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Navigating the Many Englishes of the World in the Classroom

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Navigating the Many Englishes of the World in the Classroom Navigating the Many Englishes of the World in the Classroom Teachers’ Attitudes Towards English Accents and How They Work with Accents in the Classroom Att navigera bland världens många varianter av engelska i klassrummet Lärares attityder kring engelska accenter och hur de arbetar med accenter i klassrummet Lovisa Olausson Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Department of Language, Literature and Intercultural Studies English English III, Degree project 15 credits Marie Tåqvist Marika Kjellén Spring 2021 Title: Navigating the Many Englishes of the World in the Classroom: Teachers’ Attitudes Towards English Accents and how they Work with Accents in the Classroom Titel på svenska: Att navigera bland världens många varianter av engelska i klassrummet: Lärares attityder kring engelska accenter och hur de arbetar med accenter i klassrummet Author: Lovisa Olausson Pages: 51 Abstract According to the curriculum for upper secondary school, various English accents should be introduced. However, it does not state what accents and how these should be introduced. Both American and British English have had a historical stronghold in Sweden, with both having been preferred in previous curriculums. This study shows that both continue to have a stronghold in Swedish schools, but in a different way. Through a questionnaire, teachers in Sweden were asked to answer how they introduce and work with accents in their own teaching.The teachers that responded to the questionnaire introduce and work with accents to a high degree. It becomes evident that while American and British English are still very much prevalent, other accents are prevalent as well. While the majority of the respondents believed that all accents are equally important to teach, some still upheld the notion that English accents from countries where English is the native language are more important to incorporate in their teaching as these are more commonly heard. Additionally, a majority of the respondents also believed that a student’s grade should not be affected by the accent they use. However, this was dependent on whether or not the accent sounded too Swedish or not and not what English accent the students choose to use or approximate. Thus, the overall results show that the teachers who responded to the questionnaire believe in the importance of introducing accents and teaching accents as well as introducing a wide variety of accents. Keywords: English accents, American English, British English, Quantitative, Qualitative, Teaching practices, Attitudes Sammanfattning på svenska Enligt läroplanen för gymnasieskolan bör olika engelska accent introduceras. Den anger dock inte vilka accenter och hur dessa bör införas. Både amerikansk och brittisk engelska har haft ett historiskt fäste i Sverige, och denna studie visar att dessa fortsätter att ha det. Dessutom introducerar och arbetar lärarna accenter i hög grad och det framgår att även om amerikanska och brittiska engelska fortfarande är mycket utbredda, är andra accenter också det. Medan majoriteten av de tillfrågade trodde att alla accenter är lika viktiga att undervisa ansåg vissa fortfarande uppfattningen att engelska accenter från länder där engelska är modersmålet är viktigare att integrera i sin undervisning eftersom dessa oftare hörs. Dessutom trodde en majoritet av de tillfrågade att studentens betyg inte borde påverkas av den accent de använder. Detta var emellertid beroende av om accenten lät för svensk eller inte och inte vilken engelsk accent eleverna väljer att använda. Således visar de övergripande resultaten att lärarna som svarade på frågeformuläret anser att det är viktigt att introducera accenter och undervisa accenter samt att introducera flera olika accenter. Nyckelord: Engelska accenter, Amerikansk engelska, Brittisk engelska, kvantitativ, kvalitativ, undervisningspraxis, attityder Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Aims .................................................................................................................................. 2 2. Background ............................................................................................................................ 4 2.1 English becoming a world language ................................................................................ 4 2.1.1 Kachru’s Circles of English .......................................................................................... 5 2.2 English accents ................................................................................................................. 6 2.2.1 English in England, Scotland and Ireland ................................................................. 6 2.2.2 English in the USA and Canada ................................................................................ 9 2.2.4 English in Australia and New Zealand .................................................................... 10 2.2.7 English in India ....................................................................................................... 11 2.2.3 English in South Africa ........................................................................................... 12 2.2.6 English in Nigeria .................................................................................................... 12 2.2.5 English in Jamaica ................................................................................................... 13 2.2.8 Mid-Atlantic English ............................................................................................... 14 2.3 English in Swedish schools ............................................................................................ 14 2.4 Teaching English as an international language .............................................................. 17 3. Method and material ............................................................................................................. 21 3.1. Questionnaire ................................................................................................................ 21 3.1.1 Creation and distribution of the questionnaire ........................................................ 21 3.1.2 Respondents and selection criteria .......................................................................... 23 3.1.3 Selecting varieties of English accents ..................................................................... 24 3.2 Limitations of the study .................................................................................................. 26 4. Analysis ................................................................................................................................ 28 4.1 Accents in the classroom ................................................................................................ 28 4.1.1 The students’ accents .............................................................................................. 28 4.1.2 Introducing accents in the classroom ...................................................................... 29 4.1.3 Working with accents in the classroom ................................................................... 33 4.2 Teachers’ attitudes towards what accents should be included in the classroom ........ 35 4.3 Teachers’ opinions on accents as a factor in grading ................................................. 37 5. Discussion ............................................................................................................................ 39 6. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 42 6.1 Suggestions for further research ..................................................................................... 43 Reference list ............................................................................................................................ 44 Appendix 1: Questionnaire ....................................................................................................... 47 Appendix 2: Questionnaire information ................................................................................... 51 Introduction Today, English holds a position as the international language in the world (Matsuda, 2012, p. 1). English is recognised as a global language, which indicates that the language is used in countries where it is not the native language or an official language (Crystal, 2012, p. 4). English acts as an official or a semi-official language in more than 70 countries globally (Rönnerdal & Johansson, 2005, p 11-12). Since English is not centered around a specific region or country, the English language is both culturally and linguistically diverse (Matsuda, 2012, p. 3). Around 400 million people speak a variety of English as their native language. The main areas where English is spoken as the native language are “the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa” (Rönnerdal & Johansson, 2005, p. 12). However, native speakers of English only make up roughly a quarter of the total number of people who speak the language (Algeo, 2006, p. 1). It is estimated that more than a billion people speak English as either a native language or a foreign or second language (McArthur, 2002, p. 2). Therefore, in a global context, English often acts as an international language for communication (Matsuda, 2012, p. 2). In today’s world,
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