The Spanish teaching in the Maghreb: a historical review

Abstract

The presence of the Spanish language in the Muslim world is essential for an accessible dialogue between civilizations as well as for reaching a reciprocal interest. Spanish as a foreign language is studied in the Maghreb after an advanced training of standard Arabic and French, in school teaching, and after English in secondary education. This text carries out a review of the history of the teaching of Spanish in the Maghreb, since it was introduced by the descendants of the Jews expelled from the Iberian Peninsula, at the end of the Middle Ages, until the Spanish conquest of the Maghreb. The particular objective is to summarize a general approach to the teaching of Spanish as a foreign language in the Maghreb, both in secondary and higher education. Thus, it is expected to identify the main classical or digital methods used to achieve an advanced level in Spanish. The above, because we are currently notoriously influenced by information and communication technologies and globalization. As the Maghreb maintains a bilateral relationship with Spain, the workforce in the Maghreb requires new skills for new jobs, whether pedagogical or practical, such as the world of business, tourism, etc. Precisely, the teaching of Spanish as a foreign language should focus on the attitudes, values, basic knowledge that university students would request because this acquired competence plays a very important role in keeping this relationship between the two worlds: the Maghreb and the Hispanic world.