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Language Learners' Perceptions of Accent
Author(s) -
SCALES JULIE,
WENNERSTROM ANN,
RICHARD DARA,
WU SU HUI
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
tesol quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.737
H-Index - 91
eISSN - 1545-7249
pISSN - 0039-8322
DOI - 10.2307/40264305
Subject(s) - stress (linguistics) , pronunciation , active listening , psychology , linguistics , american english , perception , consistency (knowledge bases) , north american english , first language , subject (documents) , british english , comprehension , computer science , communication , philosophy , neuroscience , artificial intelligence , library science , formant , vowel
This study analyzed the accent perceptions of a group of 37 English language learners and 10 American undergraduate students. Each subject listened to a one‐minute passage read by four speakers with different accents of English: General American, British English, Chinese English, and Mexican English. Participants then attempted to identify the different accents and stated their preferences and opinions about each. They also provided background information, including reasons for studying English and pronunciation goals. Additionally, 11 participants were individually interviewed about the different accents. Although more than half (62%) of the learners stated that their goal was to sound like a native English speaker, only 29% were able to correctly identify the American accent. No strong correlations were found between the ability to identify accents and the amount of time spent in the United States nor time studying English. However, an almost perfect correlation was found between the accent voted easiest to understand and the one that participants preferred. The lack of consistency in identifying accents may reflect an idealized conception of what the native accent aspired to actually sounds like. This finding and the priority placed on listening comprehension suggest a need for more thorough consideration of accent in ESOL programs.