Speak like a Native English Speaker or Be Judged: A Scoping Review

Abstract

This review aims to examine the discrimination and prejudices toward the accent of non-native English speakers and cyberbullying as the ripple effect of these negative consequences. Following Arksey and O’Malley’s framework of conducting a scoping review, 60 studies from 2012 to 2021 were retrieved from the ERIC and Google Scholar databases. The studies were reviewed from two aspects: (1) psychological impact on speakers with a non-native English accent, (2) attitudes toward non-native English accents from the victim’s and perpetrator’s perspectives. The findings suggested that speaking with a non-native English accent drew negative cognitive, affective, and behavioral experiences. Biases toward non-native English accents were due to the general derogatory perception of an accent and the comprehensibility of speakers’ accent and pronunciation. “Accent acceptability” can be inculcated at all levels of education, not only through multicultural education but also through the concerted effort of policy makers and practitioners to seriously address this social issue. Accent awareness can dispel unwarranted and undesirable judgements of non-native English accent speakers. Future studies should be conducted on the effects of social and mental health experiences, particularly of non-native ESL and EFL teachers, given that this may be the only profession required to teach “live” during the pandemic and thus be subjected to public praise or ridicule.

The structural and social determinants of Alzheimer's disease related dementias

“…In addition to cognitive protocols for the investigation of risk for and development of dementia, more work is needed in clinical settings where individual performance is critical to accurate identification of AD/ADRD and dementia staging. Furthermore, although accents play a powerful role in the categorization groups, less work has been done to understand how their presence may impact outcomes associated with AD/ADRD, either directly or indirectly 48,49 …”

“…Furthermore, although accents play a powerful role in the categorization groups, less work has been done to understand how their presence may impact outcomes associated with AD/ADRD, either directly or indirectly. 48,49…”

Positive Psychology can help overcome the pernicious native speaker ideology

“…The foreign accent may not impede communication but that is beside the point. The foreign accent marks that individual as not sharing the identity of the majority of the community, and as such it becomes an instrument of exclusion and social inequity (Tan et al, 2021). However much we appreciate Tsang's argument for removing the NS as the ideal that EFL learners should strive to imitate and become, we fear that it may not be radical enough to really dislodge the position of NS in the current system of beliefs.…”

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