Native English: ESL learners’ perceptions of female speakers’ accents

This paper presents some preliminary findings of a study which investigates undergraduate ESL learners’ perceptions of British, American, Australian and New Zealand English accents. The participants were 66 Malaysian undergraduates from a public university in Malaysia. They were presented with sp...

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Main Authors: Pilus, Zahariah, Zakaria, Nur Shahida, Zakaria, Muhamad Khairul
Format: Proceeding Paper
Language:English
English
Published: 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:http://irep.iium.edu.my/52121/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/52121/7/ABRM%20Female%20speakers%27%20accents%20%281%29.pdf
http://irep.iium.edu.my/52121/19/52121_tentative.pdf
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author Pilus, Zahariah
Zakaria, Nur Shahida
Zakaria, Muhamad Khairul
author_facet Pilus, Zahariah
Zakaria, Nur Shahida
Zakaria, Muhamad Khairul
author_sort Pilus, Zahariah
building IIUM Repository
collection Online Access
description This paper presents some preliminary findings of a study which investigates undergraduate ESL learners’ perceptions of British, American, Australian and New Zealand English accents. The participants were 66 Malaysian undergraduates from a public university in Malaysia. They were presented with speech samples of four female native speakers reading a short passage. The students were asked to rate the speakers for a number of items including the ease of understanding, sounding comfortable to the ears, being an ideal English teacher and being a speaker they would want to sound like. The learners were also asked to state the nationalities of the speakers. In general, the study found that the speakers whose accents were familiar to the learners were rated higher in terms of the items examined. The study also found that the speakers whose accents were familiar to the learners were better identified for their nationalities than those whose accents were less familiar to them. Pedagogical implications of these findings on English language teaching and learning in Malaysia are discussed.
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format Proceeding Paper
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institution International Islamic University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
language English
English
last_indexed 2025-11-14T16:30:18Z
publishDate 2016
recordtype eprints
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spelling iium-521212016-11-28T02:13:09Z http://irep.iium.edu.my/52121/ Native English: ESL learners’ perceptions of female speakers’ accents Pilus, Zahariah Zakaria, Nur Shahida Zakaria, Muhamad Khairul PE English This paper presents some preliminary findings of a study which investigates undergraduate ESL learners’ perceptions of British, American, Australian and New Zealand English accents. The participants were 66 Malaysian undergraduates from a public university in Malaysia. They were presented with speech samples of four female native speakers reading a short passage. The students were asked to rate the speakers for a number of items including the ease of understanding, sounding comfortable to the ears, being an ideal English teacher and being a speaker they would want to sound like. The learners were also asked to state the nationalities of the speakers. In general, the study found that the speakers whose accents were familiar to the learners were rated higher in terms of the items examined. The study also found that the speakers whose accents were familiar to the learners were better identified for their nationalities than those whose accents were less familiar to them. Pedagogical implications of these findings on English language teaching and learning in Malaysia are discussed. 2016-09-19 Proceeding Paper NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/52121/7/ABRM%20Female%20speakers%27%20accents%20%281%29.pdf application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/52121/19/52121_tentative.pdf Pilus, Zahariah and Zakaria, Nur Shahida and Zakaria, Muhamad Khairul (2016) Native English: ESL learners’ perceptions of female speakers’ accents. In: 2nd International Conference on the Institutional Leadership, Learning and Teaching (ILLT), 19th-20th Sept. 2016, Cambridge, United Kingdom. (Unpublished)
spellingShingle PE English
Pilus, Zahariah
Zakaria, Nur Shahida
Zakaria, Muhamad Khairul
Native English: ESL learners’ perceptions of female speakers’ accents
title Native English: ESL learners’ perceptions of female speakers’ accents
title_full Native English: ESL learners’ perceptions of female speakers’ accents
title_fullStr Native English: ESL learners’ perceptions of female speakers’ accents
title_full_unstemmed Native English: ESL learners’ perceptions of female speakers’ accents
title_short Native English: ESL learners’ perceptions of female speakers’ accents
title_sort native english: esl learners’ perceptions of female speakers’ accents
topic PE English
url http://irep.iium.edu.my/52121/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/52121/7/ABRM%20Female%20speakers%27%20accents%20%281%29.pdf
http://irep.iium.edu.my/52121/19/52121_tentative.pdf