Attitudes towards language varieties and their communities often impact non-native speech development. Their influence is especially striking when it comes to the English language, whose global spread and teaching practices have been decisively shaped by native model prescriptions. Considering this scenario, previous studies have investigated learners’ attitudes towards the two most traditional English pronunciation models, General American (GenAm) and Received Pronunciation (RP), revealing meaningful attitudinal tendencies towards these native varieties. To extend this body of work, we asked 37 advanced Brazilian learners of English to complete a language attitude questionnaire and, using a Verbal Guise Technique, we measured their cognitive, affective, and conative evaluations of two North American English and two British English speakers. Scores from 6-point Likert scales for 11 attitudinal traits revealed a tendency for learners to emulate, and greater identify with, GenAm, while ascribing qualities such as intelligence and responsibility to RP. These results offer insights into how learners infer social meaning from linguistic forms and negotiate their identities through L2 speech. They also add to the debate on how language ideologies shape L2 pronunciation learning. The chapter concludes with implications for future research and practice.

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Brazilian Students’ Attitudes Towards Model Varieties of English: Implications for Learner Identity and L2 Pronunciation Development

  • Ubiratã Kickhöfel Alves,
  • Ronaldo Lima,
  • Arthur Dexheimer Trein

摘要

Attitudes towards language varieties and their communities often impact non-native speech development. Their influence is especially striking when it comes to the English language, whose global spread and teaching practices have been decisively shaped by native model prescriptions. Considering this scenario, previous studies have investigated learners’ attitudes towards the two most traditional English pronunciation models, General American (GenAm) and Received Pronunciation (RP), revealing meaningful attitudinal tendencies towards these native varieties. To extend this body of work, we asked 37 advanced Brazilian learners of English to complete a language attitude questionnaire and, using a Verbal Guise Technique, we measured their cognitive, affective, and conative evaluations of two North American English and two British English speakers. Scores from 6-point Likert scales for 11 attitudinal traits revealed a tendency for learners to emulate, and greater identify with, GenAm, while ascribing qualities such as intelligence and responsibility to RP. These results offer insights into how learners infer social meaning from linguistic forms and negotiate their identities through L2 speech. They also add to the debate on how language ideologies shape L2 pronunciation learning. The chapter concludes with implications for future research and practice.