Native-like Accent Research Articles

Impact of a Thematic Writing and Communication Course on Students Perception of World Englishes

A study conducted at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) assessed the impact of a Writing and Communication (WnC) course titled Genesis of World Englishes on first-year students perceptions of World Englishes, specifically focusing on comprehensibility, intelligibility, and accentedness. The sample consisted of 48 students and the study examined changes in their attitudes before and after the course to gauge the effectiveness of the intervention, with a particular emphasis on gender differences in perceptions. It delves into the significance of comprehensibility, intelligibility, and accentedness, considering accentedness as a hindering factor for Non-Native Speakers (NNS). The findings revealed significant improvements in students' acceptance of diverse English accents following the course, supported by statistical analyses demonstrating positive changes. Initial gender-based disparities in perceptions were also observed to diminish post-intervention, highlighting the role of the course in promoting equality. The study suggests that targeted educational interventions can play a crucial role in fostering inclusive attitudes toward linguistic diversity, urging policymakers to consider curriculum reforms that integrate such courses to create more accepting educational environments. These insights advocate for embracing diverse accents, aiming to reduce biases and enhance communication among speakers of different English varieties in academic settings. It also encourages communication among interlocutors of various accents in ESL and EFL academic settings to occur without the perception of reducing students' accentedness to achieve a native-like accent. Instead, ESL and EFL students should improve only those segments of their pronunciation which decrease their intelligibility and comprehensibility. The findings emphasize the significance of developing gender-sensitive approaches to ensure equitable learning outcomes. Future studies should expand sample sizes and diversify participants to explore the long-term impacts of these educational strategies further, refining language education policies and teaching pedagogy to better support diversity and inclusivity.

The native speaker ideal in FL pronunciation teaching practice

Abstract Language teaching practice is known to come with more or less implicit views on what ‘good pronunciation’ sounds like. However, over the past decades, frameworks such as the communicative approach to language learning and the wish for social inclusion have led to a gradual shift in normative thinking, with intelligibility becoming increasingly valued over the acquisition of a native-like accent, especially at lower levels of proficiency. This contribution traces the evolution of pronunciation norms, ideologies and teaching practices for French and English. We zoom in on the past 150 years, a period in which the relative importance of English and French in international communication was gradually reversed and foreign language learning became a school subject, readily accessible to all pupils. We will supplement our historical overview by an exploratory investigation of current foreign MA foreign language teacher trainees’ experiences and attitudes. While a near-native accent is still seen as a sign of academic success for language students, this new generation of language professionals is very much aware of the fact that pupils who start learning languages in secondary school should first and foremost be sensitized to the target language pronunciation in a safe environment, with feasible and communicatively-relevant norms.

Voice disguise and foreign accent: Prosodic aspects of English produced by Bra-zilian Portuguese speakers

This study aims to explore how much a speaker of English as a foreign language can mask one’s accent by performing voice disguise toward a native-like accent, and what implications it might bring forward. For the Methods, we conducted three experiments, (a) both the native and the foreign groups produced authentic voices, (b) the native group performed authentic voice and the foreign group performed disguised voice, and (c) a group of native listeners of English rated the degree of foreign accent from experiments a and b. The results showed evidence of correlation between the ratings and authentic voices. Nevertheless, they remained somewhat inconclusive for the disguised voice. It may be concluded that the more the Brazilian speaker approaches the L1-English target accent when voice disguising, the harder it is for the listener to recognize his/her L2-English accent.

Afghan English Major Students’ Attitudes Toward Native-Like Proficiency in the English Language

The term native-like proficiency in English refers to the ability to speak the English language like a native speaker. This study was conducted to investigate Afghan English major undergraduate students’ attitudes toward native-like proficiency in the English language at two public universities in Afghanistan. The study specifically investigated the attitudes of Afghan English major undergraduate students toward the characteristics of a native speaker of the English language, native speakers’ linguistic imperialism, and native-like proficiency in the English language. A mixed research design was used for the study. The quantitative data were descriptively analyzed in terms of frequencies using SPSS and presented in tables. The qualitative data were thematically analyzed and presented. A total of 113 fourth-year (senior students) voluntarily participated in the study. The findings revealed that perfect pronunciation, fluency, and grammatical accuracy were the defining attributes of native speakers. Similarly, students believed that only native speakers have the right to decide the rules or to standardize the English language and that only a native speaker has better English language skills. Moreover, the results revealed that Afghan English major students’ attitudes toward native-like proficiency in the English language were highly positive, and they love to speak with a native-like accent. It is hoped that the current study’s findings will help educators and will be a valuable addition to the current mass of data on the subject.

