VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES ---***--- NGUYỄN THỊ QUỲNH TRANG AN INVESTIGATION INTO NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS ENGLISH NATIVE SPEAKERS’ AND NON-NATIVE SPEAKERS’ ACCENTS: AN EXAMPLE AT SPARK ENGLISH CENTER NGHIÊN CỨU THÁI ĐỘ CỦA SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN TIẾNG ANH VỚI GIỌNG BẢN NGỮ VÀ PHI BẢN NGỮ: MỘT VÍ DỤ CỤ THỂ TẠI TRUNG TÂM ANH NGỮ SPARK M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 HANOI – 2015 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES ---***--- NGUYỄN THỊ QUỲNH TRANG AN INVESTIGATION INTO NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS ENGLISH NATIVE SPEAKERS’ AND NON-NATIVE SPEAKERS’ ACCENTS: AN EXAMPLE AT SPARK ENGLISH CENTER NGHIÊN CỨU THÁI ĐỘ CỦA SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN TIẾNG ANH VỚI GIỌNG BẢN NGỮ VÀ PHI BẢN NGỮ: MỘT VÍ DỤ CỤ THỂ TẠI TRUNG TÂM ANH NGỮ SPARK M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Prof. Nguyễn Quang HANOI – 2015 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com DECLARATIONS I - Nguyễn Thị Quỳnh Trang - hereby declare that the thesis entitled “An investigation into non-English major students’ attitudes towards English native speakers’ and non-native speakers’ accents: An example at Spark English Center” is the result of my own research in the fulfillment of the requirement for the Degree of Master of Arts at Faculty of Post Graduate Studies - University of Languages and International Studies, VNU, Hanoi and this thesis has not been submitted for any degree at any other university or institution.
Nguyễn Thị Quỳnh Trang Hanoi, September 2015 i TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ABSTRACT This study investigates the attitudes of non-English major students towards English native speakers’ and non-native speakers’ accents. The participants are 60 Vietnamese non-English major students who are studying English at Spark English Center, Hanoi. The results reveal that: (1) students are mostly able to identify the native and non-native accents. However, they are not very good at recognize each variety of English; (2) the students generally rate the native accents higher than non-native ones.
The British English seems to be the most favourite among all the accents. Remarkably, Philippine English is also highly valued; and (3) the students have positive attitudes to both native and non-native models of English. ii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ABBREVIATIONS AmE: American English BrE: British English GA: General American InE: Indian English JaE: Japanese-accented English NS: Native speaker NNS: Non-native speaker PhE: Philippine English SEC: Spark English Center RP: Received Pronunciation ViE: Vietnamese-accented English iii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com LIST OF TABLES Page Table 1. Distinguishing native and non-native speakers.
Guessing the nationality of the speakers. Mean ratings (and standard deviations) of six speakers on five traits. Mean ratings of all five traits. Statistics of Native speakers and Non-native speakers on five traits.
Independent samples t-test: Comparison between Native speakers and Non-native speakers for five traits. Mean ratings and standard deviations of six speakers as models of English. Statistics of Native speakers and Non-native speakers as models of English. Independent samples t-test: Comparison between Native speakers and Non-native speakers for a model of English.
Mean ratings for Statements on the NS model of English. Mean ratings for Statements on the NNS model of English. 28 iv TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1. Kachru’s categorization of countries in which English is used.
Participants’ agreement with statement 1. Participants’ agreement with statement 2. Participants’ agreement with statement 3. Participants’ agreement with statement 4.
31 v TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS Page DECLARATIONS. iii LIST OF TABLES. iv LIST OF FIGURES. v TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Aims and objectives of the study. Scope of the study. Method of the study. Significance of the study.
Design of the study. What is accent?. Varieties of English accent. English native speakers’ accents.
English non-native speakers’ accents. Attitudes towards accents of English. Studies on attitudes towards accents of English. Restatement of research questions.
Context of the study. 16 vi TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Setting of the study. Data collection procedure.
Methods of data analysis. Part A: The verbal guise test. Part B: Statements with a five-point Likert scale. Research question 1: How is the ability of the SEC non-English major students to identify the speakers’ accents?.
Research question 2: How do the SEC non-English major students rate the varieties of native and non-native accents?. Research question 3: How do the SEC non- English major students think about NS and NNS models?. Limitations of the study. Suggestions for further studies.
I vii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Rationale Nowadays, numerous studies and journals have found the paramount importance of students’ attitudes in foreign language learning and their learning achievement. Students’ attitudes is considered as one of the key factors in motivating the learners to learn the language. Positive attitude could facilitate language learning while negative attitude may hinder it.
