Evaluating Attitudes towards Non-Native Speaker Accents
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In the discussion of English as Lingua Franca the question how a "good" or "bad" accent can influence the perception of the speaker as competent or incompetent is missing. Kuo (2006:218) argues that English "is the language of which they [NNS, ed.] have to demonstrate a degree of mastery so as to win a place in education and employment in their own contexts and abroad". So learning English is in most settings not just a matter of being intelligible and successful in communication, but also to demonstrate competence. This paper will discuss how accents influence the perception of NNS as competent. Given the argument for an ELF syllabus to aid international communication between NNS especially in business settings, this is a relevant issue.
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Evaluating Attitudes towards Non-Native Speaker Accents
- 1. English as Lingua Franca 612.461 SE: Applying Linguistic Theory (Foreign Language Learning)
- 2. Evaluating Attitudes towards Non-Native Speaker Accents Jonathan Nausner June 16, 2010
- 3. English as a Lingua Franca
- 4. Krachru: three-circle model of World Englishes (1992)
- 5. Krachru: three-circle model of World Englishes (1992) Inner Circle Outer Circle Expanding Circle
- 6. Krachru: three-circle model of World Englishes (1992) Inner Circle: English as a Native Language (ENL) (GB, USA etc.) Inner Circle Outer Circle Expanding Circle
- 7. Krachru: three-circle model of World Englishes (1992) Inner Circle: English as a Native Language (ENL) (GB, USA etc.) Outer Circle: Inner English as a Second Language (ESL) Circle official or unofficial (mostly former colonies) Outer Circle Expanding Circle
- 8. Krachru: three-circle model of World Englishes (1992) Inner Circle: English as a Native Language (ENL) (GB, USA etc.) Outer Circle: Inner English as a Second Language (ESL) Circle official or unofficial (mostly former colonies) Outer Circle Expanding Circle: English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Expanding Circle (English learners worlwide)
- 9. English spoken today: (Estimated numbers) ENL: 330 million speakers Inner ESL: 430 million speakers Circle EFL: 580 million speakers ...likely more Outer Circle Expanding Circle Source: Jenkins (2009), Wikipedia.org
- 10. English spoken today: (Estimated numbers) ENL: 330 million speakers Inner ESL: 430 million speakers Circle EFL: 580 million speakers ...likely more Outer Circle up to 1.8 billion Expanding Circle speakers of English Source: Jenkins (2009), Wikipedia.org
- 11. English spoken today: (Estimated numbers) Ratio Native Speakers (NS) to NS Non-Native Speaker (NNS): NNS NNS Source: Jenkins (2009), Wikipedia.org
- 12. English spoken today: (Estimated numbers) Ratio Native Speakers (NS) to NS Non-Native Speaker (NNS): 1 to 3 NNS NNS Source: Jenkins (2009), Wikipedia.org
- 13. English spoken today: (Estimated numbers) Ratio Native Speakers (NS) to NS Non-Native Speaker (NNS): 1 to 3 NNS NNS Spanish: 4,7 to 1 Mandarin: 2 to 1 Source: Jenkins (2009), Wikipedia.org
- 14. English spoken today: L1 German English L1 Chinese
- 15. English spoken today: L1 German English L1 Chinese English as a Lingua (ELF) or English as an International Language (EIL)
- 16. ELF Discussion Supporters of EIL, ELF: Jenkins, Seidlhofer et. al. • Accept ELF as variety of English • Linguistic description of ELF (corpora) • Consideration of implications for teaching and learning of English
- 17. ELF Discussion Shifts: • Pronunciation Target: NS-like → not NS-like • Communication Target: NS → NNS → international Intelligibility • Errors → ELF Variants
- 18. ELF Discussion Findings: (examples) Jenkins (2000): „th“-sounds: /Ɵ/ and /ð/ not necessary for international intelligibility not included in Lingua Franca Core Seidlhofer (2005): third person singular present tense „-s“ often not used in ELF not necessary for international intelligibility
- 19. Criticism
- 20. Criticism Kuo (2006): „...a degree of phonological and grammatical inaccuracy can be tolerated in real world communication but a description of such language exchange does not constitute an appropriate model for learning purposes.“ Kuo suggests Native-speaker models as a point of reference.
- 21. Research Task
- 22. How do different strong accents of NNS influence the listener‘s perception of a speaker? Since most English is spoken in professional environments, it is an important question for teaching which (NS or ELF) should be the learning target.
- 24. Hypothesis: Speakers closer to NS are perceived more competent based on their accent.
- 25. Method
- 26. Online Survey Participants were asked to evaluate five NNS of English
- 27. Online Survey Questionnaire design based on: Bayard et. al. (2001) works on Evaluating English Accents WorldWide
- 29. Every speaker (order randomized)
- 31. 76 questions total 15-20 minutes (incl. sound samples)
- 32. Text Sample „There are any number of sayings about the power of the smile. Peace begins with a smile. A smile is the universal welcome. Life is short but a smile only takes a second. All good advice. But it may not be as simple as that. According to new research, if you want to make a good impression when you meet people, it's not just that you smile. It's how you smile.“ BBC Learning English http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/2010/06/100602_witn_smile.shtml
- 33. Text Sample „There are any number of sayings about the power of the smile. Peace begins with a smile. A smile is the universal welcome. Life is short but a smile only takes a second. All good advice. But it may not be as simple as that. According to new research, if you want to make a good impression when you meet people, it's not just that you smile. It's how you smile.“ BBC Learning English http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/2010/06/100602_witn_smile.shtml
- 34. Speakers Chosen to give a range of differently accented EFL, but with comparable background (to avoid distortions): • German as L1 • male • age 30-60 • postgraduates (exception: Speaker S) • successful ELF-users
- 35. Speakers Speaker N LT German, University Speaker O Management, Pharma Speaker U CEO, Consultant, Research & Innovation Speaker B Management, Insurance Speaker S Graphic Designer A speaker in Lingua Franca Core was considered, but dropped because it would create useful results.
