The effects and implications of english accents in EFL and ESL classrooms

Abstract

This research synthesis intends to analyze the effects of varied English accents recordings on ESL and EFL learners’ listening skills and teachers’ and students’ attitudes and perceptions toward English accents. With this aim, 19 primary source studies were selected at the beginning. The inclusion criteria for the review were: 1) studies dealing with the influence of varied accents on listening skills; 2) learners and teachers’ perceptions toward English accents; and 3) the recognition of all English accents. The results found corroborated the idea that the inclusion of diverse English accents in our classrooms brings with it multiple effects. First and foremost, results ratified the existence of unfavorable consequences on listeners’ performance when using recordings in an unfamiliar accent which leads educators to take some action. Secondly, through analyzing students’ and teachers’ attitudes and perceptions toward English accents, it has been verified that nativeness is still given much importance today, especially by students. What’s more, the report on the techniques and strategies applied by teachers showed the necessity of incrementing the exposure of students to multiple English accents. Finally, these findings lead to the necessity of recognizing the wide variety of accents of this language worldwide and supporting intelligibility rather than nativeness.