Masters Theses

Maud Hinault

Date of Award

12-2001

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Major

French

Major Professor

Constancio Nakuma

Committee Members

Patrick Brady

Abstract

Within the teaching of foreign languages, little space is given to the teaching of pronunciation. Nowadays, grammar and the structure of the language remain the focus, yet a communicative classroom is what teachers are looking for. So why is the production of foreign sounds barely taken into account if the expectation is for students to be able to express themselves in the target language and be understood by native speakers? The purpose of this study was to show the challenges of teaching French phonemics to American students learning French as a second language. Findings revealed that the two languages have many speech sounds -or phonemes- in common, but some Standard French phonemes do not exist in American English and are a source of difficulties for American students. Information for the writing of this thesis were collected in different linguistic reviews as well as through the readings of many books dealing with the field of American English and Standard French phonemics, phonetics and phonology. After a comparison of American English and Standard French phonemes and allophones, difficulties of Standard French pronunciation are stated with some tips on how to correct mispronunciation of French phonemes by native speakers of American English. However, if learning how to produce separate sounds correctly is one important and necessary step in the acquisition of a foreign language, putting sounds together and producing a sentence with the correct intonation pattern is another one, which is even more omitted in the foreign language classroom. Therefore, the importance of the teaching of Standard French stress, rhythm, and intonation is also explained. Recommendations for a change in the teaching of foreign languages are offered, so that more emphasis canbe put on the acquisition of French phonemics in the classroom.

Download
Files over 3MB may be slow to open. For best results, right-click and select "save as..."

Share

COinS