“Come join us, and lose your accent!”

Abstract

In this article, we examine the hierarchization of international students by bringing together perspectives of linguistic legitimacy and language ideologies. Our data stems from 26 accent reduction (AR) or accent modification (AM) course descriptions and websites from US universities. Based on their analysis, we discuss the socio-political implications of the phenomenon of these courses for international students and the ways in which language-based, particularly accent-based, arguments are used to create or reinforce different categories of students. We argue that while international students are presented as having different kinds of “comprehensibility problems” that AM/AR courses are claimed to remedy, the seemingly linguistic arguments that are used for marketing do not hold. Rather, what is presented as an accent issue actually seems to be an ideological one, drawing on the students’ ethnic or geographical origins, and thereby racializing the question of language proficiency.

Emplacing English as lingua franca in international higher education: A spatial perspective on linguistic diversity

“…Salö (2022) positions language in the terrain of internationalising the academy. Finally, Choi (2021) has illustrated how English has become a marker of class distinction in student mobility – not just in terms of those who speak English and those who do not, but in the types and ways of speaking English and how these are geographically located and socially differentiated (see Ennser‐Kananen et al, 2021 on accents and hierarchisation of international student).…”

“…In this account, the academic describes how their accent goes unnoticed in Denmark whereas it is highlighted and even “mocked” in the United States, where a non‐US accent is used as proxy for ethnicity, citizenship, or race, and an erasure of accent is considered necessary for academic or labour market success (Ennser‐Kananen et al, 2021). The excerpt also shows how fluidity of accent is related to space and hierarchies (Kubota & Fujimoto, 2013).…”

“…In relation to the hierarchies produced by the categorisation into native and nonnative speakers, the spatial and hierarchical complexity created through accent is a part of how English is performed. As the following excerpt shows, accent can indicate difference and hierarchy and yet, accents are also performed and constructed in a specific local place (Larsen, 2016) In this account, the academic describes how their accent goes unnoticed in Denmark whereas it is highlighted and even "mocked" in the United States, where a non-US accent is used as proxy for ethnicity, citizenship, or race, and an erasure of accent is considered necessary for academic or labour market success (Ennser-Kananen et al, 2021). The excerpt also shows how fluidity of accent is related to space and hierarchies (Kubota & Fujimoto, 2013).…”

The Accent Work of International Teaching Assistants

“…Therefore, by minimizing the foreignness of her accent, Martina might want students to aurally forget the source of her racialization and consequent mockery. With this accent work, then, Martina embraces a common narrative positing that international students must linguistically assimilate to their academic surroundings to be accepted by the host community (Ennser‐Kananen et al., 2021; Sterzuk, 2015). Yet, it is important to consider how Martina's embrace of this narrative has a pragmatic purpose.…”

A Viewpoint on Accent Services: Framing and Terminology Matter

“…For example, there is documented evidence of the effects of linguistic racism in seeking employment (Carlson & McHenry, 2006;Cerrato, 2017;Deprez-Sims & Morris, 2010;Timming, 2016) as well as seeking housing (Baugh, 2018). Outside speech-language pathology, it is well documented that discrimination occurs based on speaker accents and spoken language variation (Akomolafe, 2013;Ennser-Kananen et al, 2021;Gluszek & Dovidio, 2010a, 2010bOrelus, 2020). It is noteworthy that in the United States, such discrimination against accented speakers (and by extension, of their national origin) is prohibited explicitly under Titles VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964(U.S.…”