4.3. The Promotion phase: from 1984 until 2000
During this period, there was confusion in the implementation
of English because of the political situation just before and at the eve of
November 7, 1987 (Derbel, 2001). Two main measures were taken, which did not
serve English in Tunisia. The first one is the transformation of the Ariana
School from an institution that teaches scientific disciplines in English to a
French medium institution in 1989 (Daoud, 2001). The second is the cancellation
of the project of establishing a university that teaches scientific disciplines
in English at the eve of the change in the political leadership of 1987 (ibid).
However, this period could be seen as a successful one especially as far as the
promotion of English in the educational system is concerned. In fact,
5th year students started learning English from the academic year
1994/95 before the abolishing of this measure and its replacement by teaching
English to 8th year students and followed by the 9th year
in September 1997 (ibid). This period also was marked by the promotion of
teaching English in higher education and its introduction in the 7th
year of basic education in 2000 (ibid). It is true that these measures are
essential in the process of promoting the teaching of English. However,
they came slightly late as they followed the retreat of
American and British agencies from supporting the dissemination of English in
North Africa. Such retreat was, according to Daoud (ibid), because of British
concern in ELT in Asia and because of the rise of the conservatives in America.
Therefore, after such retreat, the officials in Tunisia recognised that the
implementation of English is a necessity. Now they have to do that on their own
(ibid). However, this account from Daoud could be discussed by the fact that
the concern in English by Tunisian officials increased gradually following the
increase in the importance of this language and taking into consideration the
economic factor that tied Tunisia to France. Yet, Derbel (2001) argues that
concerning the implementation of English there existed macro level measures and
micro level ones that did not strengthen the position of English in education,
society, and business.
4.4. The present phase: from 2000 until 2007
This phase is characterised primarily by the lowering of the
age of learning English at primary schools in 2005 as it became taught from the
6th year (Merdassi, 2007). Such an act was certainly taken as a
result of a growing awareness about the importance of teaching English at an
early age in order to promote mastery of it. It seems that this measure is a
needed decision despite the existence of some limitations in it. Actually,
observation shows that teachers (of other disciplines) in primary schools are
hardly competent in teaching English for pupils, as they are not well trained
in the field of English Language Teaching in spite of government's effort to
train them through summer courses.
| 
