Performing Speaking “Ungrammatical” American English: A Kuwaiti Linguistic Phenomenon

Abstract

Language attitudes have been addressed by many studies, and the importance of accent choice is one of the attitudes investigated, yet scarcely by EFL educationists. The current study investigates the conscious choice of the American accent by Kuwaiti speakers of English as a foreign language and the importance of accent over other language aspects such as grammar, vocabulary and style as perceived by students. 67 female informants from the College of Basic Education, who are to become potential English teachers and speak with an American-like accent, participated in this study. The informants were given a questionnaire, and after obtaining their consent, their speech was recorded during in-class presentations. Some of the informants were interviewed to elaborate further on the importance of acquiring an American accent. The data was analyzed quantitatively through SPSS (mean and frequency) and qualitatively (through general sociolinguistic and phonetic analysis), and it suggests that most participants believe that achieving an American accent is prestigious and “cool” and more important than developing grammatical and lexical skills.

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