Unintelligibility : world Englishes shock and repetition shock in an Australian context

This paper is the result of a study into the effects of English as an international language on the sense of security of overseas students in an Australian academic and social context. The 27 volunteer non-native English-speaking background participants were from China, the Czech Republic, Colombia, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Mexico, Peru, Slovakia, Sweden, Thailand and Vietnam. The study involved interviews with the participants about their experiences of unintelligibility when they communicated with people from different cultures, producing World Englishes shock and repetition shock. While some students reported positive attitudes, the most common negative emotion was insecurity, resulting from feelings of frustration.11 page(s