Risks of interference of the french sound system on the english pronunciation of the vowels (a, o, u, i, and e): the case of third year primary school pupils at Ziadi Batou school Constantine Algeria
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Date
2023
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University of Oum El Bouaghi
Abstract
Learning foreign languages is a long journey that is characterized by a lot of obstacles; one of them is the attempt to master the accurate pronunciation of the foreign language without which the learning process would be incomplete. The current study is concerned with identifying, analyzing and describing pronunciation errors made by 3rd year EFL learners at Ziadi Batou primary school. The ultimate goal is to highlight the pronunciation errors made at the level of the English vowels: a, e, o, u, and I, as a result of the interference of the French sound system. Only one group, thirty-two, pupils out of five other groups is selected randomly as the sample of the study. We hypothesized that most of the pronunciation errors that learners make while pronouncing English words are due to the interference of the French sound system. After carrying a detailed descriptive analysis (oral corpus analysis) of participants’ recordings while reading twenty words containing the targeted vowels, the results obtained confirmed that the French sound system has a significant impact on the pronunciations of the learners i.e. differences between English and French sound systems hinder learning while similarities facilitate learning and make it easier. This research may help raise teachers awareness about what difficulties learners are experiencing while trying to cope and adapt with two foreign languages at a time, specially that it is the first time in Algeria that English is taught simultaneously with French at primary schools.
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Keywords
Interférence; Pronunciation errors; English sound system; French soundsystem