Investigating the Phonological Influence of French (FL1) on the Intelligibility of English (FL2) Pronunciation by Middle School EFL Learners. Case Study: Ould Ibrahim Said - Tiaret

Abstract

When regarding foreign languages’ phonological influence, English and French have aesthetic similarities in the written form. Nevertheless, the oral production in both languages is noticeably different. In this prospect, the aim of this investigation is to measure the crosslinguistic effect of French as a second language on English, and the extent to which it disrupts intelligibility of lexical items. All of which focuses on EFL learners in Algerian middle schools, where the sample chosen is three classes of third and fourth levels in Ould Ibrahim Said Middle School in Tiaret. The collected data were quantified and analyzed through audio recordings of regular learning sessions, recordings of individual text readings, and using 50 advanced EFL speakers to test intelligibility. The results indicate that in the Algerian EFL context, French is significantly influential on mispronunciation, besides this, the crossphonological influence of French on English occurs to larger extent with female pupils regarding gender differences. Additionally, learners rely on French to pronounce words unfamiliar to them in English. Therefore, intelligibility of the English code is phonologically affected.