Presentation

Student Perceptions of University Instructor Accent in a Linguistically Diverse Area

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Abstract

As American universities promote globalization, they welcome Non-Native English Speakers (NNESs) as students and faculty. Yet, 40% of students are more likely to drop a class if taught by NNESs, and students have complained about NNES Teaching Assistants due to their accents. Importantly, exposure to non-native accents leads to greater tolerance of NNESs. This study seeks to understand how exposure to one non- native accent, in this case Spanish-accented English, impacts perception of unfamiliar accents. Preliminary findings show the majority (96%) of participants (n=107) had high levels of contact with native Spanish speakers. Participants were randomly presented one of three surveys using a verbal guise technique that featured three varieties of English (native, Spanish-accented, and Chinese-accented) as well as images of women representing three phenotypes. Students used Likert scales to rate the recorded instructor’s personality and language ability. Across all ratings, the native English speaker recordings were rated most favorably. The phenotype presented played a relatively minor role. No noticeable difference was found between students’ reactions to Chinese- or Spanish-accented speech. Finally, students showed a preference for taking a course with the Hispanic phenotype when paired with a native English accent.

How to Cite:

McCrocklin, S. M., Blanquera, K. P. & Loera, D., (2017) “Student Perceptions of University Instructor Accent in a Linguistically Diverse Area”, Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Proceedings 9(1).