In language and linguistics programs, there has been a great deal of emphasis on native speakerism. Native-speakerism’ described by Holliday (2006, p. 385) as “pervasive ideology characterized by the belief that ‘native-speaker’ teachers represent a ‘Western culture’ from which spring the ideals both of the English language and of English language teaching methodology” has been criticized vehemently but is yet quite pervasive in second language education and linguistics programs. Specifically, phonetics, language and pronunciation teaching courses teach target language pronunciation based on “standard” or “prestigious” varieties of monolingual pronunciation without exposing learners to different varieties of the target language (Colantoni, Escudero, Marrero-Aguiar, V & Steele, 2021). As such, so far, the burden of acquiring “native-like speech” has fallen on the shoulders of second language learners. Moreover, accented speech is the subject of ridicule is a well-known fact (e.g., Bhatia, 2018). Furthermore, there is abundant research that shows that accented speech is perceived as less intelligent (e.g., Fiske, Cuddy, Glick & Xu, 2018), and less intelligible (Beinhoff, 2014). Crucially, a number of studies have attributed negative perceptions of accented speech to lack of experience with accented speech (e.g., Kennedy, S. & Trofimovich, P., 2008) and shown that exposure to nonnative-accented speech reduces listening effort and improves social judgments of the speaker (Rovetti, Sumantry & Russo, 2023).

This talk will (1) describe classical/typical pronunciation training methods, (2) review some of the previous studies on accent perception and attitudes, (3) call for an equitable approach to the field of linguistics and language teaching and learning, in particular, pronunciation training, by shifting the responsibility to all speakers (native and non-native) of the majority languages, and (4) discuss a proposed accent perception training program with an experiential component, in which learners are exposed to different varieties of their own language and bilingual speech with different degrees of accentedness. It is recognized that everyone has an accent but that some accents, namely the so called native-speaker accents, are associated with power and prestige (Coelho, 2004). Communication is a two-way process, and the onus of its success lies with both parties. Hence, it is argued that there is a need to train all speakers (so-called native and nonnative) of a target language with this novel approach to equity, diversity and inclusion, and pronunciation training, where speakers become aware and learn to recognise different types of accented speech and may begin to question the superiority of any particular accent.

Keywords: Curriculum Development, Language Teaching and Learning, Multiculturalism and social inclusion

REFERENCES

[1] Bhatia, T. K. (2018). Accent, intelligibility, mental health, and trauma. World Englishes, 37(3), 421-431.

[2] Coelho, E. (2004). Adding English: A guide to teaching in multilingual classrooms. Pippin Publishing Corporation.

[3] Colantoni, L., Escudero, P., Marrero-Aguiar, V., & Steele, J. (2021). Evidence-based design principles for spanish pronunciation teaching. Frontiers in Communication, 6, 639889.

[4] Fiske, S. T., Cuddy, A. J., Glick, P., & Xu, J. (2018). A model of (often mixed) stereotype content: Competence and warmth respectively follow from perceived status and competition. In Social cognition (pp. 162-214). Routledge
 

[5] Holliday, A. (2006). Native-speakerism. ELT journal, 60(4), 385-387.

[6] Kennedy, S. & Trofimovich, P. (2008). Intelligibility, comprehensibility, and accentedness of L2 speech: The role of listener experience and semantic context. The Canadian Modern Language Review/La Revue canadienne des langues vivantes, 64(3), 459‐489.

[7] Rovetti, J., Sumantry, D., & Russo, F. A. (2023). Exposure to nonnative-accented speech reduces listening effort and improves social judgments of the speaker. Scientific Reports, 13(1), 2808.