Attitudes, Awareness, and Comprehensibility of ASEAN English Accents A Qualitative Study of University Students in Thailand
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Abstract
Though several studies examined the linguistic features of ASEAN’s diversity of English, not many have looked at how and to what extent ASEAN speakers perceive and comprehend the English variety spoken in their own and/or outside their countries within the same region. This qualitative study aims to explore awareness, attitudes, and the level of comprehensibility of a small group of ASEAN speakers towards ASEAN English accents. Twenty students enrolled in a Thai international university participated in this study. They were asked, in a questionnaire and interviews, how they perceived each variety of ASEAN English and if they had difficulty in comprehending it. To examine the participants’ ability to identify ASEAN English accents and their levels of comprehensibility, each participant was asked to listen to ten different short articles, which were read and audiotape-recorded earlier by a university student from each of the ten ASEAN countries. The results indicated that the participants’ previous experience of being exposed to a certain English variety was a significant factor in determining levels of intelligibility and comprehensibility of a variety. Finally, this study proposes a pedagogical implication for the teaching of English to promote an awareness of and familiarity with ASEAN Englishes.
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References
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Win, T. T. (2003). Burmese English accent. In K. L. Adams, T. J. Hudak, & F. K. Lehman (Eds.), Papers from the Seventh Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society, Tempe, Arizona, (pp.225-241). Arizona State University, Program for Southeast Asian Studies.
Yano, Y. (2009). The future of English: Beyond the Kachruvian Three Circle Model? In K. Murata and J. Jenkins (Eds.), Global Englishes in Asian contexts: Current and future debates (pp. 208-225). New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
Canagarajah, S. (2006). Changing communicative needs, revised assessment objectives: Testing English as an International Language. Language Assessment Quarterly, 3(3), 229-242.
Crystal, D. (1997). English as a Global Language. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
Dayag, D. T. (2012). Philippine English. In E. Low & A. Hashim (eds.), English in Southeast Asia: Features, policy and language in use (pp. 91-100). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Deterding, D. (2007). Singapore English. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Deterding, D., & Kerkpatrick, A. (2006). Emerging South-East Asia Englishes and ingelligibility. World Englishes, 25, 391-409.
Deterding, D., & Sharbawi, S. (2013). Brunei English: A new variety in a multilingual society. Berlin: Springer.
Guion, L. A., Diehl, D. C., & McDonald, C. (2011). Triangulation: Establishing the validity of qualitative studies. Retrieved from http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/FY/FY39400.pdf
Hashim, A., & Tan, R. (2012). Malaysia English. In E. Low & A. Hashim (Eds.), English in Southeast Asia: Features, policy and language in use (pp.55-74). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins.
Jenkins, J. (2000). The phonology of English as an international language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Jenkins, J. (2003).World Englishes. New York, NY: Routledge.
Jenkins, J. (2007). English as a lingua franca: Attitude and identity. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Jenkins, J. (2009). Exploring attitudes towards English as Lingua Franca in the East Asian. context. In K. Murata & J. Jenkins (Eds.), Global Englishes in Asian contexts: Current and future debates (pp. 40-56). New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
Krachru, B. B. (1985). Standard, codification and sociolinguistic realism: the English language in the outer circle. In R. Quirk & H.G. Widdowson (Eds.), English in the World: Teaching and learning the language and literatures. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kachru, B. B. (1992).Teaching World Englishes. In B. B. Kachru (Ed.), The other tongue: English across cultures (pp. 355- 366). Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.
Kachru, Y., & Nelson, C. L. (2006). Asian English today: World Englishes in Asian contexts. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
Kirkpatrick, A. (2003). English as an ASEAN Lingua Franca: Implications for research and language teaching. Asian Englishes, 6(2), 82-91.
Kirkpatrick, A. (2007). World Englishes: Implications for international communication and English language teaching. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Kirkpatrick, A. (2008). English as an official working language of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN): Features and strategies. English Today,24(2), 27-34.
