Foreign Accent and the Role of Identity in the Adult English as a Foreign Language Pronunciation Classroom

Abstract

Many theorists have proposed a link between second language (L2) learners’ attitudes towards their own foreign accent and their perception of identity. The field of adult L2 pronunciation learning and teaching is particularly susceptible to struggles arising from this predicament since acquiring an L2 accent often entails re-negotiating one’s already established identity. This chapter investigates university students’ attitudes towards their foreign accent in English and the relationship between identity perceptions and achievement in adult pronunciation learning. A purposefully designed questionnaire was given to two groups of English language students enrolled in a university pronunciation course taking either what is commonly referred to as ‘British English’ (BE) or ‘General American English’ (AE) as their model. The qualitative and quantitative data collected in this project were then matched with the grade the students received at the end of the pronunciation class to reveal any potential relationships. Overall, the findings showed that the students in this course are not afflicted by a fear of loss of identity. Their main objective is to speak with the best possible approximation of the chosen model and those who set higher goals in this regard also tend to receive better grades.