Significance of English Accents for Iranian EFL Learners: Awareness of World Englishes

World Englishes paradigm discusses the global spread of English and the large number of functions it has taken on with increasing range and depth in diverse sociolinguistic settings around the world. This paradigm particularly emphasizes on multilingualism, multicultural identities, multiple norms of use, and bilinguals’ creativity. Learners of English are encountering various varieties of English and subsequently develop mental images and attitudes towards them which are believed to significantly affect language learning. Regarding the varieties, selection of a pronunciation model by the EFL learners is a field of much discussion. The present study was designed to explore the Iranian EFL learners’ preferences and choice of accents and varieties of English. To this end, a folk linguistics approach was employed that is based on examining peoples’ beliefs and the meta-language underpinning their beliefs. A modified version of Rindal’s (۲۰۱۰) scale was used to collect the data. The findings suggested that Iranian EFL learners have a positive attitude towards American accent and prefer it to other varieties of English. The results may have implications for teachers and educational administrators.

کلیدواژه ها:

world Englishe ، accent ، EFL learner ، pronunciation