THE AGE OF ONSET TO LEARN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE AND MOTIVATION IN THE PRONUNCIATION OF FRENCH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE FOR UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Abstract

The objective of this study is to determine how the age of onset to acquire a foreign language and motivation both influence in the pronunciation of the French language in university students. To accomplish this work, quantitative research was used and the methodology is descriptive correlative. There are previous studies that sustain that students of a foreign language that began at an early age have acquired better pronunciation of FLE compared to those who began their learning process at a later age. The human being at an early age has great muscular flexibility, it is precisely in this period that the muscles of the mouth must be trained to reproduce the sounds of the L2 phonological system. This research revises with Spearman test correlation this theory with French as a foreign language Peruvian’ students. This study also analyzes the importance of motivation for this area of learning process. The empirical results allow to confirm that the best stage to learn a foreign language is childhood, since a child's brain has greater plasticity; which allows it to unconsciously appropriate a second language and the positive impact of motivation on learning of pronunciation of French as a foreign language. It is possible to conclude that we have to foster foreign language since younger ages.