Language Attitudes of Thai Working Adults Toward Native and Non-native English Varieties

Abstract

The role of English as an international language (EIL) has prompted scholars to call for a shift in paradigm from teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) to teaching English as an international language EIL (Boriboon 2011; Jenkins 2007; Kirkpatrick 2010; McKay 2002; McKay and Bokhorst-Heng 2008). While this view seems practical at a time when English is increasingly being used as a lingua franca, it also calls for a study of people’s perceptions toward different English varieties since people’s attitudes can have a direct impact on educational practices, second-language learning, and identity construction of English speakers. This present study investigates language attitudes of 80 Thai working adults toward native (American and British) and nonnative (Filipino, Singaporean, and Thai) varieties in terms of social status and competence, attractiveness, and linguistic quality through the use of the Verbal Guise Test (VGT) (80 participants) and semistructured interviews (10 participants). The results showed that the dominance of native varieties still prevails as native varieties are perceived more favorably than non-native counterparts in all dimensions, and remain the English accents that Thai speakers of English want to learn and use. The results also indicate that Thai speakers of English aim for certain native-based varieties due to intelligibility, the ownership of English, and identity reasons. Findings suggest the importance of awareness-raising of the diversity of English varieties among Thai speakers of English in order to promote a sense of linguistic tolerance and prepare them for interactions in ELF contexts where English is used as a default language for those whose native language is not shared.