The Effect of EFL learners' attitudes towards native English accents on listening comprehension and comprehensibility

Treball de fi de màster en Lingüística Teòrica i Aplicada. Tutors: Dra. Carmen Peresz Vidal, Dr. Joan Carles Mora.This study sought to contribute to all of the research done on the crossroads of language attitudes and second language acquisition, by examining attitudes towards the two most well-known accents of English: Standard British English (RP) and Standard American English, and the effects of those attitudes, as well as exposure on the constructs Listening Comprehension, Comprehensibility and perceived Teach Ability. This was done in a two part mixed test design. Forty-one EFL learners from the Netherlands were asked to rate two male native speakers, on their native British and American accents, using 11 attitude dimension Likert-scales. Part two consisted of a standard listening test in the two accents, which was used to objectively rate performance in those accents, followed by the subjective comprehensibility and perceived teach ability measures. 41 Dutch EFL participants showed an overall higher attitude score for the General American accent, in spite of a higher status attitude score for Received pronunciation. The effects of the attitudes on Listening Comprehension and Comprehensibility are as diverse and inconsistent as previous studies have been. An effect of attitude towards an accent on perceived Teach Ability is one of the most conclusive results