Broadening learners’ perspectives on World Englishes: 
a classroom-based study

Abstract

This study explored Korean university students’ beliefs and perspectives on different English varieties, and their transformation in learner perceptions with respect to English learning, diversity in the English language, and learning of different English varieties over the course of a semester. On two occasions, Korean university students (N = 127) who were enrolled in different sections of a required English-language course completed a questionnaire evaluating different accented English speech samples (American, Indian, Italian, and Korean) and another questionnaire pertaining to learner beliefs about English learning and perceptions and learning of different English varieties. Results of the accent evaluation show that despite no significant difference in the level of message comprehension, the Korean students demonstrated favourable attitudes towards the varieties of their compatriots and of the American English speaker of English over the Indian and Italian speakers. Results of the perception questionnaire administered twice in the semester show positive changes in learner beliefs about English learning and perceptions of different English varieties. Commentary data provide additional insights into the learners’ attitudinal changes as a result of the semester-long instruction. Pedagogical implications are discussed with respect to broadening learners’ perspectives on the English language and its use around the world.

KEYWORDS:

• Learner perceptions
• learner attitude
• English as a lingua franca
• World Englishes
• English as a foreign language

Acknowledgements

Our deep gratitude goes to anonymous reviewers and the editor, Dr. Leila Ranta, for their suggestions on the earlier versions of this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Since the participants were non-English major students enrolled in different sections of a general education course, they were not provided with explicit instruction on the terms, “accent,” “dialect,” and “variety.” The terms accent and dialect were used during the class activities as lay people use them: the former to describe how a speaker uses a second/foreign language, particularly sounds and the latter to refer to how people speak their mother tongue, encompassing a range of linguistic features. The term variety is used in this paper to describe variation in the English language.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Hyun-Sook Kang

Hyun-Sook Kang works as Teaching Associate Professor in Department of Linguistics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

So-Yeon Ahn

So-Yeon Ahn works as Assistant Professor in Department of English, City University of Hong Kong.