Linguistic Imperialism: Viability of the Use of Native -Like Accent among English Language Learners

This paper argues that English language should be used basically as a tool of communication, not as a tool of imperialism. There is no necessity for English language learners to speak in a native-like accent. Instead of spending much time, money and efforts on learning and emulating the different native speaker accents of English, English language learners should direct their efforts on learning what is important to develop their English language skills. The study devalues the importance of emulation of native accents of English. It uses the argumentative method to prove the argumentation logically. It illustrates that English language has become an international language and not a property of native speakers and it is not important to attach it with native speakers anymore. The study also discusses how that will help to avoid any hegemonic impact on the learners' culture and native language.

SELF-PERCEIVED ENGLISH ACCENTS OF TERTIARY-LEVEL LEARNERS FOR PROFESSIONAL AND DAILY PURPOSES

Globalization brings linguistic globalization together into modern life, with a great increase in the use of English as lingua franca(ELF) for various purposes all around the world. In recent years, there has been a rising number of publications focusing on ELF and its components, such as identity, accents, etc. Nevertheless, a question remains whether there is difference between the use of English accents for daily and professional use of tertiary-level learners, who use English both in daily life and close to using English in their immediate future professional life, and its effects on communicative competencies of the learners. Hence, the central intention of this study is to determine self-perceived English accents of tertiary-level learners, and it is of interest to analyze the effect of self-perceived accents on their communicative competence for daily and professional purposes. Data, collected from 105 tertiary-level learners majoring in different departments at a state university in Turkey with a survey and a focus group interview have demonstrated that learners prefer British, followed by American English as ideal accents; however, they also care about the properties of accents, mostly intelligibility, for both language use. Additionally, learners emphasize the importance of native-like English accent for professional purposes and believe if they have a native-like accent, they will establish effective communication by gaining reputation and prestige in their future careers.

How do L1 Chinese raters process the L2 Chinese speech signal at the sentence level with respect to accentedness, comprehensibility and intelligibility?

Abstract Set within the context of teaching and learning Chinese at two secondary schools in the North of England and adopting a case study research design, the aim of this study was to develop research-informed insights into the nature of the pronunciation challenges facing beginner learners of Chinese. Data collection activities included recording the spoken Chinese of 20 L2 learners during a read-aloud task and a question-answer activity. Forty L1 raters were subsequently interviewed as they rated and transcribed the learners’ randomized speech samples. Distinguishing between the key constructs of accentedness, comprehensibility and intelligibility, it was found that heavily accented tones did not necessarily lead to lower levels of comprehensibility and intelligibility. Furthermore, many intelligibility breakdowns – i.e. when raters failed to correctly transcribe the learners’ intended utterances – could be traced to problems with individual words which usually implicated segmental sounds as well as tone. Findings are interpreted in terms of indicating a need for more nuanced classroom priorities aimed at the promotion of intelligible speech as opposed to an unrealistic focus on developing a native-like accent.

Serbian EFL Learners’ Preferences Regarding Standard Pronunciation Models

This paper observes Serbian EFL students’ attitudes to standard models of pronunciation such as General American (GA) and Southern British Standard (SBS). Previous research on this issue disclosed learners’ overall inclination towards SBS as the preferred English variety. The aim of this research was to test whether Serbian students still hold such views, or whether American variety is on its way to replacing British English and becoming the eminent reference accent for pronunciation learning. Another aim was to observe the underlying reasons for learners’ pronunciation preferences. The data was collected using a direct method, i.e. a writ- ten questionnaire. The respondents were 85 English-major students at the Faculty of Philology and Arts in Kragujevac. The analysis showed that the accuracy of pronunciation remains a high- priority goal since 85% of the respondents reported on native-like accent being their ultimate objective. However, unlike previous attitudinal studies, this research revealed learners’ higher preference for GA. Such preference is to be expected since the respondents’ self-reported expo- sure to this particular variety was much higher compared to their self-reported exposure to SBS.

Musical Hearing and Musical Experience in Second Language English Vowel Acquisition.

