Emerging bilinguals’ attitudes towards target pronunciation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15517/rk.v49i2.65049Keywords:
language attitudes, language identity, second language pronunciation, emerging bilingualAbstract
This research explores how 95 English-dominant emerging bilinguals perceive English-accented Spanish across varying proficiency levels. The study examined the impact of self-reported Spanish language proficiency in the dimensions of Spanish grammar, pronunciation, and overall ability on positive and negative evaluations of recordings with differing degrees of foreign-accented Spanish-English speech. Results revealed that although self-reported proficiency did not significantly modulate the ratings of the recordings, the High Proficiency group gave overall more positive ratings to the recordings. Some significant differences were found, however, between the ratings of the recordings for positive and negative attributes. These findings suggest that the perception of second language accentedness constitutes a noteworthy feature of the emerging bilingual experience. They also suggest a relationship between language proficiency levels, highlighting the importance of considering proficiency when interpreting views of degree of foreign-accented speech.
References
Adank, P., Stewart, A. J., Connell, L., & Wood, J. (2013). Accent Imitation Positively Affects Language Attitudes. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 1-10. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00280 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00280
Anderson, T. (2006). Spanish-English Bilinguals' Attitudes Toward Code-switching: Proficiency, Grammaticality and Familiarity. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation, The Pennsylvania State University, State College].
Anderson, T., & Souza, B. (2009). English-Spanish Bilinguals' Attitudes and Perceptions Toward L2 Pronunciation. [Unpublished paper presented at The Linguistic Association of the Southwest (LASSO), Provo].
Anderson, T., & Souza, B. (2012). English-Spanish Bilinguals’ Attitudes Toward L2 Pronunciation: Do They Identify with Native Spanish Speakers? In. J. Levis, & K. LeVelle (Eds.), Proceedings of the 3rd Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Conference, Sept. 2011. (pp. 27-38). Iowa State University.
Anderson, T., & Toribio, A. J. (2007). Attitudes Towards Lexical Borrowing and Intra-sentential Code-switching Among Spanish-English Bilinguals. Spanish in Context, 4(2), 217-240. doi: https://doi.org/10.1075/sic.4.2.05and DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/sic.4.2.05and
Babel, M. (2012). Evidence for Phonetic and Social Selectivity in Spontaneous Phonetic Imitation. Journal of Phonetics, 40(1), 177-189. doi: 10.1016/j.wocn.2011.09.001 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2011.09.001
Bouchard Ryan, E., Carranza, M. A., & Moffie, R. W. (1977). Reactions Toward Varying Degrees of Accentedness in the Speech of Spanish-English Bilinguals. Language and Speech, 20(3), 267-273. https://doi.org/10.1177/002383097702000308 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/002383097702000308
Bresnahan, M. J., Ohashi R., Nebashi R., Liu, W. Y., & Shearman, S. M. (2002). Attitudinal and Affective Response Toward Accented English. Language & Communication, 22(2), 171-185. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0271-5309(01)00025-8 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0271-5309(01)00025-8
Butler, Y. G., & Hakuta, K. (2004). Bilingualism and Second Language Acquisition. In Bahtia T. K., & Ritchie W. C. (Eds.), The Handbook of Bilingualism (pp. 114-144). John Wiley & Sons. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470756997.ch5
Elliott1997). On the Teaching and Acquisition of Pronunciation within a Communicative Approach. Hispania, 95-108. https://doi.org/10.2307/345983 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/345983
Espinosa, L. M. (2015). Challenges and Benefits of Early Bilingualism in the US Context. Global Education Review, 2(1).
García, O. (2009). Emergent Bilinguals and TESOL: What's in a Name? TESOL Quarterly, 43(2), 322-326. doi: 10.1002/j.1545-7249.2009.tb00172.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1545-7249.2009.tb00172.x
García, O, & Kleifgen, J. A. (2010). Educating Emergent Bilinguals: Policies, Programs, and Practices for English Learners. Teachers College Press.
Garrett, P., Coupland, N., & Williams, A. (2003). Investigating Language Attitudes: Social Meanings of Dialect, Ethnicity and Performance. University of Wales Press.
