ERIC Number: EJ1365012
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2022
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: EISSN-1307-4733
Available Date: N/A
"You've Gotta Change Your Accent": An Online Discourse Community's Language Ideologies on Accentedness in Higher Education
Novitas-ROYAL (Research on Youth and Language), v16 n2 p36-48 2022
As we move forward in the era of globalization where linguistic diversity is greater than ever, the standard language cultures we live in continue to shape our thoughts about language. One common space dominated by the standard language mindset is the higher education where linguistically diverse faculty are stigmatized by their language, identity, and accent. By studying the discourse on Reddit, an online discourse community, this study expands our understanding of the role that social networking sites play in imposing language ideologies on accentedness in higher education. To explore how the online discourse community's language ideologies shaped the ways in which they understood and responded to faculty accents, 334 open-access Reddit posts addressing the "accent problem" in educational contexts were compiled and analyzed through a combination of corpus linguistics and critical discourse analysis techniques. Results established that the online discourse community's discriminatory behavior toward accentedness was grounded in a standard language ideology. Typical manifestations of this ideology included: 1. the subordination of languages and language varieties, 2. the rejection of the responsibility in communicative acts, and 3. the promotion of the non-accent myth. Implications for higher education professionals were discussed in light of the findings.
Descriptors: Social Networks, Language Attitudes, Social Media, Discourse Analysis, Self Concept, Pronunciation, College Faculty, Diversity (Faculty), Language Variation, Standard Spoken Usage, Higher Education, Social Bias, Computer Mediated Communication, Computational Linguistics, Misconceptions, Word Frequency, English (Second Language), Student Attitudes, College Students, Teacher Student Relationship, Second Language Learning, Teacher Characteristics
Children's Research Center-Turkey. Via Tower Is Merkezi, Bestepeler Mahallesi, Nergiz Sokak No 7-35 Sögütözü, Ankara 06530, Turkey. Tel: +90-312-2190219; Fax: +90-312-2190321; e-mail: submissions@novitasroyal.org; Web site: https://www.novitasroyal.org/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A