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M2 TESOL

University of Tunis
FACULTY OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES OF TUNIS

Research proposal

Topic:
L1 interference in the acquisition of speaking
in English among Tunisian students.

Conducted by Imen Hamdi

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Table of contents:

I. Statement of the problem

II. Purpose of the study

III. Context of the study

IV. Research questions

V. Methodology

VI. Annotated bibliography

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I. The statement of the problem:

Speaking is often considered as one of the most difficult skills to acquire when
learning a foreign language because we are accustomed to thinking in our mother tongue and
we are not directly exposed to authentic communication. In this regard, many Tunisian
students are likely to experience such a problem when learning English mainly because they
do not practice speaking on a regular basis and tend to use Tunisian dialect to facilitate
speaking. Accordingly, this study investigates the linguistic interference that can occur when
students communicate in English and examines whether the mother tongue could hinder
speech fluency in the target language or not.

II. The purpose of the study:

The main aim of the thesis is to tackle the effects of linguistic interference on
speaking acquisition. It is an attempt to examine whether our Tunisian dialect, being the L1,
could hinder the process of attaining speech fluency when using English among Tunisian
university students. I chose to focus on English instead of another foreign language given the
rise of interest nowadays among Tunisian learners to master English. It is also fair to mention
that extensive research has been conducted in this area of research to figure out the reasons
and effect of linguistic interference. Accordingly, I decided to narrow down my focus on a
different aspect of the problem by focusing on speaking because it could be mainly affected
by L1 interference given the fact that it requires spontaneous language production,
improvising, and no time to think about your answer.

III. The context of the study:

Since the study will be focusing on Tunisian learners, the research will be conducted
in Tunis and will be taking place in public schools. I chose to focus on English major students
in two different universities: Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (FSHST) and Faculty
of letters, Arts, and Humanities (FLAH Manouba). I opted for public universities because I
am interested in examining the Tunisian public educational system in teaching languages and
whether the way English is taught might lead to any type of hindrance in language production.

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As for the participants, I chose English students because speaking is included in the
curriculum (oral expression course), whereas for students specialized in other fields of study
such as medical students, they are only taught general English. Thus, examining English
majors who have some experience and knowledge in speaking skills would likely lead to
more accurate and fair results.

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IV. Research questions:

The study is designed as an attempt to answer the following main questions:

1) To what extent could L1 interference hinder speech fluency in the target language?

2) What kinds of errors could occur due to that interference?

3) How does Language interference is viewed by teachers?

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V. Methodology:

Below is a flowchart explaining the procedure of data collection:

methodology

Research design
•Mixed-method

Instruments
•Observation
•Semi structured
Interviews
•Likert scale survey

Participants
•Students
•Teachers

Data analysis

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Research design: I chose a mixed-method because the phenomenon understudy


requires me to collect both qualitative and quantitative data. On the one hand, I need
qualitative data to gain in depth understanding of the underlying factors, reasons, and
opinions of the participants. I also need to uncover the attitude of teachers about linguistic
interference. Thus, qualitative data allows me to yield detailed insight especially that I will be
using instruments which rely heavily on this type of data (observation, interviews). On the
other hand, as qualitative data requires limited number of participants and also tend to be
subjective, leading hence to the issue of bias, I will be, then, including quantitative data to
increase the degree of reliability of the study. Accordingly, surveys could be used as a
numerical technique to objectively analyze the phenomenon.

The instruments: As mentioned above, I will first focus on observation which is a tool
allowing researchers to use all of their senses to examine people in naturally occurring
situations. As I need to examine the way the mother tongue could get in the way of attaining
speech fluency in the target language, such phenomenon requires students to be in a natural
setting and to practice the language in an authentic real way. There should be no pressure by
the researcher so that accurate objective data could be elicited. However, such technique relies
heavily on the researcher’s own interpretation, thus it would not be reliable on its own and
need to be coupled with other instruments. Accordingly, I also included interview. I will be
using semi-structured one to allow a certain degree of flexibility for interviewees. I will
interview teachers and students mainly to gain insight about the general attitude concerning
linguistic interference. The final instrument will be Likert scale survey questions for students
to figure out the percentage of students who experience linguistic interference and measure
how often they go through it.

Participants: I will hopefully interview ten teachers and thirty students. As for the
survey, my target will be fifty students from FSHST and fifty students from FLAH.

Data analysis: I will be using content analysis to study and interpret the data. The
survey will be also analyzed in a qualitative way in order to provide a deeper understanding of
the results from the survey.

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VI. Annotated bibliography:

Books:
Dziurawiec, Dominika. (2017) Linguistic interference in the process of learning English. LAP
LAMBERT Academic Publishing.
This book describes and analyzes linguistic interference with reference to both learning and
teaching. It examines the way the mother tongue influences the teachers’ methods as well as
learners’ way of learning and abilities. This book is a useful resource to get an overview of
the phenomenon of linguistic interference.
Swan, Michael. (2001). Learner English: A Teacher's Guide to Interference and other
Problems (Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers). Cambridge University Press;
Second edition.
This book could be used as a reference guide which compares the relevant features of a
student's own language with English, helping teachers to predict and understand the problems
their students have. It also focuses on major issues relevant to my study such as
pronunciation.
Journal articles:
Saville, Muriel R. (1971) Interference Phenomena in Language Teaching: Their Nature,
Extent, and Significance in the Acquisition of Standard English.
The article focuses on the factors in students’ personality or culture which may get in the way
of his acquisition of standard English.
Electronic resources:
Subandowo, Dedy. (2017). The Language Interference in English Speaking Skill for EFL
Learners. Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research (ASSEHR),
volume 110Fifth International Seminar on English Language and Teaching.
This paper examines the linguistic interference in English speaking skill focusing on the
factors affecting it. It also uses case study with descriptive qualitative research approach.
Islam, Md. Rakibul, & Akteruzzaman, Mohammad. (2016). L1 Interference on L2 Speech
Sounds in an EFL Context: A Study on the English Speakers from the Southwestern Parts of
Bangladesh.
This paper focuses on the mispronunciation of some speech sounds by Bangladeshi students
drawing connection between L1 interference and L2 distinct pronunciation.

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