Robert McKenzie

1
Robert McKenzie

• Attitudes of Japanese learners of English
• towards varieties of English speech

2
Introduction

• a) An attitude is a summary evaluation of an
  object or thought (Bohner and Wanke, 20025)
• b) Attitudes are hypothetical constructs and are
  sufficiently stable to allow for identification/
  measurement
• c) A number of (sociopsychological and cognitive)
  theories of SLA consider language attitudes to be
  determinants of L2 proficiency)
• d) Attitudes to languages (and language
  varieties) are a key component in the building of
  sociolinguistic theory
• e) Very few studies have concentrated on
  attitudes towards varieties of English speech in
  Japan. Qualitative research findings tentatively
  suggest Japanese learners are more favourable
  towards native varieties of English. Further
  quantitative research is required

3
Approaches to the Study of Language Attitudes

• Societal Treatment Approach
• The Direct Approach
• The Indirect Approach

4
Societal Treatment Approach

• Generally qualitative and conducted through
  participant observation, ethnographic studies or
  other observational studies
• Attitudes inferred from informants observed
  behaviour or through document analyses
• Problem of whether there is a direct correlation
  between attitude and behaviour
• Conclusion considered insufficiently rigorous
  for the purposes of this study

5
The Direct Approach

• Introduction by definition a greater degree of
  obtrusiveness
• Subjects are required to give an account of their
  attitudes
• Word of mouth research instruments
• Interviews, polls and surveys
• Disadvantages
• Written response research instruments
• questionnaires and attitude scales
• disadvantages
• Conclusion problems with both word of mouth/
  written response research instruments

6
Perceptual Dialectology

• First employed in field of Cultural Geography
• e.g., Gould and White, 1986
• Later incorporated into Folklinguistics (Preston,
  1989)
• Procedure draw a map, describe the speech,
  speech sample identification, follow-up interview
• Difficult to conduct with non-native speakers
  (see Appendix 1).
• Conclusion measure attitudes towards variation
  in L1 (i.e., Japanese) to predict attitudes
  towards L2 (i.e., English)
• See Appendix 1

7
Appendix 1 Perceptual Dialectology Map of France

• i)  Draw lines to show the location of
  accent/dialect regions in France
• ii) Comment of the speech of and the people
  living in these regions

8
Appendix 2 Perceptual Dialectology Map of Japan

• On the map, draw circles around the areas of
  Japan where people speak varieties of Japanese
  different form the standard Japanese.
• How would you describe the speakers of these
  varieties of Japanese?

9
The Indirect Approach

• Introduction subtle, able to penetrate below
  level of conscious awareness
• ethical problems (debrief participants later)
• The Matched-Guise Technique
• description same speaker reads out same prepared
  neutral text in a number of accents (guises).
• advantages/ disadvantages
• The Verbal-Guise Technique spontaneous speech
  of different speakers discussing same topic
• Construct a specific semantic-differential scale
• Six speech recordings Glasgow Standard English
  heavily-accented Japanese English Southern
  (non-mainstream) US English moderately-accented
  Japanese English Mid-West (mainstream) US
  English Glasgow vernacular English

10
Appendix 3 Matched-guise Technique

• Listen to the recording and circle where you
  would put the speaker on the following scale
• Example, 1very intelligent, 7 very
  unintelligent
•  
• intelligent 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 unintelligent
• educated 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 uneducated
• not honest 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 honest
• unclear 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 clear
• friendly 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 unfriendly
• unlikeable 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 likeable
• well-paid job1 2 3 4 5 6 7 low-paid job
• ambitious 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 not ambitious
• confident 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 not confident
• not fluent 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 fluent
•  

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Appendix 4 Matched-guise Text

• (Adapted from the Evening Times, 21/1/05)
• Scotlands love affair with hot drinks is wasting
  energy and harming the environment, experts have
  warned. Scots drink more than 100 million cups of
  tea, coffee and hot chocolate every week - enough
  to fill 10 Olympic-sized swimming pools. But
  environmental experts warn that overfilling the
  kettle each time wastes enough energy in a week
  to light a house for a day or run a TV set for 26
  hours. An energy efficiency campaign was launched
  yesterday to crack down on the problem. Mascot
  Mr. Bright was surrounded by 800 cups in a "sea
  of tea" in Buchanan Galleries, Glasgow, and urged
  Scots to "Do A Little, Change A Lot. The
  Scottish Executive has teamed up with Scottish
  Power to highlight the amount of energy wasted on
  making hot drinks. Road shows will visit shopping
  centres across Scotland to encourage people to
  cut down on their energy use.

