French interference in english pronunciation of the letters (I) and (E)

Abstract

The thesis is concerned with investigation of the influence of the French language on the English pronunciation of first year students at the department of English, Abderahman Mira University of Bejaia. The study aims to determine the negative transfer of French at the level of the pronunciation of the letters (I) and (E) in English made by the first year students. The focus is on these two sounds, because we made the hypothesis that the occurrence of transfer from French is at a large extent in that letters. In order to answer the questions of this study, quantitative and qualitative methods are used in order to collect data. Two questionnaires in English are distributed to 35 first year students department of English, and for their oral expression’s teachers. Another tool is used which is a voice recorder of the learners’ pronunciation to know if they are influenced by the French language. Finally, the results revealed that there is a great influence of the French interference on students’ pronunciation not only on the two letters treated in this research but on the other sounds and on letters that exist in the language.