Purpose Former studies suggested that music perception can help produce certain accentual features in the first and second language (L2), such as intonational contours. What was missing in many of these studies was the identification of the exact relationship between specific music perception skills and the production of different accentual features in a foreign language. Our aim was to verify whether empirically tested musical hearing skills can be related to the acquisition of English vowels by learners of English as an L2 before and after a formal accent training course. Method Fifty adult Polish speakers of L2 English were tested before and after a two-semester accent training in order to observe the effect of musical hearing on the acquisition of English vowels. Their L2 English vowel formant contours produced in consonant-vowel-consonant context were compared with the target General British vowels produced by their pronunciation teachers. We juxtaposed these results with their musical hearing test scores and self-reported musical experience to observe a possible relationship between successful L2 vowel acquisition and musical aptitude. Results Preexisting rhythmic memory was reported as a significant predictor before training, while musical experience was reported as a significant factor in the production of more native-like L2 vowels after training. We also observed that not all vowels were equally acquired or affected by musical hearing or musical experience. The strongest estimate we observed was the closeness to model before training, suggesting that learners who already managed to acquire some features of a native-like accent were also more successful after training. Conclusions Our results are revealing in two aspects. First, the learners' former proficiency in L2 pronunciation is the most robust predictor in acquiring a native-like accent. Second, there is a potential relationship between rhythmic memory and L2 vowel acquisition before training, as well as years of musical experience after training, suggesting that specific musical skills and music practice can be an asset in learning a foreign language accent.

Yemeni EFL Learners’ Identity Conflicts: An Exploratory Case Study

The importance of the concept of “identity” in the context of language learning is unassailable. Stemming from this premise, the current study is intended to explore the identity conflicts of a group of Yemeni learners who were studying English, as well as the techniques and strategies used to mitigate and/or lessen the conflicts between their actual identity and the identity associated with the target language, i.e., English. This research project used a qualitative exploratory case study research design with a sample of 20 students who were requested to write their journal diaries. Following that, semi-structured interviews were conducted using the double-sampling technique to select 10 of the previously sampled students who were proven to have written the most stimulating and intriguing journal entries. From the results of the study, tangible identity conflicts between the Yemeni culture and society at large and the implied behaviors and conventions accompanying the intensive study of the English language became apparent. The students exhibit a high level of motivation and they also exert their efforts using different techniques and strategies to excel at the learning and/or acquisition of the speaking skill of the English language. These conflicts may be consciously or subconsciously realized by the language learners, but what has been proven is that their attitudes, motivation and general inclinations towards the goal of speaking with a native or a native-like accent are unquestionably genuine. Lastly, the study suggested or recommended a revamp of the current textbooks giving teachers more training sessions in order to improve their individual repertoire, as well as a higher degree of awareness upon the part of the Yemeni society at large that these conflicts can interfere with the strong motivations, both aspirational and actual, to achieve the learning outcomes of the nation’s most promising future leaders and pioneers.

Pronunciation Obstacle Course

Form our experience as a university professor, many language classrooms are not attentive to pronunciation and it is often neglected. The two major factors contributing to this situation are teachers’ inability to teach their students proper pronunciation (pronunciation does not exist in or is a minor part of school curricula or teachers themselves are unable to produce native or native-like pronunciation) and the linguistic barrier posed by the native language. For instance, students sometimes feel great discomfort if they have to express themselves in a foreign language. In case of Montenegro, certain English phonemes such as /θ/, classified as a voiceless dental fricative and /ð/, classified as a voiced dental fricative, when used in our language, represent the way a person with a speech sound disorder would speak. On the more positive note, our students, more and more, travel to different countries, which improves their ability to speak a foreign language fluently and attain a native-like accent. In this paper, we will deal with certain misconceptions about pronunciation and then our attention will turn to elements affecting the way pronunciation is learnt. Towards the end of our paper, we will consider what language learners need in terms of improving their pronunciation. This is of vital importance since pronunciation may be a great contributing factor, leading to an improved L2 perception.

