Evaluations and Stereotyping of Accented Speakers by Pre-Adolescent Children

Abstract

An experiment was carried out to examine the effect of language accents on children's evaluations and stereotyping. Forty 10-year-old and 40 12-year-old Australian children from monocultural and multicultural schools listened to the same passage read in English by boys with strong and mild Italo-Australian and Viet-Australian accents, and broad (i.e., strong) and general (i.e., mild) Australian accents. In addition, for half the children each accent was given its appropriate ethnic designation, whereas the remaining children listened to unlabeled accents. The children rated the accents on evaluative (status, solidarity) scales and on traits comprising the stereotype of each group. The findings indicated that their evaluations were influenced by accent ethnicity and accent strength. In addition, the older but not the younger children's evaluations were affected by accent identification and ethnic contact. The data also suggested that the accents evoked ethnic stereotypes. The emerging complexity of the language attitude-stereotype relationship is discussed.

How non-native English-speaking staff are evaluated in linguistically diverse organizations: A sociolinguistic perspective

“…For example, within the US, more prestige is attributed to accents associated with other English speaking countries and Western European countries, and less with accents associated with the rest of the world (Gluszek & Dovidio, 2010;Lindemann, 2005). A similar hierarchization of varieties of English can be observed in other countries, as documented by studies conducted in Australia (Nesdale & Rooney, 1996), the UK (Coupland & Bishop, 2007;Giles, 1970) and Sweden (Boyd, 2003).…”

Measuring Implicit and Explicit Attitudes Toward Foreign Accented Speech

“…Traditionally, quantitative language attitudes research on foreign accent has proceeded from the belief that listeners form their reactions to an accent based on their perception of the nationality of the speaker (Brennan & Brennan, 1981a;Bresnahan et al, 2002;Cargile & Giles, 1997;Nesdale & Rooney, 1996;Ryan, 1983). That body of research, largely grounded in SIT, maintains that the identity of the social group to which the speaker's accent is believed to belong determines the degree of prestige or stigmatization accorded the accent and, ultimately, the speaker.…”

Changing Contexts and Shifting Paradigms in Pronunciation Teaching

“…First, it focuses on presenting and analyzing different aspects of the spoken discourse and listening comprehension and intelligibility of native speakers (NSs) and NNSs (e.g., Major, Fitzmaurice, Bunta, & Balasubramanian, 2005;Munro & Derwing, 1995a). Second, it is concerned with gauging how the beliefs and attitudes of NSs, NNSs, and English language learners toward accent can cause them to make stereotypical assumptions based on different accents (Major, Fitzmaurice, Bunta, & Balasubramanian, 2002, p. 176;Nesdale & Rooney, 1996) and how these same beliefs can influence people's perceptions of social status (Cargile, 1997).…”