Running head: Non-Native Speakers of English and Foreign Accents in Business 1 Non-Native Speakers of English and Foreign Accents in Business Yu Tamura GLS-470-G1128 Writing the Research Paper 11TW1 Dr. Mary Comeau-Kronenwetter December 7, 2011
Non-Native Speakers of English and Foreign Accents in Business 2 Non-Native Speakers of English and Foreign Accents in Business Now nearly 800 million people all over the world speak English as their mother tongue or second language (Dictionary of Languages, 2004). Adding the people who speak English as their foreign languages, the number is estimated 1.8 billion (Schlitz, 2004, 1.1 Facts, para. 2) and increasing even now. Center for Advanced Study professor emeritus of linguistics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Kachru (1985) introduced three circles that indicate groups of English speakers; native speakers of English as the Inner Circle, English speakers as their second language for the Outer Circle, English learners or speakers as their foreign languages for the Expanding Circle (as cited in Kachru, 1991, p179-180). Table.1 Three circles (Kachru, 1991) This concept suggests communication in English is not only between native speakers (NSs)
Non-Native Speakers of English and Foreign Accents in Business 3 of English or second language English speakers but now also spread between Non-native Speakers (NNSs) of English. Therefore, it is sometimes possible to fail in communication in English between people in Expanding Circle as well as between people in Inner Circle or Outer Circle and Expanding Circle. A lot of factors can result in the miscommunication. This paper focuses on foreign accents and the influence in communication and insists that NNSs of English should pay great attention to foreign accents in business. That is, the target group is non-native English speakers. Accent is defined as The cumulative auditory effect of those features of pronunciation which identify where a person is from, regionally or socially (Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics, 2003). Foreign accent is here used as the word which express accent spoken by people living in countries where English is not the primary language of communication. English as a Lingua Franca English is spoken all over the world, many of that communication is between NNSs of English. Taking account of this situation, Jenkins (2000), who takes the lead in the study of correlation between phonology and English spoken by non-native speakers of English, suggests the idea English as a lingua Franca (ELF) instead of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) because English is no longer the language only for NSs of English; that is, English is no more foreign language. She also recommends that the terms foreigner or non-native be not used to imply someone and she argues all people are equal to access the
Non-Native Speakers of English and Foreign Accents in Business 4 language. Therefore, she uses the term non-bilingual English speakers (NBES) instead of non-native English speaker, Bilingual English speaker (BES) for English speakers as their second language and Monolingual English speakers (MES) on behalf of Native English speakers. Following her idea, these terms are being used from now on. However, the opportunities to speak MESs or BES are still frequent even though more and more people have come to speak English. Intelligibility and Foreign Accents Foreign accents will affect listeners comprehension. On the other hand, some researchers doubt whether accented speech causes decisive miscommunication. Some of them insist that speaking as fluently as MES is not necessary and the more important thing is communication skills; for instance, speakers should adapt or adjust their speech in order to be comprehensible to specific listeners in specific contexts (Rogerson-Revell, 2010, p.434). She suggests that listeners meanwhile develop tolerance of linguistic variations between speakers and be able to adjust their expectations accordingly (p.434). She assumes that these accommodation strategies are important in business communication consisted of people from different cultural backgrounds (it is included language diversities). Matsumoto (2011) suggests English learners should be familiar with various Englishes which NBESs speak although she admits unknown or unclear pronunciation may cause miscommunication. She researched six English learners in her university s dormitory and she observed miscommunication derived from foreign accents; however, they could compensate the
Non-Native Speakers of English and Foreign Accents in Business 5 problem with communication strategy such as repeating and paraphrasing. She concludes native-like pronunciation is not necessary, giving authority from Lingua Franca Core which is a pedagogical core of phonological intelligibility for speakers of EIL[English as an International Language] introduced by Jenkins (2000, 2002). Additionally, according to Derwing and Munro (2009), intelligibility and accented speech are independent. They say it is possible to be considered as having a heavy accent but to be understandable. That is, Having an accent doesn t NECESSARILY impinge on communication but sometimes it does (p. 478). Negative Effects of Foreign Accents However, Jenkins (2000) admits NBESs tend to transfer their first languages (L1) features of pronunciation to second languages (L2) and this may result in crucial intelligibility problems for not only MESs but also NBESs and BESs. Nevertheless, she claims that native-like accents are not required for NBESs because the numbers of the NBESs are numerous and to acquire native-like accent such as Received Pronunciation (RP) or General American English (GAE) is not efficient. Some says to be able to speak English with a native-like accent would threaten English-learners identity; however, Derwing and Munro (2009) say those who want to learn native-like accent should not be ignored and they tend to prefer to be fully competent speakers of both their own language and English (p.485). Other research reveals two factors that influence listeners perception of foreign
Non-Native Speakers of English and Foreign Accents in Business 6 accented speech. According to the research by Levi et al (2007), foreign accents are more likely to be perceived at low frequency word than high frequency word by MES. The other thing that reduces listeners perception of foreign accents is orthographical assistance. These facts also show that listeners perception is related to their memories. If they have not accommodated a word or its sound, they will not easily be able to understand that; thus, it might be possible that people who are not frequently exposed foreign accents cannot understand a foreign accented speech. Foreign Accents and Discrimination Furthermore, to succeed in communicating with MES; mainly British and American, it is necessary to know there is discrimination caused by pronunciation problems. A lot of research reveals that especially in the U.S or Canada. According to Kayce (2006), a marketing professor at California State University, Northridge, Oscar DeShields, has examined how accents influence sales performance and found they can have handicap to communicate with customers. In most cases, people who have American accents were more successful. Deshields says People with accents aren't perceived as capable and as intelligent as people without an accent and If you are talking about the average salesperson or clerk, if you have an accent you tend to be looked down on. (para. 6-7). Derwing and Munro(2009) state that even if the speakers do not have foreign accent, which means he or she is completely understandable, and language skills are not necessary to do that job, it is possible the foreign accented speakers to be the target of discrimination.
