Impact of Academic Foreign Language Learning on the Linguistic Attitudes of UM5 English Department Students

This study investigates the hegemony of foreign languages over heritage languages in Morocco by gauging the attitudes of UM5 English department Students. To closely inspect this issue, UM5 English department students have been selected as a sample representing Moroccan University students. The research has targeted bachelor’s and master’s degree students at different levels. Moreover, following previous works (Chakrani, 2010, 2013), we have delved into the intricacies of the ideology of modernity in association with academic language learning. Therefore, the study utilized an online matched guise test (MGT) to collect data from 50 participants from the targeted university. Data has been analyzed statistically through SPSS, which yielded a moderate positive correlation between the attitudes and the levels of academic learning; particularly, a correlation between the years of exposure to English in university and the development of linguistic ideologies—predominantly ideologies about modernity. Consequently, the findings have showcased a sense of hegemony that foreign languages such as English and French exercise over native varieties in the Moroccan Milieu. In essence, this study has sought to establish a link between linguistic ideologies and language-specific covert attitudes, which reflects the hegemony that foreign languages practice at the detriment of heritage/ native varieties in Morocco.