L'impact du darija sur la prononciation des voyelles du français chez les apprenants du primaire au Maroc: Analyse phonétique et perspectives didactiques The Impact of Darija on French Vowel Pronunciation Among Primary School Learners in Morocco: Phonetic Analysis and Pedagogical Perspectives

Abstract

This article examines difficulties in pronouncing French vowels among Moroccan primary school learners, analyzing how the articulatory and phonological features of Darija affect vowel production in French as a foreign language. The study adopts a comparative phonological approach to identify structural differences between the two vowel systems and explain the origins of the observed interference. Sixty fourth-grade learners in Moroccan public primary education participated in an action research study combining a diagnostic pretest of pronunciation errors with a posttest assessing the effectiveness of a phonetic correction intervention. The findings reveal that pronunciation errors reflect systemic difficulties attributable to differences between the vowel systems of Darija (a three-vowel system) and French (a sixteen-vowel system). The instructional intervention, combining articulatory, verbotonal, and comparative approaches, led to a significant reduction in errors, particularly for rounded and nasal vowels. The study offers practical pedagogical recommendations for integrating systematic corrective phonetics into French instruction at the primary school level.