Iranian EFL Teachers’ Perceptions of Learning Accent

Hassan Galbat, Farhad Fahandezh Sa’adi

Abstract


Since the appearance of “Audio-lingual Method”, the issue of foreign accent has been the focus of many researchers and many teachers attempted to sound as native like as possible to better teach native English accent. The present study attempted to uncover the Iranian EFL teachers’ perceptions on accent, the way they viewed their own accent, and how English accent can be improved. Totally 50 male and female teachers with different age range, qualifications, teaching and learning experiences participated in the study. The data of the study were collected using Teachers’ Perceptions of Accent Questionnaire developed by the researcher and semi-structured interviews. Based on the analysis performed on the data collected through questionnaires and interviews, it was found that teachers care about learning accent and they considered it valuable and important. They admitted that they have foreign accent to some degree and they did not seem to be happy with foreign accent and were more in favour of native like accent. Regarding the strategies to improve English accent, they mentioned techniques like listening to authentic language, understanding pronunciation rules, and comparing people’s accent with their own accent, watching English movies, noticing stress, and pronunciation patterns, imitating, speaking with native people, using books, and recording and monitoring their own speeches.


Keywords


English accent, native accent, foreign accent, perceptions, EFL teachers

Full Text:

PDF

References


Abelson, R. (1979). Differences between belief system and knowledge systems. Cognitive Science, 3(4), 355-366.

Auerbach, C. F., & Silverstein, L. B. (2003). Qualitative data: An Introduction to Coding and Analysis. New York: New York University Press.

Bian, Y. W. (2009). Chinese learners’ identity in their attitudes towards English

Pronunciation/accents. CELEA Journal, 32 (2), 66-74.

Borg, S. (1998a). Data-based teacher development. ELT Journal, 52(4), 273−81.

Borg, S. (1998b). Talking about grammar in the foreign language classroom. Language Awareness, 7(4), 159−75.

Borg, S. (2003). Teacher cognition in language teaching: A review of research on what language teachers think, know, believe, and do. Language Teaching, 36(1), 81–109.

Borg, M. (2008). Teaching post-CELTA: the interplay of novice teacher, course and context. In T, S, C. Farrell, (Ed.), Novice language teachers: Insights and perspectives for the first year (pp. 104-117). London: Equinox Publishing Ltd.

Borg, S. (2009). Introducing language teacher cognition. JACET Summer Seminar Proceedings Perspectives on Language Teacher Development, 8(1), 1-5. Retrieved January, 2016 form: URL-http://www.education.leeds.ac.uk

Boyd, S. (2003). 'Foreign-born teachers in the multilingual classroom in Sweden: The role of attitudes to foreign accent', International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 6(3), 283-295.

Brennan, E. M., & Brennan, J. S. (1981a). Accent scaling and language attitudes: Reactions to Mexican American English speech. Language and Speech, 24(3), 207-221.

Brennan, E. M., & Brennan, J. S. (1981b). Measurements of accent and attitude toward Mexican-American Speech. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 10(5), 487-501.

Brown H. D. (2007). Principles of language learning and teaching (5th ed.). NY: Pearson Education.

Brown, H.D. (2007). Teaching by Principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy (3rd Ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Regents.

Clandinin, J., & Connelly, F. M. (1987). Teachers’ personal knowledge: What counts aa‘personal’ in studies of the personal. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 19(5), 487-500.

Creswell, J. W. (2009). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approach. Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications.

Derwing, T. M. (2003). What do ESL students say about their accents? The Canadian Modern Language Review, 59 (4), 547-566.

Derwing, M. T., & Munro, M. J. (2005). Second Language Accent and Pronunciation Teaching: A Research-Based Approach. TESOL Quarterly, 39 (3), 379-397.

Derwing, T. M., & Rossiter, M. J. (2002). ESL learner’s perception of their pronunciation needs and strategies. System, 30(1), 155-166.

Donaghue, H. (2003). An Instrument to elicit teachers’ belief and assumptions. ELT Journal,

(4) October. Oxford University Press.

Dornyei, Z. (2005). The psychology of the language learner: Individual differences in language acquisition. Mahwah, New Jersey: Erlbaum.

Dörnyei, Z., & Csizér, K. (2002). Some dynamics of language attitudes and motivation: Results of a longitudinal nationwide survey, in Applied Linguistics, 23(4), 421-62.

Elbaz, F. (1981). The teacher’s “practical knowledge”: Report of a case study. Curriculum Inquiry, 11(1), 43-71.

Farrell, T. S. C., & Lim, P. C. P. (2005). Conceptions of grammar teaching: A case study of teachers’ beliefs and classroom practices. TESL-EJ, 9(1), 1–13.

Farrell, T. S. C., & Patricia, L. P. C. (2005). Conceptions of grammar teaching: A case study of Teachers' Beliefs and Classroom Practices. Teaching English as a second language- e-Journal, 9(2).

Freeman, D. (2002). The hidden side of the work: Teacher knowledge and learning how to teach. A perspective from North American educational research on teacher education in English language teaching. Language Teaching, 35(1), 1-13.

Friedrich, P. (2000). English in Brazil: Functionsand attitudes. World Englishes, 19(2), 215- 223.

