French Borrowing among 2nd year EFL University Students. (The Case of Abou Bakr Belkaid University of Tlemcen)

Abstract

Borrowing is the process that consists of the adoption of linguistic elements from one language to another for the sake of expressing a given idea or describing a certain object; a purpose that makes EFL students frequent borrowers. The present research work aimed at exploring students’ French borrowing in the EFL classroom in general and in oral examinations in particular. The study was carried out with 2nd year EFL students and teachers at Tlemcen University. Three instruments of data collection were used: a questionnaire was given to forty learners to know their attitudes towards French borrowing, teachers’ interview which was conducted with five teachers of oral production in order to know their attitudes toward borrowing and students’ French borrowing, and a classroom observation was administered to know the reasons behind students’ use of French words while speaking during the lectures and in oral examinations. The gathered data were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively to provide clear answers to the research questions of this work. After analysis, interpretation and discussion, the results obtained revealed that the common assets between French and English, and students’ poor vocabulary are the main reasons behind students’ borrowing, in addition to the linguistic gaps they have in English. At the end, some suggestions and recommendations were provided to help students face their speaking difficulties and perform well in their oral examinations.