Shades of cosmopolitanism: EFL teachers' perspectives on English accents and pronunciation teaching in the Gulf

Abstract

Research suggests that passing for a native English speaker (NES) is often perceived as desirable by teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and employers, and students may claim to prefer certain NES accents as learning models. While this may be partly motivated by the prevalence of a particular regional accent in ESL contexts or indicative of a stronger socioeconomic orientation towards, for instance, either the US or the UK in EFL contexts, this is not the case in Oman, where English is widely used as a lingua franca between ethnically diverse residents. Such an environment might encourage a cosmopolitan view to notions of correctness and appropriateness with respect to accents and pronunciation and lead to support for diversity with regard to accents in teaching materials over an emphasis on inner-circle English. This study explores the extent to which EFL teachers nationwide in Oman place importance on teaching particular accents in the classroom. Results showed that, overall, teachers display a high degree of sensitivity towards the linguistic diversity of their students' immediate environment and favour similar diversity in teaching materials and as learning models. Stronger orientation towards particular inner-circle accents (particularly British English) was found among self-identifying non-native English-speaker teachers.

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