Learners' views of (non)native speaker status, accent, and identity: an English as an international language perspective

Abstract

The study examines perceptions of nonnative speakers (NNSs) of English toward accented speech and its relation with identity from the perspective of English as an international language (EIL). The data were collected from 51 Iranian EFL learners by means of questionnaires and interviews. The findings revealed the participants' considerable uncertainty concerning the relationship between accent and socioeconomic and educational status as well as their reluctance to display their L1 identity through L1-accented speech. Furthermore, the results indicated that the participants are highly appreciative of NS accent, hold negative stereotypes of NNS accents and judge NNSs unfavorably. They exhibited a marked tendency to sound similar to NSs, regarding them as the best model of English accent to follow. The participants' negative evaluations of NNSs' accents of English are evidence of the dominance of Inner Circle speakers' norms among the Expanding Circle speakers with implications for learning and teaching English as an international language.