12
Appendix 5Map Task for speakers

• Please give directions from START to the CASTLE
• start

13
Dialect Recognition

• Misidentification of speech varieties may
  confound the data collected
• esp. important when the informants are
  non-native speakers and may be less familiar with
  the speech varieties
• evidence suggests that even students with lower
  level of proficiency in English demonstrate
  significantly differentiated responses towards
  varieties of English (McKenzie, 2003 2004)

14
Research Approach

• Conclusion employ a mixed methodological
  approach encompassing
• Direct method
• Perceptual Dialectology
• Indirect method
• Verbal-guise technique
• Dialect Recognition Item

15
The Research Questions

• Are Japanese learners able to identify varieties
  of English?
• Do Japanese students of English hold different
  attitudes towards (a) standard and non-standard
  / (b) native and non-native varieties of English?
• If the answer to (a) is yes, how are these
  varieties perceived by the learners? If the
  answer to (b) is yes, how are these varieties
  perceived by the learners?
• Do the language attitudes that Japanese nationals
  hold towards varieties of the Japanese language
  influence any perceptions they may have of
  varieties of English?
• What other social variables appear to be
  significant in determining the learners
  attitudes towards the different varieties of
  English speech?
• What are the pedagogical implications (if any) of
  the findings for the choice of linguistic
  model(s) employed in EFL classrooms both in Japan
  and the UK?

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The Research Instrument

• Part 1 Verbal-Guise Technique
• investigating attitudes towards six varieties of
  English speech
• Part 2 Dialect Recognition Item
• Part 3 Perceptual Dialectology Study
• measuring attitudes towards (varieties of) the
  Japanese language
• Part 4 Background Information of Informants
• population divided on the basis of gender
  rural/urban provenance self-perceived competence
  in English periods spent in English-speaking
  countries undergraduate/ postgraduate status

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Section 1 Verbal-Guise Instrument

• You will hear 6 people give directions to a
  castle.
• Listen to the recording and circle where you
  would put the speaker on the following scale.
• Example, 1very pleasant, 7very unpleasant
•  
• pleasant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 not pleasant
• confident 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 not confident
• unclear 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 clear
• modest 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 not modest
• not funny 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 funny
• intelligent 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 not intelligent
• not gentle 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 gentle
• not fluent 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 fluent

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Section 2 Dialect Identification Item

• Listen to the recordings again and answer the
  following questions
•  
• Speaker A
• Where do you think the speaker comes from?
  __________________________________________
• How did you make this decision?
  __________________________________________________
  __________________________________________________
  __________________________________________________
  __________________________________________________
  __________________________________________________
  __________________________________________________
  ________________________________________

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Section 3 Perceptual Dialectology

• On the map, draw circles around the areas of
  Japan where people speak varieties of Japanese
  different from standard Japanese.
• How would you describe the speakers of these
  varieties of Japanese?

20
Section 4 Personal Details

• Initials (?????)_________ Sex ____ Date of
  Birth__________
•  Nationality____________________ Native Language
  (???)____________
•  
•  Subject of Study__________________
•  Undergraduate student (???) ? Postgraduate
  student (????) ?
•    
• Where do you come from?___________________________
  _______
•  How long have you lived there? ________(years)
  ________(months)
•  
• How would you classify the area of Japan you come
  from?
• rural ? urban ?
•  
• Where do you live now?____________________________
  _________
•  How long have you lived there? ________(years)
  ________(months)
•  
• How long have you studied English?
  ____________(years)
•  
• In your opinion, what is your language ability in
  English?

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References

• Bohner, G. and M. Wanke (2002) Attitudes and
  Attitude Change. Hove Psychology Press.
• Gould, P. and R. White (1986) Mental Maps.
  Boston, MA Allen and Unwin.
• Lindemann, S. (2002) Listening with attitude a
  model of native-speaker comprehension of
  non-native speakers in the United States.
  Language in Society, 31, 419-441.
• McKenzie, R. (2004) Attitudes of Japanese
  nationals towards standard and non-standard
  varieties of Scottish English speech. The East
  Asian Learner (formerly The Japanese Learner),
  1(1), 16-25.
• Preston, D. (1989) Sociolinguistics and Second
  Language Acquisition. Oxford Basil Blackwell.
• The Evening Times. Hot drinks waste energy, 21st
  January, 2005.
• The Times (1999, 2nd ed.) Atlas of the World
  Mini Edition. London Times Books.