Do you Like My English? Thai Students’ Attitudes towards Five Different Asian Accents

This research aims to explore how Thai speakers of English perceive their Asian peers’ accented English and evaluate the acceptability of their accents namely Burmese English, Chinese English, Indian English, Japanese English, and Vietnamese English. The participants were eighty undergraduate students at an International University in Thailand where English is used as a medium of instruction. They were asked to listen to five recorded speech extracts taken from five different intermediate-level reading passages. A triangulated study is used to examine the data from different angle including a questionnaire survey in a Likert-type scale and a follow-up semi-structured interview. The Index of Item Objective Congruence (IOC) and Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficient were also applied to assure the content validity of the research methodology. The results in this study indicated that Thai student participants were easily able to identify that five speakers were all non-native speakers of English. The majority preferred Indian accented English to other accented Englishes. Most participants showed negative attitudes towards Japanese and Burmese accented English. It is somewhat conclusive that the participants still believe that a native-like accent is overvalued their perceived English accents.

Do You Like My English? Thai Students’ Attitudes Towards Five Different Asian Accents

This research aims to explore how Thai speakers of English perceive their Asian peers’ accented English and evaluate the acceptability of their accents namely Burmese English, Chinese English, Indian English, Japanese English, and Vietnamese English. The participants were eighty undergraduate students at an International University in Thailand where English is used as a medium of instruction. They were asked to listen to five recorded speech extracts taken from five different intermediate-level reading passages. A triangulated study is used to examine the data from different angle including a questionnaire survey in a Likert-type scale and a follow-up semi-structured interview. The Index of Item Objective Congruence (IOC) and Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficient were also applied to assure the content validity of the research methodology. The results in this study indicated that Thai student participants were easily able to identify that five speakers were all non-native speakers of English. The majority preferred Indian accented English to other accented Englishes. Most participants showed negative attitudes towards Japanese and Burmese accented English. It is somewhat conclusive that the participants still believe that a native-like accent is overvalued their perceived English accents.

Perceptions on the relevance of the native-like accent among foreign language teachers

En el pasado, se creía que el acento como-nativo era sinónimo de corrección, pues este respondía a la necesidad de acercarse enormemente al ideal que representaba el hablar como un nativo. En este sentido, parecería que el hecho de hablar un inglés acentuado por la L1 puede crear perspectivas negativas o bajas expectativas de desempeño profesional entre docentes del mismo ramo en un contexto mexicano, generando prejuicios inevitablemente. Por ello, este estudio intenta analizar las perspectivas de 19 docentes de inglés como lengua extranjera de nivel secundaria respecto a la relevancia del acento como-nativo para el desarrollo y la realización de cursos de desarrollo profesional en su área. Los instrumentos que se emplearon fueron un cuestionario abierto, una escala de intensidad y una escala Likert. Los resultados arrojaron que la identificación del acento no nativo influyó significativamente en las perspectivas de los docentes de inglés respecto al conocimiento y habilidades de los hablantes que escucharon, para impartir un curso de desarrollo profesional para maestros de inglés, aún sin conocer sus antecedentes lingüísticos, preparación profesional o experiencia en el uso del idioma en contexto real de comunicación.

Context and Linguistic Skills Factors Affecting the Pronunciation of Arabic Proper Names in Speakers of Bahdini Kurdish

The purpose of this research is to explore the pronunciation of Arabic proper names by Bahdini Kurds living in Duhok and the districts around. Thirty-two respondents were selected to say fifty Arabic proper names commonly used by Kurdish today’s society. The variables identified are linguistic skills in Kurdish and Arabic, and the extent of the formality of the context. The study concluded that being a fluent speaker of Arabic gives a Bahdini Kurdish speaker the ability to pronounce the Arabic proper names in a native-like accent. Yet, those speakers have revealed a tendency towards the use of a Kurdish pronunciation of such names when the context was informal. Dissimilarly, the Kurdish pronunciation was regularly used by speakers skilled or unskilled in Kurdish language and linguistics in both formal and informal situations.

Shedding New Light on the Evaluation of Accented Speakers: Basic Mechanisms Behind Nonnative Listeners’ Evaluations of Nonnative Accented Job Candidates

The present research unites two emergent trends in the area of language attitudes: (a) research on perceptions of nonnative speakers by nonnative listeners and (b) the search for general, basic mechanisms underlying the evaluation of nonnative accented speakers. In three experiments featuring an employment situation, German participants listened to a presentation given in English by a German speaker with a strong versus native-like accent (in Studies 1–3) versus a native speaker of English (in Study 1). They evaluated candidates with a strong accent worse than candidates with a native(-like) pronunciation—even to the degree that the quality of arguments was of no relevance (Study 1). Study 2 introduces an effective intervention to reduce these discriminatory tendencies. Across studies, affect and competence emerged as major mediators of hirability evaluations. Study 3 further revealed sequential indirect influences, which advance our understanding of previous inconsistent findings regarding disfluency and warmth perceptions.

