Perennial Language Learners or Competent Language Users: An Investigation of International Students’ Attitudes towards Their Own and Native English Accents

Abstract

English is widely used as a global language. The traditional monolithic model of English has been challenged as the development of World Englishes (WE) and English as a lingua franca (ELF) paradigms challenge the ownership of English. With this newly emerging status quo, English language teaching (ELT) should also recognize the diversity and dynamism of English. This article discusses students’ attitudes towards their own and native English accents, and describes the influence of English accents in ELT. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews with nine international students from Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka who were studying at a university in Southern Thailand. The derived data were analysed using qualitative content analysis. The findings revealed that most students still perceived their accents as being deficient, and they believed that native speakers’ English accents were the norm of English use and the ultimate learning goal. Thus, entrenched native ideology was still persistent among these students. The article also provides some implications for pronunciation teaching from a WE and ELF framework with the Teaching of Pronunciation for Intercultural Communication (ToPIC). It is hoped that an awareness of English as a global language could be recognized, and ToPIC could be applied to ELT in more contexts to reflect the global status of English.

Thai School Directors’ Lived Experiences and Attitudes Towards Global Englishes: Do They Impact Hiring Foreign National Teachers?

“…In Thailand, it is observed that three Global Englishes research areas were conducted: 1) language attitudes (e.g., Boonsuk & Fang, 2022;Thienthong & Uthaikorn, 2023), 2) Global Englishes classroom implementation (e.g., Boonsuk et al, 2021;Jindapitak et al, 2022;Rajprasit, 2022), and 3) Global Englishes teacher professional development (e.g., Prabjandee, 2020;Prabjandee & Fang, 2022). This study contributes to the first line of inquiry (language attitudes) since it offers valuable resources for ELT practitioners when considering implementing Global Englishes in the classrooms.…”

“…Considering that English is dynamic and changing, as described in the Global Englishes paradigm, previous studies have investigated teachers' attitudes toward Global Englishes (e.g., Ahn, 2015;Huttayavilaiphan, 2019;Monfared & Khatib, 2018) and learners' attitudes toward Global Englishes (e.g., Boonsuk & Fang, 2022;Chan, 2018). These studies pointed out that teachers and learners generally perceived English varieties as non-standard, reflecting the traditional views of English use.…”

“…The finding revealed that female participants were more favorable to NES than males. In Thailand, Boonsuk and Fang (2022) interviewed international students (Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka) studying English in Thailand about their English and NES accents. It was revealed that the students viewed their English accents as deficient and perceived that NES accents were the norm and the target model for learning English.…”

Malay Language Learning Difficulty by International Community: A Case Study of Postgraduate Students of UNISZA and UMT

“…The limitation of the research was the use of manual analysis and weak samples. However, Yusop and Fan [15] utilized a qualitative approach with semi structured interviews as the method of data collection. The data analysis was carried out with VIVO software, which addresses the limitations of the earlier research.…”

Existing EFL Pedagogies in Thai Higher Education: Views from Thai University Lecturers

“…Therefore, British English and American English remain the only approved ELT models in Thai and many other ELT markets (Boonsuk et al, 2021;Jindapitak & Boonsuk, 2018;Galloway & Rose, 2015Rose & Galloway, 2019). The problem is that this traditional EFL teaching approach relies heavily on NES norms which cultivates Thai learners with a set of attitudes towards English language, i.e., NES's standard English varieties and Native English Speaking Teachers (NESTs) are highly valued, efficient, widely accepted, correct, ideal, and professional; whereas NNES's non-standard English and non-native English speaking teachers (NNESTs) are less appreciated, inefficient, socially flawed, incorrect, impractical, and unprofessional (Boonsuk & Fang, 2020;Jindapitak & Teo, 2012). The approval of NEST and disapproval of NNEST in English language education is not a new phenomenon in Thailand.…”