Cover not available

In:Language Variation – European Perspectives VIII: Selected papers from the Tenth International Conference on Language Variation in Europe (ICLaVE 10), Leeuwarden, June 2019
Edited by Hans Van de Velde, Nanna Haug Hilton and Remco Knooihuizen
[Studies in Language Variation 25] 2021
► pp. 35–52

Get fulltext
PDF logo with download linkDownload Chapter PDF

Chapter 2
Is there an interlanguage speech acceptability deficit?

ORCiD logo with link | Universiteit Utrecht
ORCiD logo with link | Universiteit Utrecht
Open Access logo
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Published online: 16 June 2021
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/silv.25.02van
Abstract
It may be assumed that non-native speakers (NNSs) of English are more accommodating towards other NNS accents, as a result of increased solidarity, intelligibility, or both. Emerging evidence suggests, however, that this is not true of all groups of NNSs, especially when judging those sharing the same L1. In an online survey we conducted among 67 Dutch and 45 French NNSs of English, we found that both groups of judges evaluated the speakers whose L1 they shared more negatively than any other accents. This does not only build on previous findings, but also suggests that communication among NNSs, instead of benefiting from an “intelligibility benefit”, may be affected by what we have termed an “acceptability deficit”.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Method
    • 2.1Materials
    • 2.2Structure and design of the survey
    • 2.3Participants and procedure
  • 3.Results
    • 3.1Judges’ ability to identify matched and non-matched accents
    • 3.2Evaluation of matched versus non-matched NNE accents
  • 4.Discussion and conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
References (37)
References
Agar, Michael. 1995. Language shock: Understanding the culture of conversation. New York: William Morrow.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Butler, Yuko G. 2007. How are nonnative-English-speaking teachers perceived by young learners? Tesol Quarterly 41(4). 731–755. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dalton-Puffer, Christiane, Gunther Kaltenboeck & Ute Smit. 1997. Learner attitudes and L2 pronunciation in Austria. World Englishes 16(1). 115–128. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Doel, Rias van den & Hugo Quené. 2013. The endonormative standards of European English: Emerging or elusive? English World-Wide 34(1). 77–98. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dutch News. 2014. How bad is Mark Rutte’s English? [URL]. (24 March, 2019.)
Education First. 2019. EF English proficiency index. 9th edn. [URL]. (26 April, 2020.)
Edwards, Alison. 2014. The progressive aspect in the Netherlands and the ESL/EFL continuum. World Englishes 33(2). 173–94. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Engel, Stephanie. 2014. Is het Engels van Rutte echt zo beroerd? [URL]. (24 March, 2019.)
European Commission. 2012. Eurobarometer 386: Europeans and their languages, Februari-March 2012 [Data file]. [URL]. (26 April, 2020.)
Garrett, Peter. 2010. Attitudes to language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gensane, Bernard. 2017. L’anglais de Macron. [URL]. (23 August, 2019.)
Hendriks, Berna, Frank van Meurs & Ann-Katrin Reimer. 2018. The evaluation of lecturers’ nonnative-accented English: Dutch and German students’ evaluations of different degrees of Dutch-accented and German-accented English of lecturers in higher education. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 34. 28–45. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Holliday, Adrian. 2005. The struggle to teach English as an international language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jenkins, Jennifer. 2007. English as a lingua franca: Attitude and identity. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kappa, Katherine. 2016. Exploring solidarity and consensus in English as lingua franca interactions. Journal of Pragmatics 95. 16–33. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kousbroek, Rudy. 1984. Escaped from the language lab. In De logologische ruimte, n.p. Amsterdam: Meulenhoff. Reprinted with annotations in [URL].
Le Lièvre, Françoise. 2008. L’Anglais en France, une langue multiple: Pratiques, représentations et postures d’apprentissage: Une étude en contexte universitaire. Tours: Université François-Rabelais: Ph.D. thesis.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Make That The Cat Wise. 2012. [Facebook page]. [URL]. (24 March, 2019.)
McArthur, Tom. 1995. The Anglo-hybrids. English Today 11(4). 2–2. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McKenzie, Robert M. 2008. Social factors and non-native attitudes towards varieties of spoken English: A Japanese case study. International Journal of Applied Linguistics 18(1). 63–88. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Milroy, James. 2006. The ideology of the standard language. In Carmen Llamas, Louise Mullany & Peter Stockwell (eds), The Routledge Companion to Sociolinguistics, 153–159. New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
O’Mill, John. 1956. Lyrical laria in Dutch and double Dutch. Laren: Andries Blitz.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Poirier, Agnes. 2013. Franglais row: Is the English language conquering France? [URL]. (22 August, 2019.)
Schmader, Toni & Brian Lickel. 2006. Stigma and shame: Emotional responses to the stereotypic actions of one’s ethnic ingroup. In Shana Levin & Colette van Laar (eds.), Stigma and group inequality: Social psychological perspectives, 261–285. Mahway, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schneider, Edgar W. 2016. Hybrid Englishes: An exploratory survey. World Englishes 35(3). 339–354. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tajfel, Henry & John C. Turner. 1979. An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. In William G. Austin & Stephen Worchel (eds.), Social psychology of intergroup relations, 33–48. Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tatsioka, Zoi, Barbara Seidlhofer, Nicos Sifakis & Gibson Ferguson (eds.). 2018. Using English as a lingua franca in education in Europe (English in Europe 4). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vignoles, Vivian L. & Natalie J. Moncaster. 2007. Identity motives and in-group favouritism: A new approach to individual differences in intergroup discrimination. British Journal of Social Psychology 46(1). 91–113. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Walpot, Adriaan H. L. 2018. Which Englishes do the Dutch prefer? Anti-nationalism versus speaker authenticity. Utrecht: Utrecht University: MA thesis. [URL]
Walsh, Olivia. 2015. Attitudes towards English in France. In Andrew Linn, Neil Bermel & Gibson Ferguson (eds.), Attitudes towards English in Europe (English in Europe 2), 27–54. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wang, Hongyan & Vincent van Heuven. 2015. The interlanguage speech intelligibility benefit as bias toward native-language phonology. i-Perception 6(1). 1–13. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Weinberger, Steven. 2015. Speech Accent Archive. George Mason University. [URL]. (2 October, 2016.)
Wilkinson, Robert. 2013. English-medium instruction at a Dutch university: Challenges and pitfalls. In Aintzane Doiz, David Lasagabaster & Juan M. Sierra (eds.), English-medium instruction at universities: Global challenges, 3–24. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue