Title: What did they say Examining the effects of lecturers accents in English on the actual and perceptual
1What did they say?Examining the effects of
lecturers accents in English on the actual and
perceptual listening comprehension abilities of
international students in a culturally diverse
Australian university.Irene Hoetzer Alison
Owens
2Who lives in Australia?
- 2004 born overseas (4.3 million people) and 68
these were born Non-English background (2.924
million). - (Australian Bureau Statistics, 2007)
3Who studies in Australian Universities?
- The number of overseas visitors arriving in
Australia to study in 2005 was 375,000, more than
ten times the number (30,000) that arrived in
1985 - 164,000 international students enrolled in Higher
Education in 2005 - 25 international participation in Australian
Higher education sector (not counting migrants). - (ABS, 2007)
4Who studies at CQU (AIC)?
- 2006
- Almost 20,000 CQU
- Almost 10,000 international
- (AIC 99.98 international)
5What is accent?
- Accent is a characteristic pronunciation
(Macquarie, 1997) that reflects a national or
local mode of utterance (Oxford, 1995). - Accent is determined by the social or regional
background and phonetic habits of the speakers
native or first language (Dictionary. com.,
2007). - Any perceived oral deviation from the listeners
aural expectations and his/her interpretations of
these deviations therefore creates meaning in
relation to accent.
6Cognitive-linguistic and socio-linguistic
perspectives of accent and L2 acquisition
- Cognitive-linguistic theorists study the
relationship of language and mind that is how
the brain processes language (Kemmer, 2007) - Sociolinguists study the use of language in
social interaction (Deumert, 2007) - Hence, a sociolinguistic approach seeks
explanations about language based on the
agency of speakers (or groups of speakers) rather
than abstract linguistic systems or cognitive
mechanisms (Deumert, 2007 p.1).
7Cognitive-linguistics
- Studies the technical aspects of inter-language
effects from L1 to L2, such as - Articulatory setting
- Phonemic proximity (shared sounds) syntactic
variations orthographic and lexical. - Hence, the degree of L1 interference as well
as the specific effects in L2, may vary according
to numerous cognitive processes.
8Sociolinguistic
- A sociolinguistic approach seeks explanations
about language based on the agency of speakers
(or groups of speakers) rather than abstract
linguistic systems or cognitive mechanisms
(Deumert, 2007, p.1). - It is about associations people make about
accented speech negative and positive. - Hence, accented speech may not only create a
barrier to facilitated understanding on the part
of the listener (Lippi-Green, 1997), but it may
also generate judgment that has nothing to do
with the technical aspects of utterance.
9Mrs Thatcher
- Pre-neutralisation
- http//85.133.25.234/021/021MMC900S09555U00001C01.
wma - Post-neutralisation
- http//www.thoughtequity.com/video/clip/5112577564
_005.do
10A dingo took my Barbie
- http//glenyalla.typepad.com/once_upon_a_blog/2006
/12/what_someone_qu.html
11Risk/Equity/Identity
- Decisions about employment (Lippi-Green, 1997)
and competency (NNELT).
12Design of study
- Actual or perceptual (cognitive or social)
- Comprehension test (cognitive actual)
- Migrant teachers and international students
- Interview/survey (perceptual)
- Compared test results with opinion/feelings
- Unfamiliar topic/unfamiliar teacher/unfamiliar
accent (Russian)
13interlanguage speech intelligibility benefit
ISIB (Rasmussen, 2007)
- Can a subjects experience of diverse accents in
English enhance their listening comprehension of
all accents in English?
14Implications from research
- Comprehension of unknown topic was limited
- Most students were able to comprehend accents in
English beyond their perceived ability - Most of their self-assessment of comprehension of
the various accents was not reflective of their
actual results - Students believed their own interest in the topic
had a stronger effect on comprehension than
accent.
15L1/L2 proximity and L2 comprehension actual or
perceptual?
- L1 proximity had no actual effect on
comprehension but affected perceptions about
strength of accent
16Good news and bad news
- Students did not associate NN accent with low
competence or credibility - Students believe that their own interest in the
topic is the biggest driver of comprehension - However, they all expected and preferred
Australian teachers to speak with an Australian
accent - Studies show that they have difficulty
understanding Australian accent (Sawir, 2007).
17Accent literacy?
- It is good to get knowledge of different
accents, not avoid it especially because
Australia is a multicultural country and English
is a global language. So wherever we go, if we
are not at home, if I know English in accents, I
can speak and understand, like Chinese English
speakers, or else I have to stay home and not
travel, (undergraduate, first year).
18Emerging concerns
- International students may be better informed
about Australian community - Teachers students may be made aware of the
perceptual challenges of teaching in L2 and
prepared to respond - The benefits of bilingualism and multilingualism
may be promoted to reduce anxiety towards foreign
languages and accented speech - The concept of ISIB may be promoted to teachers
and learner.
19References
- Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), retrieved
November 22, 2007 from http//www.abs.gov.au/AUS
STATS/abs_at_.nsf/Latestproducts/F930564143DFA8A8CA25
71B000153DD7?opendocument - Australian Social Trends (2006), retrieved from
November 25, 2007 from http//www.abs.gov.au/AUSST
ATS/abs_at_.nsf/DetailsPage/4102.02006?OpenDocument - Deumert, A. (2007). The field of
sociolinguistics Theoretical and epistemological
perspectives. Retrieved October 7, 2007 from
http//arts.monash.edu.au/language-and-society/str
engths/epistemology.php - Kemmer S. (2007). About Cognitive Linguistics
Historical Background. Retrieved October 12
from http//www.cognitivelinguistics.org/cl.shtml
- Lippi-Greene, R. (1997). English with an accent
Language, Ideology and Discrimination in the
United States, New York, Routledge. - Rasmussen, Z. (2007). The interlanguage speech
intelligibility benefit Arabic-accented English.
Paper presented at 21st National Conference on
Undergraduate Education April 12-14, 2007,
Research Dominican University of California,
http//www.dominican.edu/ncur21.html - Sawir, E. (2006). How can we improve standards in
international education? paper presented at
University of Melbourne Centre for Public Policy
and Centre for study of Higher Education
Symposium Tuesday 5th June 2006.