Stretching the boundaries: Malaysian ESL learners’ evaluative reactions to inner circle English accents

Nowadays, international communication using English as the medium is a common occurrence. To communicate effectively, English as a second language (ESL) speakers need to possess relevant communicative skills including understanding and being familiar with inner circle accents. This paper seeks to fi...

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Main Authors:	Pilus, Zahariah, Zakaria, Nur Shahida, Zakaria, Muhamad Khairul, Wahid, Ridwan
Format:	Article
Language:	English English English
Published:	John Benjamins Publishing Company 2019
Subjects:	PE English
Online Access:	http://irep.iium.edu.my/78860/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/78860/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/78860/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/78860/1/78860_Stretching%20the%20boundaries.pdf http://irep.iium.edu.my/78860/2/78860_Stretching%20the%20boundaries_SCOPUS.pdf http://irep.iium.edu.my/78860/3/78860_Stretching%20the%20boundaries_WOS.pdf

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recordtype	eprints
spelling	iium-788602020-02-28T02:57:24Z http://irep.iium.edu.my/78860/ Stretching the boundaries: Malaysian ESL learners’ evaluative reactions to inner circle English accents Pilus, Zahariah Zakaria, Nur Shahida Zakaria, Muhamad Khairul Wahid, Ridwan PE English Nowadays, international communication using English as the medium is a common occurrence. To communicate effectively, English as a second language (ESL) speakers need to possess relevant communicative skills including understanding and being familiar with inner circle accents. This paper seeks to find out ESL learners’ evaluative reactions to four inner circle accents, representing British, American, Australian and New Zealand English varieties, through an accent perception and a survey task conducted on Malaysian undergraduates at a public university in Malaysia. The participants responded to descriptors on speaker attributes categorized into three dimensions: competence, social appeal and accent preference while or after listening to a recorded passage read in one of the four accents by male and female speakers. The learners showed a tendency to prefer certain accents more than others. In general, the best rated accent was the British accent for the male speakers and the American accent for the female speakers. The New Zealand accent was rated the lowest among the male speakers and one of the lowest among the female speakers. The study also found that speaker’s competence, speaker’s social appeal and accent preference were positively correlated. These findings highlight the importance of listening practices and exposure to various English accents in ESL classrooms to prepare students for international and intercultural communication. John Benjamins Publishing Company 2019-08-06 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/78860/1/78860_Stretching%20the%20boundaries.pdf application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/78860/2/78860_Stretching%20the%20boundaries_SCOPUS.pdf application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/78860/3/78860_Stretching%20the%20boundaries_WOS.pdf Pilus, Zahariah and Zakaria, Nur Shahida and Zakaria, Muhamad Khairul and Wahid, Ridwan (2019) Stretching the boundaries: Malaysian ESL learners’ evaluative reactions to inner circle English accents. Journal of Asian Pacific Communication, 29 (2). pp. 300-321. ISSN 0957-6851 E-ISSN 1569-9838 https://www.jbe-platform.com/content/journals/10.1075/japc.00035.pil 10.1075/japc.00035.pil
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Local University
institution	International Islamic University Malaysia
building	IIUM Repository
collection	Online Access
language	English English English
topic	PE English
spellingShingle	PE English Pilus, Zahariah Zakaria, Nur Shahida Zakaria, Muhamad Khairul Wahid, Ridwan Stretching the boundaries: Malaysian ESL learners’ evaluative reactions to inner circle English accents
description	Nowadays, international communication using English as the medium is a common occurrence. To communicate effectively, English as a second language (ESL) speakers need to possess relevant communicative skills including understanding and being familiar with inner circle accents. This paper seeks to find out ESL learners’ evaluative reactions to four inner circle accents, representing British, American, Australian and New Zealand English varieties, through an accent perception and a survey task conducted on Malaysian undergraduates at a public university in Malaysia. The participants responded to descriptors on speaker attributes categorized into three dimensions: competence, social appeal and accent preference while or after listening to a recorded passage read in one of the four accents by male and female speakers. The learners showed a tendency to prefer certain accents more than others. In general, the best rated accent was the British accent for the male speakers and the American accent for the female speakers. The New Zealand accent was rated the lowest among the male speakers and one of the lowest among the female speakers. The study also found that speaker’s competence, speaker’s social appeal and accent preference were positively correlated. These findings highlight the importance of listening practices and exposure to various English accents in ESL classrooms to prepare students for international and intercultural communication.
format	Article
author	Pilus, Zahariah Zakaria, Nur Shahida Zakaria, Muhamad Khairul Wahid, Ridwan
author_facet	Pilus, Zahariah Zakaria, Nur Shahida Zakaria, Muhamad Khairul Wahid, Ridwan
author_sort	Pilus, Zahariah
title	Stretching the boundaries: Malaysian ESL learners’ evaluative reactions to inner circle English accents
title_short	Stretching the boundaries: Malaysian ESL learners’ evaluative reactions to inner circle English accents
title_full	Stretching the boundaries: Malaysian ESL learners’ evaluative reactions to inner circle English accents
title_fullStr	Stretching the boundaries: Malaysian ESL learners’ evaluative reactions to inner circle English accents
title_full_unstemmed	Stretching the boundaries: Malaysian ESL learners’ evaluative reactions to inner circle English accents
title_sort	stretching the boundaries: malaysian esl learners’ evaluative reactions to inner circle english accents
publisher	John Benjamins Publishing Company
publishDate	2019
url	http://irep.iium.edu.my/78860/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/78860/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/78860/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/78860/1/78860_Stretching%20the%20boundaries.pdf http://irep.iium.edu.my/78860/2/78860_Stretching%20the%20boundaries_SCOPUS.pdf http://irep.iium.edu.my/78860/3/78860_Stretching%20the%20boundaries_WOS.pdf
first_indexed	2023-09-18T21:51:01Z
last_indexed	2023-09-18T21:51:01Z
_version_	1777413768963162112

Stretching the boundaries: Malaysian ESL learners’ evaluative reactions to inner circle English accents

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