Accent Priority in a Thai University Context: A Common Sense Revisited

Abstract

<p>In Thailand, there has been much debate regarding what accents should be prioritized and adopted as models for learning and use in the context of English language education. However, it is not a debate in which the voices of English learners have sufficiently been heard. Several world Englishes scholars have maintained that being a denationalized language, English should be viewed through the lens of linguistic hybridization. In this paper, we investigated Thai university English learners’ preferences for varieties of English and their attitudes towards the importance of understanding varieties of English in order to generate a better understanding as to what extent native and non-native varieties gain acceptance as English models. We also explored whether learners’ attitudes were consistent with the ideology of English as an international language which sees English in its pluralistic sense. The findings of this study suggest that even though the majority of learners preferred native-speaker accents as models for learning and use, they consiered non-native Englishes worth understanding and learning. The findings challenge the old paradigm of English language teaching that is based on the concept of linguistic Americanization or Britishization, prioritizing the native-speaker school of thought. In closing, we proposed some pedagogical suggestions that, we believe, are consistent with how English functions in the world as an international lingua franca.</p

The tolerance of English instructors towards the Thai-accented English and grammatical errors

“…On the opposite, the passages produced in Thai-accented English were less acceptable and less comprehensible, although they contain no grammatical errors. The results, therefore, point to the favor towards the native-English voices, in accordance with the previous studies , which claim that Thai students prefer native-English models (Jindapitak & Teo, 2013;Kanoksilapatham, 2016). There is no clear reason why native-Thai instructors accept near-native accent with grammatical errors.…”

“…This EFL pedagogical contexts result in Thai learners' favor towards the native-English accent while viewing the local Thai-influenced accent as problematic (Sahatsathatsana, 2017). An attitudinal study done by Jindapitak and Teo (2013) suggests that Thai learners of English favor the mainstream innercircle English accents such as British, American, or Australian, while their Thai-influenced accent is treated as unfavorable. Kanoksilapatham (2016) similarly reports that her university student-subjects view native-English pronunciation as a favorable accent.…”

Who am I? "I am a Swifty!" Some Stories from EFL Learners

“…His perception of idealized pronunciation had shaped his L2 identity in learning and using English. This perception is consistent with Jindapitak & Teo's findings [18] which indicate that the majority of the Thai participants preferred inner-circle accents as a model to upgrade their social status and did not favor localized forms of English. It seemed that Nott's ideal L2 self was adapting to the changing sociocultural linguistic landscape of the country.…”

“…He was aware that non-native speaker (NNS) people in expanding-circle contexts use ELF, especially in Asian region due to the integration of AEC in 2015. Sharing similar beliefs to the EFL learners in Ryan's [18] study the participants had a sense of membership of an imagined global community and perceive himself as an English-language user rather than expressing any desire to integrate with a target language community. His ideal L2 self was activated and he perceived himself as a fluent English-user at a time when learning English is not solely restricted to classroom settings.…”

A Study of Thai University Students’ Attitudes towards Pronunciation Models in English as a Lingua Franca

“…Besides, it can be said that the inner circle teaching norm plays a significant role in influencing Thai students" attitudes towards their use of English, for example in choosing their pronunciation model. Scholars [32], [33] found that Thai students preferred to learn and use American English and British English than Thai English or any other varieties of English. To be precise, the inner circle teaching norms affect students" attitudes towards their use of English and their ultimate goal of learning English in Thailand.…”