Perceptions of Thai Undergraduate Students toward the Asian English Accents on Listening Comprehension

Abstract

Perceptions in English accents are of paramount importance to understand the use of English language in communication nowadays. Asian English accents recently become a trend of real communicative environment that Thai learners are getting more acquainted for work and socialize. Thus, this study aimed to investigate 152 first-year Thai undergraduate students’ perceptions toward the three Asian English accents on listening comprehension, namely Filipino, Singaporean, and Indian. The instruments were a set of questionnaires and a listening comprehension test to reveal the compatibility between the participants’ listening comprehension and their perceptions toward the three Asian accents. It was found that the Thai students initially had more positive perception toward Indian accent on account of its clarity and comprehension than the other two accents. However, regardless of familiarity, the test scores of better comprehensions belonged to the Filipino and Singaporean accents respectively. This shows the contradiction of their perceptions and their listening comprehension. This study could help to raise teachers’ awareness in highlighting the importance of accent variations among learners of English and preparing for a new instructional paradigm.