A STUDY INTO THE ATTITUDE OF FOURTH YEAR ENGLISH MAJORED STUDENTS OF UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES, HUE UNIVERSITY TOWARDS ACCENTS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Abstract

This paper presents some empirical data about attitudes and perceptions of 56 Vietnamese learners of English towards British, American accents and Vietnameseaccented English. The study found that leaners showed a stronger preference for American English on key dimensions such as dimensions of status, and attractiveness of the language. The results are discussed with reference to vitality theory as well as the language-culture consonance hypothesis and the language-culture discrepancy hypothesis. In today's globalization, therefore, it is necessary to make some certain changes in the curriculum as well as in the teachers themselves to help students be aware of and gradually eliminate prejudices about non-native accents.