Vers l’élaboration d’un questionnaire sur les stratégies d’apprentissage de la prononciation du français

Abstract

Towards the development of a questionnaire on learning strategies of French pronunciation

In this study, we will discuss the methodology that we adopted to develop and analyze a questionnaire on learning strategies for the pronunciation of a foreign language, in this case French. First, we describe the development of this questionnaire in order to interpret the responses obtained. Then, we discuss the validation of this questionnaire. Finally, we discuss the issues relevant to the question of the link between the use of strategies, and the positive or negative attitudes towards the sound system of the French language by the participants to our study. In fact, we seek through this questionnaire to explore the hypothesis stating that listeners/speakers who tend to frequently use mnemonic and metalinguistic strategies would exhibit more perceptual and productive skills/performances. In addition, this questionnaire was based on the systemic contrast of the different phonetic systems, in this case that of Standard Arabic, Oran Spoken Arabic, French, and sometimes other foreign languages such as English. These phonetico-phonological properties have formed the premises of a phonetic practice in the FFL (French as a foreign language) classroom based on an exploration of the segmental and suprasegmental divergences of the systems in question.
The objective behind the development of this questionnaire is also motivated by our intention to change the learning habits instilled in students’ minds regarding the soundscape of a foreign language in order to calibrate their potential oriented towards a new type of phonetic instruction. However, this study confirmed our observation considering that the instruction received by Algerian students at the departments of French is of a traditional and conventional type, and does not favor strategic teaching. Therefore, it is high time to insist on the need for a training in phonetics oscillating the two types of instruction, namely the directive and non-directive methods.