| Summary: | <p>This study seeks to uncover how GCSE French pupils’ listening comprehension is affected when they encounter non-standard, unfamiliar French accents. Informed by substantial research suggesting that musical aptitude can be a predictor for successful linguistic development the study also seeks to explore whether higher musical aptitude is a facilitating factor for successfully understanding non-standard French accents.</p>
<p>79 French learners in year 10 completed a musical aptitude test and a French listening comprehension paper; which comprised four passages read by speakers of four different varieties of French: Parisian; Senegalese; Guadeloupean; and Canadian.</p>
<p>Findings showed that Parisian French was the variety which learners found the easiest to understand, however Senegalese and Guadeloupean French accents were not significantly different to the Parisian scores. A series of paired t-tests revealed that the Canadian French variety was the hardest for the secondary school French learners to comprehend. Results also revealed a weak positive correlation between musical aptitude and overall French listening ability. A linear regression analysis indicated that musical aptitude predicted 6.8% of learners’ listening comprehension ability.</p>
<p>The study concludes by suggesting that Canadian French is harder for year 10 French learners to understand due to the phonetic properties of the variety and the features’ divergence from Parisian French. Moreover, musical aptitude can improve learners’ comprehension, even with regards to unfamiliar accents and so engagement with musical activities should be promoted for its facilitative effect on cognition within the language classroom and, as other research suggests, in other cognitive domains too. The study also suggests that non-standard French accents (Senegalese and Guadeloupean) be incorporated into the MFL curriculum since French learners at GCSE level do not exhibit difficulty in comprehending these varieties.</p>
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