Attitudes of native and nonnative speakers toward varieties of American English

Abstract

Research into attitudes about American English (AE) held by a native and nonnative English (EFL) speakers depends on a number of related disciplines: dialectology, sociolinguistics, and EFL pedagogy (TEFL). Because linguists know that no speech variety is inherently superior or inferior, AE regional dialect research has not concerned itself with attitudinal data. This in no way implies that dialectal research has been unproductive; the contrary is emphatically the case. Sociolinguistics, one of the prime interests of which is language attitudes, has turned its attention to the EFL speaker but not to AE regional speech varieties, preferring to concentrate on social and ethnic varieties. TEFL research has produced a number of valuable attitudinal studies; however, none has considered the role of regional variation. This study combines dialect research, attitude study, and TEFL. The EFL student faces the dilemma of trying to develop a near-native speaking ability, while being sure to acquire only those native forms which will work to his advantage. The research indicates that the EFL speaker who uses low-prestige forms is judged much more severely than his native-speaking counterpart with the same forms..