In the name of God, the most gracious, the most merciful
Hassan Grody
What is the role of French in discussing dissertations prepared and presented in English?
I have previously attended the discussion of a group of doctoral dissertations, some of which are scientific and some that are literary, the last of which was a thesis in the field of nuclear physics that was submitted on July 08, 2023 at the Faculty of Sciences in Oujda. In this article, I will not address the content of the dissertation, which appeared through the praise of all members of the committee, without exception, to be at the level, but what caught my attention was the adoption of the English language by the student, in presenting his thesis, at a time when the committee adopted the French language in discuss it.
Perhaps because the dissertation falls within the framework of Morocco’s involvement in a program of scientific partnership with abroad, or for other reasons that I am unaware of, its author chose the English language, in editing and presentation, in order to be more radiant and more integrated into the knowledge society. Which was behind the adoption of the English language, this does not negate the attraction of students in general towards the English language in preparing their theses, and in this regard I recently attended a discussion of a thesis in medicine in English as well, and the provocative in these two theses is that although the presentation was in English, the discussion It was done in French, unlike other dissertations that can be described as ordinary, where presentation and discussion take place in the same language, so submitting a dissertation in Arabic and discussing it in Arabic is normal, just as submitting a dissertation in French and discussing it in French can only be normal when it comes to a French researcher in France, or in other countries. French is an official language for it, while the matter needs to be considered when the student is Moroccan and the members of the discussion committee are Moroccan. As for when it comes to, as I said before, a Moroccan student, and the members of the discussion committee are Moroccans, and the presentation is in English and the discussion is in French, then the matter needs to be considered, if we evoke the various human components that furnish the discussion hall, and so that the topic does not diverge, I limit myself to today’s thesis as a model, so that there is a student The concerned, who is Moroccan, the discussion committee has Moroccan members, the chairman of the committee is French, and finally the attendees are from the student’s family and acquaintances, in addition to some people with knowledge curiosity, all of whom are Moroccans. In this context, the question arises about the targets of the presentation and discussion? As for the presentation, I claim that it is directed mainly to the discussion committee, and it was done in English. As for the discussion, it is a phrase of interaction between the student and the committee, and it was done in French, which inspired me with a set of observations, which I summarize as follows:
Either the members of the committee are not proficient in the English language, which raises the question: How were these members able to understand the contents of the dissertation, and then how could they discuss it? : The first is to compliment and satisfy the chairman of the committee, knowing that he is supposed to master the English language, and the second lies in the alienation that a large number of Moroccan intellectuals suffer from towards French, a possibility that finds justification in a note made by a member of the committee, when he urged the student to write a page The cover is in French (page de garde), nothing but because the Moroccan context requires it according to this member, and the truth is that if the cover page must be appropriate to the context, it is better to write it in the official language of the country, which is Arabic, with the possibility of discussing even this The proposal, if we know that the context of the dissertation transcends the local hue, at least for the time being. It is likely that the discussion of the doctoral dissertation in medicine referred to above was in French instead of English, due to the possibility of alienation, especially since the members of the committee in this case were all Moroccans. In which of the two languages does he prefer to discuss, the student answered him using English, saying (As you like), that is, as you like. However, it seemed to me that he was making an extra effort to answer the questions in French, so that he was several times automatically expressing in English, and then translated into French. As for the desire to attend, I firmly believe that a large number of them are ignorant of the nature of the subject, in addition to his poor level of English and French, and then the question arises about the added value of his presence in this particular case, as it neither benefited nor benefited, and yet I believe That it was at least a matter of acknowledging his existence, giving him the floor to express his feeling, in such unusual situations for him, in the mother tongue, or to raise a question in the presence of an individual or a student interested in the subject.
The bottom line is that I left the hall, after congratulating the student, and I have the impression that French in this context was a confusing element, rather than an auxiliary element, so I hope that in the future, scientific theses will be prepared in particular in English, especially since most students have awareness Its importance in the study, in general, due to the availability and nature of the references compared to the French references, which are often translated from English, and in particular, in serious research that seeks to be global. I also hope that the professors who are still clinging to French will make a double effort, the first on the psychological level, and is represented in avoiding absolute loyalty to French, and the second on the practical level, and lies in mastering English for those who have little contact with it, pursuant to the direction of generalizing the completion and discussion of research and dissertations In English, with the hope of adopting the official language in the future, so that there will be harmony between the various human components present on the one hand, and to revive the Arabic language and give it the status it deserves in a country whose constitution stipulates that it is its official language.
Hassan Grody