical competence. The second competence which is the sociolinguistic one, is concerned with knowledge of socio-cultural rules of the language in order to know how to use the language being taught in an appropriate way. Whereas the third is the strategic competence which is the ability to use certain strategies to compensate for breakdowns in communication. Developing communicatively competent learners is the goal that most EFL teachers wish to accomplish, but of course communicative competence is not sufficient. Learners need other dimensions to succeed, to be accurate and fluent and to achieve that, teachers are supposed to set a number of plans which should be designed with taking into consideration different goals and of course their learners levels and needs. Richards et al (2002), demonstrate that the last three decades witnessed the development of the field of TEFL, which aims at improving the quality of teaching, as well as of learning by focusing on learners' needs, their motivation, the strategies they use to learn and the processes they go through in learning, without neglecting the roles of teachers as course developers, the methods they use to transfer knowledge, and the materials they use to promote understanding. When teachers become aware of those dimensions, they can easily cope with the problems they face in their teaching career, and can find ways to help their learners cope with their learning problems in order to achieve their educational goals and tasks. Teachers of English as a foreign language are the knowledge providers for learners, they are the ones who are able to make diagnosis for the psychological elements which intervene in the process of learning; when they understand the factors affecting learners' performance they can easily make a change. Teachers are the feedback givers for their learners; when giving them feedback of satisfaction vis-à-vis their performance, learners feel that they are praised. This may encourage them to work and participate in a variety of educational activities. Good English teachers are those who engage their learners in different classroom contexts and different authentic experiences which are related to real life situations. They are those who make their learners feel that they are decision makers instead of being just knowledge receivers. Listing the roles of teachers will never finish, that is why there are many researchers of the field who every day present case studies and provide new techniques and ways to improve teaching, because teaching is a profession which is flexible and teachers are supposed to vary in the methods used, the tool, etc.