Glesne, C. (1998). Becoming qualitative researchers: an introduction. Longman.

Green, J. M. (1993). Student attitudes toward communicative and non-communicative activities: Do enjoyment and effectiveness go together? The Modern Language Journal, 77(1), 1-10.

Kagan, D. M. (1992). Implications of research on teacher belief. Educational Psychologist. 27(1), 65-90.

Kachru, B. B. (1992). The other tongue: English across cultures (2nd ed). Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.

Larsson, E. (1987). Learning from experience: Teachers’ conceptions of change in their professional practice. Curriculum Studies, 19(1), 35-43

Lippi-Green, R. (1998). English with an Accent: Language, ideology, and discrimination in the United States. London: Routledge.

Lunderberg, M. A. & Levin, B. B. (2004). Prompting the development of preservice teachers’ Beliefs through cases, action research, problem-based learning and technology, In J. Raths & A. Mc Aninch (Eds.) Teacher beliefs and teacher education: Advances in teacher education, 6(1), 23-42. Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishers.

Majanen, S. (2008). English as a lingua franca: Teachers' Discourses on Accent and Identity. [MA thesis.] Helsinki: University of Helsinki. Retrieved fromhttp://www.helsinki.fi/englanti/elfa/ProGradu_Silke_Majanen.pdf [18.12.2013]

Markus, H., & Nurius, P. (1987) Possible selves: The interface between motivation and the self-concept. In K. Yardley and T. Honess (eds) Self and Identity: Psychosocial Perspectives (pp. 157_172). Chichester: John Wiley and Sons.

Marx, N. (2002). Never quite a ‘native speaker’: Accent and Identity in the L2 – and the L1.

Merriam, S. B. (1998). Qualitative research and case study applications in education. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Munby, H. (1984). A qualitative approach to the study of a teacher's beliefs. Journal of Research in Science Teaching. 21(1), 27-38.

Nesdale, D., & Rooney, R. (1996). Evaluations and stereotyping of accented speakers by pre- adolescent children. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 15(1), 133-154.

Nespor, J. (1987). The role of beliefs in the practice of teaching. Journal of curriculum studies. 19(3), 317-328.

Neuman, W. N. (1997). Social research methods: qualitative and quantitative approaches. Boston: Allyn & Bacon Publications.

Norton, B. (2000). Identity and Language Learning: Gender, Ethnicity and Educational Change. Harlow: Longman. The Canadian Modern Language Review, 59 (2), 264-281.

Pajares, M. (1992). Teachers' beliefs and educational research: Cleaning up a messy construct. Review of Educational Research, 62(3), 307-332.

Pavlenko, A. (2003). “I never knew I was a bilingual”: Reimagining Teacher Identities in TESOL. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education 2 (4), 251-268.

Pishghadam, R., & Sabouri, F. (2011). A quantitative survey on Iranian English learners' attitudes towards varieties of English: World English or world Englishes? English Language and Literature Studies, 1(1).

Piske, T. (2001). Factors affecting degree of foreign accent in an L2: a review. Journal of Phonetics, 29(2), 191-215.

Pourhosein G, A. (2012). A study of factors affecting EFL learners' English pronunciation learning and the strategies for the instruction. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 2(3).

Richardson, V. (2003). Preservice teachers’ beliefs. In J. Raths & A. McAninch (Eds.).Teacher beliefs and teacher education. Advances in teacher education (pp.1-22.).Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishers.

Richards, J. C., & Schmidt, R. (2002). Longman dictionary of language teaching and applied linguistics (3rd ed.) UK: Pearson Education

Riches, P., & Foddy, M. (1989). Ethnic accent as a status cue. Social Psychology Quarterly, 52 (3), 197-206.

Salkind, N. J. (2008). Statistics for people who hate statistics. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.

Sato, M. (1998). Constitution of form-orientation: Contributions of context and explicit knowledge to learning from recasts. Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics 14.1, 1–28.

Schwandt, T. A. (2000). Three epistemological stances for qualitative inquiry: Interpretivism, hermeneutics and social constructivism. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (2nd ed., pp. 189-214). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Sifakis, N. C., & Sougari, A.-M. (2005). Pronunciation issues and EIL pedagogy in the periphery: A survey of Greek state school teachers' beliefs. TESOL Quarterly, 39(3), 467-488

Solhi, M., & Rahimi, A. (2013). Self-perception of non-native speaker teacher of English in the expanding circle. International Research Journal of Applied and Basic Sciences, 4(4), 863-869.

Stockwell, P. (2002). Sociolinguistics: A Resource Book for Students. London: Routledge (3).

Yoshizawa, A. (2010). Learner identity construction in EFL context: Needs for research area expansion and examination of imagined identities in imagined communities. Retrieved from http://www.keiwa-c.ac.jp/kenkyu/kiyo/doc/kiyo193.pdf [15.12.2013]




DOI: https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.7n.3p.108

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Bookmark and Share


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

2012-2023 (CC-BY) Australian International Academic Centre PTY.LTD. 

International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature

To make sure that you can receive messages from us, please add the journal emails into your e-mail 'safe list'. If you do not receive e-mail in your 'inbox', check your 'bulk mail' or 'junk mail' folders.