“I AM SPEAKING FRENCH BUT I AM THINKING IN ENGLISH”: AN ANALYSIS OF ERRORS BY STUDENTS OF THE FRENCH LANGUAGE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GHANA
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Date
2016
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Ghana Journal of Linguistics
Abstract
This paper is in the domain of language acquisition and more particularly
foreign language learning using the theoretical framework of Error Analysis
but also taking into account the concept of the development of Interlanguage
during the learning of a foreign language. We consider how learners of
French as a Foreign Language in the University of Ghana seem to fall, either
consciously or unconsciously, on the English Language during their oral and
written productions. For this study, first and second year students of French
from the University of Ghana were given a series of images and asked either
to describe what they saw and/or to use the images to tell a story or form a
dialogue. It was observed that there was evidence of English structures,
transpositions, transliterations, etc. in their productions. We consider that
these interferences are part of the development of the Interlanguage of the
learners and we examine some of the types of errors identified in the
production of the students. We conclude that this is a natural process for the
learner of a foreign language in a multilingual context and we consider how
the teacher of a foreign language class can take advantage of these
productions to improve his teaching and also improve learning by his/her
students.
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Keywords
Error analysis, transference, Foreign Language Learning, Interlanguage, English, French