Attitudinal and affective response toward accented English

Bresnahan, Mary; Ohashi, Rie; Nebashi, Reiko; Liu, Wen Ying; Shearman, Sachiyo Morinaga

doi:10.1016/s0271-5309(01)00025-8

Cited by 177 publications

(133 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…The participants stated that one will be understood well if s/he speaks with a native-like accent. This finding which emphasizes the role of intelligibility as being of considerable importance confirms Bresnahan et al (2012) results which demonstrated that intelligibility of the foreign accent and the learners" positive attitudinal and affective responses are linked to each other. The learners" position here is also remarkably consistent with the views of the English teachers in Majanen"s (2008) study who posited that mother tongue accent can severely hinder the process of mutual understanding.…”

Section: Reasons For Preferring the Tl Accent Intelligibilitysupporting

confidence: 86%

Examining Acculturation Model in an EFL Context: Learners’ Attitudes towards Target Language Accent vs. L1 Accent

Sa’d

Modirkhameneh

2015

GEMA Online

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According to Schumann"s (1986) Acculturation Model, accent acts as a means of the learner"s identification with either his/her mother tongue culture or the target language culture and affects his/her effort to learn English as a target Language. Taking up a critical stance, the present study, thus, aimed at investigating the role that learner attitudes and beliefs play in the language that learners adopt in their mother tongue (MT) or the target language (TL) (i.e., English) accent when speaking English in an instructed foreign language setting. The participants consisted of 213 Iranian male elementary EFL learners, aged 12 to 19 years. The data were elicited using a questionnaire consisting of both close-ended and open-ended questions, and were, furthermore, triangulated through focus-group interviews and class observations. The questionnaire required the participants to voice their opinions freely regarding the accent they assumed and preferred when using the target language and the reasons for their preferences. The findings revealed that 81.3% of the participants displayed strong preferences for the TL accent (i.e., English) while only 18.7% of the participants privileged speaking English with their MT accent. The rationale for the TL accent preference was found to be composed of nine categories with "intelligibility", "beauty and effectiveness of TL accent", and "resemblance to native speakers and avoidance of mockery" cited as the most primary reasons. On the other hand, the major reason for assuming a MT accent was to reveal one"s identity through the MT accent. The study therefore highlighted the strong inclination among EFL learners to acculturate into the TL culture through assuming its accent.

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Section: Reasons For Preferring the Tl Accent Intelligibilitysupporting

confidence: 86%

Examining Acculturation Model in an EFL Context: Learners’ Attitudes towards Target Language Accent vs. L1 Accent

Sa’d

Modirkhameneh

2015

GEMA Online

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“…Language attitudes research is founded on the concept that language does more than simply convey referential meaning; listeners react not only to message content, but also to the linguistic and extra-linguistic information conveyed with the message (e.g., Bradac, 1990;Bresnahan, Ohashi, Nebashi, Liu & Shearman, 2002;Cargile, Giles, Ryan & Bradac, 1994). These reactions to linguistic variation prompt listeners to differentiate among speakers and groups of speakers, categorize them, and, ultimately, place them in a social hierarchy (e.g., Labov, 1966;Lambert, 1967;Preston, 1989).…”

Section: The Literature On Language Attitudes Toward Foreign-accentedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring Implicit and Explicit Attitudes Toward Foreign Accented Speech

Pantos

2012

Journal of Language and Social Psychology

119

105

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“…These participants served as raters in the main experiment. To avoid unwanted variability in attractiveness ratings due to language (Bresnahan, Ohashi, Nebashi, Liu, & Morinaga Shearman, 2002) and, possibly, sexual orientation, participants were required to be native speakers of French and to report being heterosexual. Participation was voluntary, and participants gave their informed written consent before starting the experiment.…”

Section: Participantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Voice attractiveness: Influence of stimulus duration and type

et al. 2012

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Voice attractiveness is a relatively new area of research. Some aspects of the methodology used in this domain deserve particular attention. Especially, the duration of voice samples is often neglected as a factor and happens to be manipulated without the perceptual consequences of these manipulations being known. Moreover, the type of voice stimulus varies from a single vowel to complex sentences. The aim of this experiment was to investigate the extent to which stimulus duration (nonmanipulated vs. normalized) and type (vowel vs. word) influence perceived voice attractiveness. Twenty-seven male and female raters made attractiveness judgments of 30 male and female voice samples. Voice samples included a single vowel /a/, a three-vowel series /i a o/, and the French word "bonjour" (i.e., "hello"). These samples were presented in three conditions: nonmanipulated, shortened, and lengthened duration. Duration manipulation was performed using the pitch synchronous overlap and add (PSOLA) algorithm implemented in Praat. Results for the effect of stimulus type showed that word length samples were more attractive to the opposite sex than vowels. Results for the effect of duration showed that the nonmanipulated sound sample duration was not predictive of perceived attractiveness. Duration manipulation, on the other hand, altered perceived attractiveness for the lengthening condition. In particular, there was a linear decrease in attractiveness as a function of modification percentage (especially for the word, as compared with the vowels). Recommendations for voice sample normalization with the PSOLA algorithm are thus to prefer shortening over lengthening and, if not possible, to limit the extent of duration manipulation-for example, by normalizing to the mean sample duration.

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Attitudinal and affective response toward accented English

Cited by 177 publications

References 13 publications

Examining Acculturation Model in an EFL Context: Learners’ Attitudes towards Target Language Accent vs. L1 Accent

Examining Acculturation Model in an EFL Context: Learners’ Attitudes towards Target Language Accent vs. L1 Accent

Measuring Implicit and Explicit Attitudes Toward Foreign Accented Speech

Voice attractiveness: Influence of stimulus duration and type

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