Sixteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

Conventional attitudes and lack of information about foreign accents affect the culture of education, the workplace, and the greater community. American colleges include large numbers of international and immigrant students who speak English with a foreign accent. These students often wrestle with negative attitudes toward their non-native pronunciation, believing that it reflects upon their academic ability and their commitment to learning English. Speaking English with an accent may inhibit students from participating in classroom discussions and may also influence them to underestimate their own potential. These cultural attitudes to accented speech are also seen in many areas outside the classroom. Research from linguistics and biology can provide a more realistic perspective on non-native speech. Current research shows that foreign accents result from the process by which a baby hears and organizes language input from the environment, using a pattern matching process to form sound categories. Initial language acquisition prepares the brain for the sounds of the native language, and these sounds will influence the pronunciation of new languages, particularly when learned in adulthood. A better understanding of these language acquisition processes may influence cultural attitudes toward foreign accents. The argument is not whether there are fixed biological limitations which make native-like speech impossible. It is instead that there are biological processes that make accented speech more likely. It would be more realistic and constructive if social, psychological, pedagogical and professional workplace attitudes drew upon this information.