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UK university students’ folk perceptions of spoken variation in English: the role of explicit and implicit attitudes

  • Robert M. McKenzie EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: October 10, 2015
International Journal of the Sociology of Language
From the journal International Journal of the Sociology of Language Volume 2015 Issue 236

Abstract

Non-linguists’ attitudes towards language diversity are important since they reflect preferences and levels of prestige associated with particular speech communities. However, few studies measuring native-speaker attitudes towards both L1 and L2 English have been conducted, including amongst UK-born students. This is surprising in light of recent internationalisation policies adopted by many UK universities and the resultant increase in overseas students. The present study utilises implicit and explicit attitude measures to investigate 194 students’ perceptions of six English speech varieties. The results demonstrated that whilst explicit attitudes towards linguistic variation were generally favourable, when presented with speech samples, listeners’ implicit evaluations of UK English varieties were significantly more positive, on both status and solidarity dimensions, when compared to forms of Asian English. The findings are discussed in relation to the internationalisation agenda within UK universities and the methodological investigation into the relationship between explicit and implicit attitudes towards language variation.

Keywords: language attitudes; folklinguistics; explicit vs. implicit attitudes; internationalisation; native vs. non-native speakers

Appendix A: Specifically constructed semantic-differential scale

pleasant……….……….……….……….……….……….……….………not pleasant
not clear……….……….……….……….……….……….……….………clear
confident……….……….……….……….……….……….……….………not confident
sincere……….……….……….……….……….……….……….………insincere
unfriendly……….……….……….……….……….……….……….………friendly
educated……….……….……….……….……….……….……….………not educated
not gentle……….……….……….……….……….……….……….………gentle
not fluent……….……….……….……….……….……….……….………fluent

Appendix B: Mean evaluations (and standard deviations) for speaker status and speaker social attractiveness according to correct and incorrect identifications (N = 194)

SpeakerRecognition
StatusSocial attractiveness
CorrectIncorrectTotalCorrectIncorrectTotal
ScotStE63.9 (11.4)65.2 (5.6)64.0 (11.2)60.1 (10.9)63.9 (7.6)60.2 (10.8)
TyneE67.1 (67.1)61.3 (11.7)66.8 (10.6)55.4 (13.2)50.6 (14.5)55.2 (13.3)
IndE32.3 (12.7)33.8 (13.6)32.4 (12.4)53.0 (12.5)57.1 (11.3)53.3 (11.5)
JapanE24.3 (12.4)26.2 (11.5)25.7 (11.8)52.0 (12.5)53.4 (12.3)53.0 (12.4)
ChinE43.1 (15.7)39.5 (14.0)39.9 (14.2)51.5 (10.2)46.1 (11.8)46.7 (11.8)
ThaiE31.1 (15.8)36.2 (15.1)35.9 (15.1)38.9 (13.1)44.2 (13.7)43.9 (13.7)
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Published Online: 2015-10-10
Published in Print: 2015-11-1

©2015 by De Gruyter Mouton

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  3. Language research and language community change: Italian Sign Language 1981–2013
  4. UK university students’ folk perceptions of spoken variation in English: the role of explicit and implicit attitudes
  5. Speaking or being Chinese: the case of South African-born Chinese
  6. Predictors of immigrants’ second-language proficiency: a Dutch study of immigrants with a low level of societal participation and second-language proficiency
  7. Second language development in a migrant context: Turkish community in the Netherlands
  8. The linguistic and political orientation of young Belarusian adults between East and West or Russian and Belarusian
  9. Studying sustainable bilingualism: comparing the choices of languages in Hungary’s six bilingual national minorities
  10. The language of power: a content analysis of presidential addresses in North America and the Former Soviet Union, 1993–2012
  11. Variation in Macau Cantonese: the case of initial and final segments
  12. Perceptions about being Japanese and Christian in Canada
  13. Language attrition, language contact and the concept of relic variety: the case of Barossa German
  14. Language competition: an economic theory of language learning and production
  15. Book Review
  16. Nancy C. Dorian: Small-language fates and prospects. Lessons of persistence and change from endangered languages
https://doi.org/10.1515/ijsl-2015-0020
Keywords for this article
language attitudes; folklinguistics; explicit vs. implicit attitudes; internationalisation; native vs. non-native speakers

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  3. Language research and language community change: Italian Sign Language 1981–2013
  4. UK university students’ folk perceptions of spoken variation in English: the role of explicit and implicit attitudes
  5. Speaking or being Chinese: the case of South African-born Chinese
  6. Predictors of immigrants’ second-language proficiency: a Dutch study of immigrants with a low level of societal participation and second-language proficiency
  7. Second language development in a migrant context: Turkish community in the Netherlands
  8. The linguistic and political orientation of young Belarusian adults between East and West or Russian and Belarusian
  9. Studying sustainable bilingualism: comparing the choices of languages in Hungary’s six bilingual national minorities
  10. The language of power: a content analysis of presidential addresses in North America and the Former Soviet Union, 1993–2012
  11. Variation in Macau Cantonese: the case of initial and final segments
  12. Perceptions about being Japanese and Christian in Canada
  13. Language attrition, language contact and the concept of relic variety: the case of Barossa German
  14. Language competition: an economic theory of language learning and production
  15. Book Review
  16. Nancy C. Dorian: Small-language fates and prospects. Lessons of persistence and change from endangered languages
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