Non-Native Speakers of English and Foreign Accents in Business 7 Truly, listeners should be tolerant of foreign accents, but we should face this reality. Lev-Ari and Boaz keysar (2010) argues that MBESs are likely to feel non-native speakers having an accent as not reliable, even when they do not hold the speakers in contempt for the reasons of their to be foreigner (p.3) Preference of English-Language Accents Moreover, James C. Scott, professor emeritus at Utah State University, and his colleagues reveal what kind of English-language accents are more preferable among businesspersons. They analyze prior research and select four reliable studies among them. (Scott et al., 2007) Table.2 (Scott, J. C., Green, D. J., Blaszczynski, C., & Rosewarne, D. D. 2007. p.13)
Non-Native Speakers of English and Foreign Accents in Business 8 Table.3 (Scott, J. C., Green, D. J., Blaszczynski, C., & Rosewarne, D. D. 2007. p.14) They conclude acceptability of English-language accents relies on what national or regional dominant cultures are there; however, general American English, which is mainly spoken in the U.S and Received Pronunciation (British English) are more preferable even though the countries are where people speak English as second or foreign language. Therefore, they emphasizes that prospective and practicing businesspersons who desire high levels of English-language accent acceptability around the world should develop either a General American English or Received Pronunciation (British) English accent for business purposes (Scott, J. C., Green, D. J., Blaszczynski, C., & Rosewarne, D. D. 2007. p.15). Conclusion and Future Direction In conclusion, foreign accents may not always obstruct communication but it is true that the speech that is considered as unintelligible have foreign accents. Besides,
Non-Native Speakers of English and Foreign Accents in Business 9 discrimination due to foreign accent still exists particularly in the U.S. Foreign accents are one of the factors that affect your credibility (Scott et al, 2007). Therefore, NBESs or English learners should focus on learning Received Pronunciation or General American English; however, it is not preferable that discrimination still remain acceptable. Further research for overcoming the problem should be proposed. Additionally, it should be necessary to reconsider how to teach pronunciation to NBESs; meanwhile, it is suggested that how or to what extent syntactical or lexical constituents affect intelligibilities.
Non-Native Speakers of English and Foreign Accents in Business 10 References Derwing, T. M., & Munro, M. J. (2009). Putting accent in its place: Rethinking obstacles to communication. Language Teaching, 42(4), 476-490. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/217744813?accountid=3783 ENGLISH. (2004). Dictionary of Languages. Retrieved from http://www.credoreference.com/entry/dictlang/english Jenkins, J. (2000). The phonology of English as an International Language. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Kayce, T. (2006, September 28). Foreign-born professionals drop the accents; Learn American intonations to be better understood. The Record, p.a20. Kachru, B. B. (1991). World englishes and applied linguistics. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&authtype=cookie,ip,url,cpid &custid=shapiro&db=eric&an=ed347805&site=ehost-live Levi, S. V., Winters, S. J., & Pisoni, D. B. (2007). Speaker-independent factors affecting the perception of foreign accent in a second language. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 121(4), 2327-2338. doi:10.1121/1.2537345
Non-Native Speakers of English and Foreign Accents in Business 11 Matsumoto, Y. (2011). Successful ELF communications and implications for ELT: Sequential analysis of ELF pronunciation negotiation strategies. Modern Language Journal, 95(1), 97-114. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4781.2011.01172.x Rogerson-Revell, P. (2010). "Can you spell that for us nonnative speakers?". Journal of Business Communication, 47(4), 431-454. doi:doi: 10.1177/0021943610377304 Schlitz, G. (2004). Lecture 7: World-wide English. Retrieved from http://web.archive.org/web/20070401233529/http://www.ehistling-pub.meotod.de/01_l ec06.php Scott, J. C., Green, D. J., Blaszczynski, C., & Rosewarne, D. D. (2007). A comparative analysis of the english-language accent preferences of prospective and practicing businesspersons from around the world. Delta Pi Epsilon Journal, 49(3), 6-18. Retrieved fromhttp://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&authtype=cookie,ip,url,cpid &custid=shapiro&db=eric&an=ej795653&site=ehost-live;http://www.dpe.org/core/d PEJournals.htm