Cause for optimism

Abstract

The current chapter explores the beliefs and attitudes of Czech pre-service teachers towards native and non-native accents. Specifically, we were interested in how accent attitudes contribute to the process of forming non-native teacher identities, viewed from both real and imagined L2 user/teacher perspectives. On the one hand, the results indicate a growing acceptance of one’s accentedness and, simultaneously, a highly motivational character of native-like aspirations. On the other hand, English teachers are perceived as role models and, consequently, a high standard of performance is expected in terms of nativeness. We argue that more emphasis should be placed on excellence in pedagogical skills in teacher training in order to counterbalance the unattainability of the imagined native selves.