The Social Costs in Communication Hiccups Between Native and Nonnative Speakers

It is well-established that native speakers perceive nonnative speakers with strong foreign accents, compared with those with a more nativelike accent, as less intelligent and competent, less ambitious and dependable as coworkers, and less comfortable around native speakers. But little is known about how nonnative speakers themselves are affected when communication hiccups—often due to incorrect or accented pronunciations—occur in their conversations with native speakers. In this experiment, mispronunciations of an English word were elicited from native Chinese speakers in phone conversations via the Internet with an American English speaker, who then either asked for clarification of the word or showed no confusion about the word but asked about something else. Chinese speakers’ reactions were measured using a combination of self-reports, facial affective coding, and skin-conductance responses. When the American asked for clarification—compared with when he did not—Chinese speakers were left feeling more anxious, embarrassed, and unsure of their English abilities, as well as feeling less positive about the American, finding him less attractive socially and their conversation with him less enjoyable.

Iranian English Language Learners’ Attitude towards their Accent in English Language: An Ecological Approach

Abstract With the spread of English around the world and the recognition of English as a lingua franca (ELF), a large number of studies have investigated the attitudes of learners towards different varieties of English as well as their related accents. However, this attitude towards L1 accented English within the context of Iran has not been explored yet. Thus, the present study ecologically investigated the attitudes of Iranian English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners towards their L1-accented English based on Bronfenbrenner’s (1993) nested ecosystems model consisting of micro-, meso-, exo-, and macro-systems. To do this, a triangulation of data collection using an attitudinal questionnaire distributed among 157 respondents (118 female and 39 male) and semi-structured interviews with 60 participants (38 female and 22 male) were collected. The findings indicated a dominant emerging pattern of preference for native-like accent within the ecology of Iran along with the acknowledgement of L1 accented English. Maintaining linguistic security and self-confidence as well as teachers’ role and materials used within the microsystem of the class, learners’ background experiences within the mesosystem, policies of English language institutes at the exosystem, and the public view towards accent at the macrosystem contributed to the emerging pattern of preference for native-like accent within the context of Iran.

Does accent matter? Investigating the relationship between accent and identity in English as a lingua franca communication

This paper reports on a qualitative inquiry into the under-researched relationship between accent and identity in English as a lingua franca (ELF) communication from the perspectives of second language (L2) speakers/learners of English. Using data collected via in-depth interviews with a group of students at a Hong Kong university on their ELF communication experiences, the paper reveals that participants’ perceptions of the relationship between accent and identity in ELF communication are highly complex and that their accent preferences appear to be driven by a range of identity-related and practical reasons. In terms of identity-related reasons, participants’ desire to speak English with a native-like accent was found to be related to their wish to express their identities as competent L2 speakers of English, whereas participants who indicated a preference to speak English with a local accent tended to emphasize the need to project their lingua-cultural identities and avoid native speaker associations. Further, participants’ concerns about intelligibility in ELF communication were found to be among the main pragmatic considerations in their accent preferences. The findings demonstrate the role of L2 speakers’ accent preferences in shaping their pursuit of desired identities in ELF communication and have important implications for pronunciation instruction in ELT.

An Investigation of the Effectiveness of Online Text-to-Speech Tools in Improving EFL Teacher Trainees’ Pronunciation

<p>Given the limited time for instruction in the classroom, pronunciation often ends up as the most neglected aspect of language teaching. However, in cases when the learner’s pronunciation is expected to be good or native-like, as is expected of language teacher trainees, out-of-class self-study options become prominent. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of online text-to-speech tools used by EFL teacher trainees when preparing for an oral achievement test. The study was conducted with 43 junior year teacher trainees at a large state university in Turkey. A pre- and post-test experimental design was used. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected through a questionnaire to explore the trainees’ opinions related to pronunciation and their practices to improve this, a post reflection questionnaire for the effectiveness of the procedure, and a speaking rubric to evaluate the oral presentations of the trainees. The results indicate that the trainees perceived a native-like accent as a measure of being a good language teacher. It was also revealed that text-to-speech websites are effective self-study tools in improving trainees’ pronunciation.</p>