A major challenge for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) professionals is how to address the learning needs of diverse learners for whom a monolithic, native-normed version of English is no longer always useful or appropriate. Research in Global Englishes (GE) has noted many teachers' resistance to the adoption of a more…

This study explores Chinese English as a foreign language (EFL) learners' attitudes towards accent for effective English as a lingua franca (ELF) communication. Notwithstanding the research conducted on EFL learners' perceptions of different variations of the English language for their language learning, little attempts have been made to…

This article investigates the effect of different accents on high- and low-proficiency second language (L2) learners. It begins with testing the English listening proficiency of Chinese students and then compares the influence of three accented English (a British accent, an Australian accent and an Indian accent) on their listening scores.…

As a linguistically heterogeneous nation, China has 290 languages and nearly 2000 distinct "fangyans" (dialects or subdialects) with "Putonghua" as the national language. These languages and language varieties are hierarchically ranked, based on their wider communicative and socioeconomic values. This paper reports on how…

This study investigates the current situation of English textbooks used in Chinese senior high schools to explore whether the English textbook series provide nonnative accents of English for students, and if they do, to what extent and in what kinds of situations. In addition, this study also looks into the English tests in the National College…

Using a cognitive load theory approach, we investigated the effects of speaker variability when individuals are learning to understand English as a foreign language (EFL) spoken by foreign-accented speakers. The use of multiple, Indian-accented speakers was compared to that of a single speaker for Chinese EFL learners with a higher or lower…