- 36. Speakers Speaker N LT German, University Speaker O Management, Pharma Speaker U CEO, Consultant, Research & Innovation Speaker B Management, Insurance Speaker S Graphic Designer A speaker in Lingua Franca Core was considered, but dropped because it would create useful results.
- 37. 54 Participants Female 46% Male 54% 9% 2% 13% 19% under 18 18-24 25-34 35-54 over 55 57%
- 38. Native Speakers 9% 13% English German Other 78%
- 39. English Skills (self-evaluation) 4% 13% Native Speaker 24% 7% Excellent Very Good Good Ok Bad 30% Very Bad 22%
- 40. Results
- 41. Quality of English 1. Speaker N 3,61 2. Speaker U 3,56 3. Speaker O 2,91 4. Speaker S 2,33 5. Speaker B 2,04
- 42. 1 2 3 4 5 Education Job Status Class Speaker S Dominant Authoritative Controlling Power Powerful Strong Speaker U Friendly Pleasant Attractive Solidarity Confident Speaker B Intelligent Hardworking Reliable Ambitious Speaker O Competent Competence Educated Clear Understandable Quality of English English Speaker N
- 43. Is there a relation between accents and the perception of Competence?
- 44. Competence 5 4 3 2 1 0,93 0,98 0,97 1,00 0,99 0,99 Hardworking Educated Intelligent Reliable Ambitious Competent Speaker S Speaker U Speaker B Speaker O Speaker N
- 45. Competence 5 4 3 2 1 0,93 0,98 0,97 1,00 0,99 0,99 Hardworking Educated Intelligent Reliable Ambitious Competent Speaker S Speaker U Speaker B Speaker O Speaker N
- 46. Power 5 4 3 2 1 0,96 0,97 0,99 0,99 0,99 Powerful Strong Dominant Authoritative Controlling Confident Speaker S Speaker U Speaker B Speaker O Speaker N
- 47. Status & Solidarity 5 4 3 2 1 0,98 0,90 0,94 0,58 0,91 0,92 0,97 Education Job Class Friendly Pleasant Attractive Confident Speaker S Speaker U Speaker B Speaker O Speaker N
- 48. We can observe a correlation between the speakers‘ accents and their perception as competent and powerful. Speakers closer to NS pronunciation perceived more competent and powerful.
- 49. Is there a difference between NS and NNS perception? Do NNS judge harder or lighter?
- 50. 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 Education Job Class Dominant Speaker N Authoritative Average Controlling Powerful Strong Friendly Pleasant NS Attractive Confident Intelligent Hardworking Reliable NNS Ambitious Competent Educated
- 51. 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 Education Job Class Dominant Speaker U Authoritative Average Controlling Powerful Strong Friendly Pleasant NS Attractive Confident Intelligent Hardworking Reliable NNS Ambitious Competent Educated
- 52. 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 Education Job Class Dominant Speaker O Authoritative Average Controlling Powerful Strong Friendly Pleasant NS Attractive Confident Intelligent Hardworking Reliable NNS Ambitious Competent Educated
- 53. 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 Education Job Class Dominant Speaker S Authoritative Average Controlling Powerful Strong Friendly Pleasant NS Attractive Confident Intelligent Hardworking Reliable NNS Ambitious Competent Educated
- 54. 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 Education Job Class Dominant Speaker B Authoritative Average Controlling Powerful Strong Friendly Pleasant NS Attractive Confident Intelligent Hardworking Reliable NNS Ambitious Competent Educated
- 55. We can observe a tendency that NS rated the accents‘ competence more positive than NNS, meaning that NNS would judge their peers tougher. But the data is not consistent enough to provide a clear answer.
- 56. Is there a difference related different language skills? Do better NNS judge harder?
- 57. 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 Education Job Class Dominant Average Speaker N Authoritative Controlling Powerful OK Strong Friendly Pleasant Attractive Good Confident Intelligent Hardworking Reliable Ambitious Competent Very Good Educated
- 58. 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 Education Job Class Dominant Average Speaker B Authoritative Controlling Powerful OK Strong Friendly Pleasant Attractive Good Confident Intelligent Hardworking Reliable Ambitious Competent Very Good Educated
- 59. 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 Education Job Class Dominant Average Speaker S Authoritative Controlling Powerful OK Strong Friendly Pleasant Attractive Good Confident Intelligent Hardworking Reliable Ambitious Competent Very Good Educated
- 60. We cannot observe a clear relation between language skills and their perception of NNS.
- 61. Conclusion
- 62. Our results show: 1. Accents of NNS have strong influence on the speaker‘s perception 2. NS-like pronunciation equals higher competence 3. Results suggest that NNS are tougher in their judgement of other NNS
- 63. These results support NS-like pronunciation as a learning target for language teaching and teaching English as a Lingua Franca.
- 65. Data http://appv3.sgizmo.com/reportsview/?key=88773-316586- b2609de858d6b7305da3c125c046a93d Password: guest Bibliography Jenkins, J. (2002), A Sociolinguistically Based, Empirically Researched Pronunciation Syllabus for English as an International Language, Applied Linguistics 23/I, 83–103. Jenkins, J. (2009), World Englishes. Milton Park, New York: Routledge. Kuo, I. (2006), Addressing the issue of teaching English as a lingua franca, ELT Journal Volume 60/3 July 2006: 213–221. Bayart, D. et.al. (2001), Pax Americana? Accent attitudinal evaluations in New Zealand, Australia and America, Journal of Sociolinguistics 5/1, 2001: 22–49