Investigating the Visibility of Foreign Languages on Commercial Signs in Tiaret: A Comparative Study between French and English.

Abstract

In an attempt to better understand attitudes toward the use of foreign languages in Algeria, this dissertation, attempts to investigate the use/usage of French and English languages as a means of advertisement. the study at hand opts for a mixed method that combines qualitative and quantitative approaches which includes on the one hand, data from both a questionnaire addressed to fifty female and male customers and, interviewing six traders through a random selection, the research, sets itself as the task of describing Tiartians‘ attitudes toward the presence of English and French languages in the commercial public sphere (public signs),used as a means of advertising and interaction On the other hand, the analyses of captured pictures. In addition, the review of attitudes toward English as a global language, multilingualism in Algeria and similar contexts. The findings of this research reveal that the French language dominates the commercial spaces as a means of advertising and interaction. It is also found that people do not pay attention to the written forms of public signs. This research ends up with recommendations and implications for further research.