Gluszek, A., & Dovidio, J. F. (2010). The Way They Speak: A Social Psychological Perspective on the Stigma of Nonnative Accents in Communication. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 14(2), 214-237. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868309359288 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868309359288
Gluszek, A., Newheiser, A. K., & Dovidio, J. F. (2011). Social Psychological Orientations and Accent Strength. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 30(1), 28-45. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X10387100 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X10387100
Gordon, J. (2012). Extra-linguistic Factors in the Teaching and Learning of Pronunciation in an ESL Class. In Levis, J., & LeVelle, K. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 3rd Annual Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Conference: Social Factors in Pronunciation Acquisition (pp. 134-146). Iowa State University.
Greene, J. S., & Wells, E. J. (1927). The Cause and Cure of Speech Disorders: A Text Book for Students and Teachers on Stuttering, Stammering and Voice Conditions. Macmillan.
Grosjean, F. (2022). The Mysteries of Bilingualism. Wiley Blackwell. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781394260386
Huensch, A., & Thompson, A. S. (2017). Contextualizing Attitudes Toward Pronunciation: Foreign Language Learners in the United States. Foreign Language Annals, 50(2), 410-432. https://doi.org/10.1111/FLAN.12259 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12259
Ladefoged, P. (2001). Vowels and Consonants: An Introduction to the Sounds of Language. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
Lefkowitz, N., & Hedgcock, J. S. (2006). Sound Effects: Social Pressure and Identity Negotiation in the Spanish Language Classroom. Applied Language Learning, 16(2), 13-38.
LeVelle, K., & Levis, J. (2014). Understanding the Impact of Social Factors on L2 Pronunciation: Insights from Learners. In Lewis, J. M., & Moyer, A. (Eds.), Social Dynamics in Second Language Accent (pp. 97-118). De Gruyter Mouton. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781614511762.97
Lord, G. (2010). The Combined Effects of Immersion and Instruction on Second Language Pronunciation. Foreign Language Annals, 43(3), 488-503. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1944-9720.2010.01094.x
Moyer, A. (2007). Do Language Attitudes Determine Accent? A Study of Bilinguals in the USA. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 28(6), 502-518. https://doi.org/10.2167/jmmd514.0 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2167/jmmd514.0
Moyer, A. (2013). Foreign Accent: The Phenomenon of Non-native Speech. Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511794407
Munro, M. J. (1998). The Effects of Noise on the Intelligibility of Foreign-accented Speech. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 20(2), 139-154. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263198002022 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263198002022
Munro, M. J., & Derwing, T. M. (1995). Foreign Accent, Comprehensibility, and Intelligibility in the Speech of Second Language Learners. Language Learning, 45(1), 73-97. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-1770.1995.tb00963.x
Norton, B. (1997). Language, Identity, and the Ownership of English. TESOL Quarterly 31(3), 409-429. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/3587831
Potowski, K., & Bolyanatz, M. (2012). Reactions to (In)felicitous Codeswitching: Heritage Speakers vs. L2 Learners. In Geeslin, K., & Díaz-Campos, M. (Eds.), Selected Proceedings of the 14th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (pp. 116-129). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.
Schairer, K. E. (1992). Native Speaker Reaction to Non-native Speech. The Modern Language Journal, 76(3), 309-319. https://doi.org/ 10.2307/330161 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.1992.tb07001.x
Zubrzycki, K. (2019). Am I Perfect Enough to be a True Bilingual? Monolingual Bias in the lay Perception and Self-perception of Bi-and Multilinguals. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 57(4), 447-495. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/iral-2016-0095
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Benjamin J. Souza, Tyler K. Anderson (Autor/a)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish in this journal accept the following conditions:
This work is under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivative 4.0 International License.- The authors can make other independent and additional contractual agreements for the non-exclusive distribution of the article published in this journal (eg, include it in an institutional repository or publish it in a book, personal website, blog or institutional repository), in the understanding that the commercial use of the work and its derivative work is restricted.
- Authors are allowed and encouraged to publish postprint version of the article published in our journal on the Internet, as it can lead to productive exchanges and a greater and faster dissemination of published work (see The Effect of Open Access).
