THE INDONESIAN EFL STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARD THEIR L1-ACCENTED ENGLISH

Jarum J.,Waloyo Alimin Adi

doi:10.18551/erudio.6-2.5

Abstract

In an international communication context, English becomes an International language , commonly known as English as an International Language (EIL). EIL sees various English accents equally because intelligibility, being able to deliver message clearly to listeners, is the main goal in a communication. Therefore, Indonesian EFL (English as a foreign language) students need to focus their English mastery on intelligibility over native-likeness accent when learning English. However, whether or not the students concentrate their English learning more on intelligibility is still unknown yet. To identify which aspects EFL students focus on, the research examined Indonesian EFL students’ attitudes toward their L1-accented English. The main aim is to enhance their awareness that intelligibility is the key component in an English communication. Also, English teachers hopefully discuss the intelligibility in their teaching. Thus, the targeted learning results, particularly related to speaking skills development, are more reachable so the students are more encouraged to develop their English. The study involved 46 students (14 males and 32 females) from University of Muhammadiyah Malang (UMM), East Java. The implemented instrument as a data collection is a questionnaire. The collected data were organized and then analyzed to find out EFL students’ attitudes perceiving their Indonesian-accented English. The researcher figured out that EFL students had less positive attitude towards their own English accent. That perception might be caused by their low linguistic awareness, excessive exposure to the Internet (YouTube, International news) made by native speakers of English. The result of data analysis will be elaborated to interweave the investigation outcomes with classroom context so the outcomes could be implemented in classroom instruction. Keywords: Accent, Intelligibility, EIL and attitude.

Highlights

EFL learners have different styles or accent of speaking English, which is usually influenced by his origin or cultural background
Data analysis results indicated EFL learners were fully aware their English accent was influenced by their L1 language (Bahasa) and they were highly confident that their own English accent was accepted quite well in various conversation settings
This study found Indonesian EFL students have L1-affected English accent, but they are still persistent to be able to talk like a native English speaker as their dream

Summary

Introduction

EFL learners have different styles or accent of speaking English, which is usually influenced by his origin or cultural background. According to Montgomerry (2008), an accent is as a whole pronunciation patterns owned by a certain community (or country). It has been believed that having an English accent highly affected by a mother tongue (L1-accented English) may hamper communication. Some research proved otherwise (see Crismore, Ngeow, & Soo, 1996). It was found that intelligibility is far more important in making a more natural conversation. That is, having native-like English by imitating British or American accents does not necessarily make a successful communication. Intelligibility can be achieved when the listener is able to comprehend the utterances by the speaker (McKay, 2002)

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Discussion

Conclusion