Attitudes and SLA

to a class of objects’

language variation, dialect and speech style;

learning a new language; specific minority languages; language groups, communities, minorities; language lessons; parents of children learning languages; language preferences and language use (Baker, 1992)

people -> to learn a language involves some degree of

identification with the group that speaks it

acquiring the language involves taking on patterns of behaviour of that group

an individual's attitudes will influence his or her motivation to learn the language, and thus the degree of proficiency attained


(see Gardner, 1985, 2002 for a more detailed review of this literature).

understanding” (Cargile & Giles, 1998).

Eh… English isn’t your native

language, right?

Oh wow! Such a cool accent! Where are you from?

Your attempt to imitate the British accent is so cute

You just sound angry all the time

I’m not sure it’s the right way to say it,
honey….

accent commingled with my native Pashtun accent.  “Oh, okay! You

mean blah blah,” some folks would respond.  Others would say “this guy is not from here.” It embarrassed me. (Ismail, 2014)

”It seems like more accented you are, less likely native speakers will pay attention (respect) to you.” 

I have quite a clear Indonesian accent when speaking English and I often feel self-conscious about it, especially when talking to native speakers.

Cowie’s(2007)research on ‘accent training’ for a ‘neutral’ accent in the

call centre training industry highlights occurrences of call centre agents taking ‘elocution lessons’ to gain a British or American accent.

A survey reported on the BBC News website(‘Regional Accents “Bad for Trade”’, BBC, 2005) noted that some regional accents were bad for trade, particularly Liverpool, Birmingham, Cockney (London working class), Geordie (Newcastle), and the West Country accents.

they are listening to a number of different speakers, although

it is one speaker in different ‘guises’
attitude-rating scale - friendliness, sociability, intelligence, etc.
control for differences between the speakers, such as speed or intonation

Criticisms:
•  Deceptive
•  Inability to measure other important variables, as everything but accent is controlled
•  ‘acontextual’

variety
Participants still think they are rating people rather than

language
However, when this method is not contextualised or supported with other more qualitative methods, it is difficult to see how rating language varieties based on adjectives such as ‘intelligent’ can really tell us what people think

rated most favourably on at least some traits by students

of all three nationalities, followed by the American male

The RP voices did not receive the higher rankings in power/status

169 Japanese students
9 speakers: 3 - Japanese, 2 -

American, 1- British, 1 – Sri Lanka, 1 – Hong Kong, 1 – Malaysia
Read short passages in English

English accents than those with less instrumental motivation;

Second, the

level of subjects’ respect for indigenous languages affects their attitudes toward non‐native English accents;

Third, the subjects’ familiarity with accents has an influence on their acceptance of varieties of English.

Discrimination in English Language Teaching Job Advertisements N=77

teachers are more equal than others: trend analysis of job

advertisements in English language teaching. N=38

Matters.
Sarnoff, I. (1970). Social Attitudes and the Resolution of Motivational Conflict. In

M. Jahoda, & N. Warren (Eds.), Attitudes (pp. 279-284).
Gardner, R. (1985). Social psychology and second language learning. The role of attitudes and motivation. London. 205 pp.
Cargile, A. & Giles, H. (1998) Language attitudes toward varieties of English: An American‐Japanese context, , 26:3, 338-356.
Bayard, D. & Weatherall, A. & Gallois, C. & Pittam, J. (2001). Pax Americana: Accent attitudinal evaluations in New Zealand, Australia, and America. J. Sociolinguist. 5. 10.1111/1467-9481.00136.
Mahboob, A. & Ruth G. 2013. Looking for native speakers of English: Discrimination in English language teaching job advertisements. Voices in Asia Journal 1. 72–81
Selvi, A. F. (2010). “All teachers are equal, but some teachers are more equal than others”: Trend analysis of job advertisements in English language teaching.