A Study On Chinese University Students' Attitudes Towards Different Accents Of English

In recent years,with the appearance of new English varieties and the development of the theory of World Englishes,the number of the studies on new English varieties and people's language attitudes towards different English varieties increased.Many Chinese researchers conducted studies on English learners' attitudes towards Standard English like British English,American English.English varieties of non-native English speaking countries were rarely involved in previous studies,like Singaporean English,France English.Thus,English varieties of some non-native English speaking countries will be involved in this study.This empirical study sought to investigate the attitudes of 76 Chinese university students who were English major freshmen towards nine different English accents including British English,American English,Australian English,Indian English,Philippine English,Singaporean English,France English,Japan English and South Korea English.Verbal Guise Technique,questionnaire,and interview were employed in the study.The participants were asked to listen to the recordings of two passages read by speakers of nine English accents.And then they tried to recognize the nationalities of the speakers and rated the speakers on 31 traits based on 6-point differential scales.Twelve students were selected for a face to face interview.The quantitative results of the study indicated that British English accent was the best identified followed by South Korea,American and Indian English.It was difficult for the Chinese participants to recognize the other five English accents.British English was evaluated the most positively followed by American English.France English was the least favored.Overall,Chinese participants exhibited more favorable attitudes to the Inner Circle English accents than to the Outer and Expanding Circle English accents.With regard to the attitudes towards the nine English accents on the four dimensions,British English received the most positive ratings on all of the four dimensions(social status,competence,solidarity and personal attractiveness)followed by American English.Singaporean English was the most downgraded on the dimension of solidarity.France English was evaluated highly on the dimension of personal attractiveness.Japan English was tied for the last place on social status,competence and personal attractiveness.The qualitative results demonstrated that five factors,namely intelligibility,origins of English,familiarity,international status of the nations and language vitality and quality had great impact on Chinese participants' acceptance of the nine different English accents.This study enriched and developed the theories of language attitude in the field of sociolinguistics and provided theoretical basis for future studies on English accents in China.It was significant for college English teaching practice in China.It contributed to the establishment of more suitable policy of foreign language education and pedagogical model and the choice of better teaching materials and methods by knowing about Chinese university students' attitudes towards different English accents.It is necessary to cultivate students' multicultural awareness and provide more knowledge about various English accents in English teaching in China.