Kirkpatrick, A. (2012). Theoretical issues. In E. Low & A. Hashim (Eds.), English in Southeast Asia: Features, policy and language in use (pp.13-30). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins.
Levis, J. (2005). Changing contexts and shifting paradigms in pronunciation teaching. TESOL Quarterly, 39, 369-377. Low, E. L. (2012). Singapore English. In E.
Low & A. Hashim (Eds.), English in Southeast Asia: Features, policy and language in use (pp.35-54). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Mclellan J., & Haji-Othman, N.A. (2012). Brunei English. In E. Low & A. Hashim (Eds.), English in Southeast Asia: Features, policy and language in use (pp.75-90). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins.
Moore, S.H., & Bounchan, S. (2010). English in Cambodia: changes and challenges. World Englishes, 29(10), 14-26.
Sharifian, F. (2009).English as an International Language: An overview. In S. Farzad (Ed.), English as an International Language: Perspective and pedagogical issues (pp.1-20). Buffalo, NY: Multilingual Matters.
Sharifian, F. (2013). Globalization and developing metacultural competence in learning English as International Language. Proceedings of the 2013 International Conference of Innovation in Teaching Languages and Culture, Bangkok, Thailand.
Smith, B. D. (1991). English in Indonesia. English Today, 7(2), 39-43.
Smith, H. (1996). English language acquisition in the Lao community of Wellington: Recommendations for refugee groups. Social Policy Journal of New Zealand, 6, 1-15. Retrieved from http//:www.msd.govt. nz/documents/about/spj6-english-language.doc.
Smith, L. E. (1992). Spread of English and issues of intelligibility. In B. Kachru (Ed.), The Other Tongue: English across cultures (pp. 75-90). Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.
Smith, L. E. (2009). Dimensions of understanding in cross-cultural communication. In K. Murata and J. Jenkins (Eds.), Global Englishes in Asian contexts: Current and future debates (pp. 17-25). New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
Tam, H. C. (2005). Common pronunciation problems of Vietnamese learners of English. Journal of Science-Foreign Languages, 21(1), 35-46.
Thep-Ackrapong, T. (2005). Teaching English in Thailand: An uphill battle. Journal of Humanities, 27(1), 51-62. Retrieved from http://hu.swu.ac.th/hu/journal/JournalVol27_1.pdf
Tiono, N.I. & Yostanto, A.M. (2008). A study of English phonological errors produced by English department students. Retrieved from http://puslit.petra.ac.id/filespublished/journals/ING/ING081001/ING08100 106.pdf
Retrieved from Trakulkasemsuk, W. (2012) Thai English. In E. Low & A. Hashim (Eds.), English in Southeast Asia: Features, policy and language in use (pp. 101-112). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins.
Wilang J. D., & Teo, A. (2012a). 2015 Timeline: Birth of Englishes and Varieties within ASEAN. Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Humanities and Social Sciences, Thailand. Retrieved from http:// sv.libarts.psu.ac.th/conference5/proceedings/Proceedings4/article/2pdf/005.pdf
Wilang, J. D., & Teo, A. (2012b). Enhancing comprehensibility among ELF users. International Journal of English and Literature, 2(2), 43-58.
Wilang, J., & Teo, A. (2012c). Measuring the comprehensibility of Englishes within ASEAN among ASEAN. International Journal of English and Literature, 2(3), 22-42.
Win, T. T. (2003). Burmese English accent. In K. L. Adams, T. J. Hudak, & F. K. Lehman (Eds.), Papers from the Seventh Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society, Tempe, Arizona, (pp.225-241). Arizona State University, Program for Southeast Asian Studies.
Yano, Y. (2009). The future of English: Beyond the Kachruvian Three Circle Model? In K. Murata and J. Jenkins (Eds.), Global Englishes in Asian contexts: Current and future debates (pp. 208-225). New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.