Consequently, it is worth doing research on students’ attitudes and factors affecting such attitudes in order to enhance their learning success and achievement when teaching a foreign language. Moreover, it is undoubtful to find the importance of pronunciation in learning English. When people communicate, they can use simple words, simple grammar structures, but there is no such a thing as “simple pronunciation”. Good pronunciation is one of the first things that someone learns in English.
However, that is also one of the most difficult problems facing non-native speakers of English. In relation to teaching and learning English pronunciation, questions about models for pronunciation have been raised. Many non-native speakers worry about their accents when they speak English. According to Anastasia Koltai (2013), many people feel that having a pronounced mother tongue accent may mark them out as being a non-native speaker, or “they worry that their natural accented English speech is unintelligible to others”.
Thus, they try to learn the accents that help them sound more native. In Vietnam, people seem to take it for granted that they only learn American or British English. In students’ minds, American or British English have been considered to be authentic and these accents help to sound native as well as best aid them in English learning. There is a story in the researcher’s pronunciation class.
When she asked her students which 1 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com English accent they wanted to learn, all of them chose between American and British accent. However, having been asked what they knew about American or British accent, why they liked and wanted to learn those accents, many of them could not give the teacher their answers. They chose those accents just because they heard about them, they found most of English learners wanted to sound like British or American people, and the students thought those two accents were the ideal ones in learning English. However, there are still many kinds of English native speakers’ accents.
Moreover, non-native speakers’ and local accents have also been promoted in recent literature (Kyle McGee, 2009). Thus, the researcher wonders if the students still like the ones that they chose when they have a chance to know other accents. Furthermore, there has not been any research on non-English major students’ attitudes towards English native speakers’ and non-native speakers’ accents. Unlike English major students, non-English major ones do not have much knowledge about English varieties of accents.
The researcher would like to do a research on their attitudes to find out more about their understanding, reactions and feelings. Thus, the reseacher chooses her working place – Spark English Center to be an example for the reseach in Vietnam. To conclude, the study proceeds from three main reasons, the first lies in the decisive role of students’ attitudes in their learning success and achievement. Next, among the issues in teaching and learning English pronunciation are the models for pronunciation.
The researcher wants to let her students have a chance to know more about English native speakers’ and non-native speakers’ accents, then sheds light on their attitudes to those different varieties of English. Lastly, the researcher has found that there has not been any research on students’ attitudes towards English native speakers’ and non-native speakers’ accents at any training institutions. 2 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Aims and objectives of the study The main purpose of the study is to investigate the attitudes of non- English major students towards English native speakers’ and non-native speakers’ accents.
With the above aim, the objectives of this study are to: - Test students’ accent perception ability. - Assess students’ reactions to varieties of English native and non-native accents. - Examine how students think about NS and NNS models. Research questions With given aim and objectives, the study implies three research questions: 1.
How is the ability of the SEC non-English major students to identify the speakers’ accents? 2. How do the SEC non-English major students rate the varieties of native and non-native accents? 3. How do the SEC non-English major students think about NS and NNS models? 4. Scope of the study The study is conducted at SEC, Hanoi.
Because of limited time, it only focuses on the attitudes of non-English major students towards English native speakers’ and non-native speakers’ accents. The participants are students from classes at SEC. Method of the study The study is carried out by some steps as follows: First, the survey questionnaire for students is employed to find out students’ accent perception ability, reactions to varieties of native and non- native accents. 3 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com Then, the data are collected, sorted and analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively to obtain realistic results.
To end with, the discussion and implication will be given based on the results found from the data. Significance of the study The study has been conducted with the expectation that the findings will help teachers and educators have a closer look at the need and taste of students when learning English. When finding the students’ degree of awareness of varieties of English, the kind of accent they want to learn or find easy to understand, English teachers can give their students the suitable or favourite materials, which makes them have more interest when learning. Exploring the students’ perceptions and opinions of different accents also helps teachers guide their students towards the specific goals.
The students through the learning process may choose the target accents which they like the best. Then the proper materials could be used further to help students obtain these specific accents. Moreover, the centers or schools can find some improvement for their teaching course books to offer different English varieties. Design of the study The study consists of three main parts: Part A, Introduction, presents the rationale of the study, the aim and objectives, the research questions, the significance, the scope, the method and the design of the study.
Part B is Development that includes three chapters: Chapter 1, Literature Review, gives an overview of previous studies on accents, discussing varieties of English and reporting work on attitudes towards accents of English. Chapter 2 is Methodology, which restates the research questions, 4 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com presents the research approach, describes the setting of the study and the participants. Moreover, this chapter shows how the researcher applies the data collection instrument and her procedure of conducting the study. The researcher also presents the methods to study and analyze the information collected.
Chapter 3 is Results and Discussion, in which the researcher reports the main findings and discusses them in relation to previous studies.