BANKING ACADEMY OF VIETNAM FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES GRADUATION THESIS AN INVESTIGATION INTO ATTITUDES OF ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS AT BANKING ACADEMY TOWARDS ENGLISH ACCENTS IN ELF CONTEXT Student: Nguyen Thi Loan Student ID: 22A7510006 Class: K22ATCB Supervior: Dr. Bui Thi Minh Thu Ha Noi, May 2023 17014125827451000000 BANKING ACADEMY OF VIETNAM FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES GRADUATION THESIS AN INVESTIGATION INTO ATTITUDES OF ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS AT BANKING ACADEMY TOWARDS ENGLISH ACCENTS IN ELF CONTEXT Student: Nguyen Thi Loan Student ID: 22A7510006 Class: K22ATCB Supervior: Dr. Bui Thi Minh Thu Ha Noi, May 2023 DECLARATION I hereby declare that this research is completely my own and this study has not been previously submitted and approved for a degree at Banking Academy of Vietnam or any other higher educational institutions. This dissertation is copyright material, from which no quotation may be published without appropriate acknowledgement.
Hanoi, May 2023 Signature Nguyen Thi Loan i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my gratitude to the people who have been instrumental in making this dissertation possible. Without their love, support, and guidance, this achievement would not have been possible. This section is used to show my gratitude and appreciation to all that assisted me in this research. First and foremost, I would like to thank Dr.
Bui Thi Minh Thu, lecturer of Foreign Language Department at Banking Academy, for her perceptive guidance and insightful feedback throughout this progress. She provided me with invaluable feedback and corrected my mistakes meticulously. Her motivation and inspiration were critical in helping me complete my dissertation on time. I would also like to extend my heartfelt appreciation to my two best friends, Ngo Ba Khoa and Tran Thi Van Anh, for their unwavering support and encouragement.
They stood by me through thick and thin, providing me with invaluable advice and feedback that helped me overcome many challenges along the way. Many thanks are due to all the participants who took part in this research.Their contribution was of importance in shaping findings of this dissertation. Finally, I would like to thank my family for their constant love and support. My parents and sister have always been there for me, motivating me to keep going even during the most challenging times.
Thank you all from the bottom of my heart. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS. iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.vi LIST OF TABLES.
vii TABLES OF FIGURES .ix LIST OF APPENDICES.xi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION. Rationale of the Study. Significance of the study. Scope of the Study.
Structure of the Study .3 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW. Definition of accent. English as a Lingua Franca. Classification of English accent varieties.
Native English accents .2 Non-native English accents. English as Vietnamese English. English in Vietnam: An Overview. The Vietnamese Variety of English.
Factors affecting learners’attitudes towards English accents. Previous studies on attitudes towards accents of English. Previous studies on accent attitudes in the world. Previous studies on accent attitudes in Vietnam.
Proposed theoretical framework .19 CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY. Methodological Approach - Mixed method. Rationale for choosing mixed methods. Data Collection, Instruments, and Procedure.
Quantitative Data Analysis. Qualitative Data Analysis .28 CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. Reliability of the Measurement. English majored students’ attitudes towards their own English accent.
English majored students’ attitudes towards other English accents. English majored students’s attitudes towards improving pronunciation to achieve native-like accents. English-majored students’ attitudes towards their own English accent. English-majored students’ towards their other English accents.
English-majored students’ attitudes towards improving pronunciation .67 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION, RECOMMENDATION AND LIMITATIONS. Summary of the Findings. Recommendations for Students. Recommendations for Lecturers.
Recommendations for the Banking Academy of Vietnam .80 v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Abbreviations Meaning ELF English as a lingua franca NNs Native English speakers NNSs Non-native English speakers ELT English language teaching L1 First Language L2 Second Language BA Banking Academy of Vietnam RP. Received Pronunciation GA General American SPSS Statistical Package for Social Sciences vi LIST OF TABLES Table 3. Background information of five interviewees. Classification of Questionare items.
Digitallized values of levels of Agreement and Disagreement. Interpretation of Mean values. Summary statistics of the Cronbach’s Alpha. The corrected item – total correlation of section 2.
The corrected item – total correlaton of section 4. The corrected item – total correlation of section 4. The corrected item – total correlation of section 4. Descriptive statistics about Englih-majored students’ attitudes towards their own accent.
ANOVA statistics about the correlation between the primary living place and attitudes towards. Descriptive statistics about correlation between the primary living place and attitudes towards their own English accent. ANOVA statistics about the correlation between level of English proiciency and attitudes towards their own accent. Descriptive statistics about correlation between level of English proficiency and attitudes towards their own accent.
Descriptive statistics about English-majored students’ attitudes towards other English accents. ANOVA statistics about the correlation between the primary living place and attitudes towards other English accents. ANOVA statistics about the correlation between level of English proficiency and attitudes towards other English accents. Descriptive statistics about motivations for selection YES.
Motivations statistics for selection NO .59 viii TABLES OF FIGURES Figure 2. Kachru’s three-circle model for the use of English world-wide (Crystal, 1997). Three components of attitudes (Garrett, 2010). The Framework of the study.
Respondents’ distribution by age. Respondents’ distribution by gender. Respondents’ distribution by primary living places. Respondents’ distribution by level of English proficiency.
