(Un)pleasant? (In)correct? (Un)intelligible? ELF speakers' perceptions of their accents

Jenkins, Jennifer (2009) (Un)pleasant? (In)correct? (Un)intelligible? ELF speakers' perceptions of their accents. In, Mauranen, Anna and Ranta, Elina (eds.) English as a Lingua Franca: Studies and Findings. Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, pp. 10-36.

Abstract

This article addresses a fundamental issue in English as a Lingua Franca: that of accent attitudes. It begins by providing a brief overview of the phonological features that have been found in ELF research to contribute to intelligibility in English lingua franca communication, and goes on to explore, on the basis of further ELF research, the conflicting, changing, and sometimes self-contradictory attitudes that ELF users, particularly teachers of English, hold of ELF accents. It concludes that although change in attitudes is likely to be slow to come about, the more the situation is researched and discussed, and the more that prevailing negative attitudes towards ELF are challenged, the more likely things are to change.

This record has no associated files available for download.

Contributors

Download statistics