Attitudinal reactions of standard American English speakers to foreign-accented Speech

Abstract

This study pursues four guiding questions: 1) to what extent can Standard American English speakers identify the national origins of foreign-accented speech 2) what are listeners' attitudinal responses to foreign-accented speech 3) do listeners' attitudinal reactions vary depending on the national origins of the speaker and 4) do listeners react differently to foreign-accented speech from groups that are part of their community's linguistic landscape? Using a verbal guise technique, participants identified speakers' national origins on a map, responded to open-ended questions and evaluated traits on a Likert scale. Results indicate that listeners are moderately successful in identifying foreign-accented speech, show a positive preference for speakers from the target community and equate some accents with lower levels of income, education and social class. Therefore, NS students might be positively impacted through curricula designed to increase understanding of language diversity and ESOL students through a focus on confidence-building strategies.

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