English-majored students’ attitudes towards their own English accent. English-majored studennts’ attitudes towards other English accents. The respondents rated English accents based on their level of attractiveness (in number). The percentage of students who want or do not want to improve their accents to achieve native-like accents.
Motivations for selection YES. Motivations for selection NO .60 ix LIST OF APPENDICES Appendix 1 .85 x ABSTRACTS Title: Investigation into English-majored students’ attitudes towards English accents at Banking Academy in ELF context, Author: Nguyen Thi Loan, a senior student in Falcuty of Foreign Languages at Banking Academy of Vietnam. Advisor: Bui Thi Minh Thu, lecturer of Falcuty of Foreign Languages at Banking Academy of Vietnam. Abstract: This study explores attitudes towards English accents, including their own English accent.
A total of 148 English-major students from the Banking Academy of Vietnam were recruited to participate in this study. The participants completed a survey questionnaire to express their attitudes towards different English varieties in the context of English as a lingua franca (ELF). A semi-structured interview was also conducted to obtain more in-depth perspectives on their accent perceptions. The factors that affect attitudes towards English accents in this study are identity, intelligibility, and motivation.
The findings of the study revealed that the majority of students were aware of having a non-native accent. While many students had neutral attitudes towards their own accents, the percentage of students who felt dissatisfied and not proud of their own accent outweighed those who felt satisfied and proud. Furthermore, most students aspired to attain a native-like accent and expressed the desire to improve their pronunciation to achieve a more native-like accent as much as possible. Regarding attitudes towards other English accents, the students preferred native accents to non-native accents, but they also agreed that intelligibility is a more important factor in communication.
Key words: English accent attitudes, English as lingua france, language attitudes, factors, English-majored students, Banking Academy. xi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION This chapter discusses the rationale for choosing this topic, the research objective, the research question, the scope, the significance, and the study's design. Rationale of the Study English has traditionally been regarded as the domain of native English speakers (NNs), It has long been assumed that non-native English speakers (NNSs) should strive to learn the language using a native-style approach. Moreover, in the real world of English language teaching (ELT), native ideology remains largely entrenched and the native model is widely regarded as the only target that students should aim to achieve.
However, in this age of globalisation, English does not belong exclusively to native nations such as Great Britain or North America. Non-native English speakers may not necessarily need to learn or adhere to native speakers’ norms. In fact, non-native English speakers frequently have much more opportunity to engage in English conversations with other non-native speakers than with native English speakers (Kachru & Nelson, 2006). In these situations, native speaker norms may not always be desirable, particularly when non-native speakers' own shared varieties may foster understanding between speakers and native speaker norms may be viewed as incorrect or even disrespectful (Kachru & Nelson, 2006).
This problem raised interest among many researchers in investigating English learners’ attitudes towards English accents in the paradigm of English as a lingua franca (ELF). Nevertheless, there is scarcity of research investigating this subject in Viet Nam. Given such, this study was conducted to examine attitudes towards English accents among English-majored undergraduates at Banking Academy of Viet Nam. This was an attempt to contribute to research repository in Vietnam on this topic.
Research Aim This study investigates attitudes towards English accents among English-majored undergraduates at the Banking Academy of Vietnam in ELF context. Research questions The research questions of this current research are: 1 (1) What are the attitudes of English-majored students towards their own English accent? (2) What are the attitudes of English-majored students towards their other accents of English? (3) Are there any differences in attitudes towards English accents based on students’ primary living places and level of English proficiency? (4) What are the attitudes of English-majored students towards improving pronunciation to achieve a native-like accent? 1. Significance of the study This study was conducted to investigate attitudes towards English accents among English-majored students at Banking Academy of Vietnam. For this purpose, this research can benefit students and lecturers of the Faculty of Foreign Language at BA, as well as linguistic researchers.
For students, the research offers deep insight into students’ attitudes towards English accents, conducted in the context of a university in Vietnam, from which students can have an objective perspective about their own and other English accents and develop effective pronunciation learning strategies. For lecturers, the results derived from this study can be an useful source for teachers to understand the aspirations of their students in studying pronunciation; based on which they can update their teaching materials to suit their teaching purposes. In addition, the study also contributes valuable results for further studies on a similar topic. Future researchers can use this study as a reference for their literature reviews.
Scope of the Study The research was conducted to explore attitudes towards English accents among English-majored undergraduates at Banking Academy of Vietnam. The population of study is 148 English-majored students at Banking Academy of Vietnam. This study was carried out between 10th March, 2023 and 9th May,2023. Structure of the Study This study comprises of five chapters including this introductory one: 2 Chapter I: Introduction: This chapter presents the research's focus, the rationale for pursuing the subject, the research questions, the purpose, scope, significance, and structure.
Chapter II: Literature Review: This chapter provides an overview of significant theories and prior studies on learners’ attitudes towards English accents, as well as presents the research direction of this study. Chapter III: Methodology: The methodology, including the selection of participants, data collection methods, and data analysis, is described in detail in this chapter. Chapter IV: Findings and Discussion: This chapter reports findings from the questionnaire and interview results and presents further discussion. Chapter V: Conclusion, Implications, and Recommendation: This chapter summarises the findings, identifies the study's limitations, and provides implications and recommendations for further research.
Conclusion To summarize, this chapter serves as an introduction to the research topic, presenting the rationale, purpose, significance, and scope of the study. Additionally, the research questions are articulated in this chapter.