The political History of Syria and the Teaching of Foreign Languages

Although Styria was once occupied by Turkey and colonised by France, there is no presence of the Turkish language in the Syrian educational system, and the presence of the French language is so weak if compared to the presence of the English language though both are part of the Syrian educational system. Many researchers like Kaplan (1966), Phillipson (1992), Said (1993), and Pennycook (1998) have shown that the strength and weakness of the presence of the learning of languages in a country may indirectly refer to a conflict between the countries of these languages. In other words and to be specific, this may reflect the historical and political conflict between Britain and the USA from one side and France from the other side in which each power is trying to become the strongest in the world. However, the increasing role of the English language in the educational system of Syria could be threatening to the cultural identity of Syrian learners. This is, according to many researches, because the spread of English carries intentions of linguistic imperialism and as a result cultural imperialism—something that learners of English should be aware of.