Publication Date

Fall 11-1-2012

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT)

First Advisor

Susan Barduhn

Abstract

I examine the impact of raising awareness of World English varieties on the language attitudes of Korean university students. This study triangulated direct attitudinal measurements through the use of a 6-point Likert scale survey with indirect attitudinal measurements by employing a verbal guise test. The verbal guise test used recordings of representative speakers from six varieties of English: American, Chinese, Japanese, British, Saudi, and Korean English. Attitudinal measurements were taken pre and post a series of four 1½-hour practical English classes designed to raise awareness of world varieties, along with global trends in language use that highlight the importance of English as a lingua franca. A two tailed t test for a repeated measures design was performed to determine which changes in pre and post measurements were statistically significant, along with using r2 to determine the effect size of the measurements. Statistically significant positive changes in attitude were detected towards the Chinese, Japanese, British, and Korean speakers. Attitudinal change for the Saudi speaker was not statistically significant. A statistically significant negative change of attitude was detected toward the American speaker. Both the Saudi and American varieties were coincidently omitted from the awareness raising classes. Changes in two responses of the survey were statistically significant. Participants agreed more that they will use English to communicate with non-native speakers, and agreed less with feeling nervous to communicate with native speakers. This study has important pedagogical implications since it indicates that awareness raising classroom activities can positively affect students’ attitudes towards World Englishes.

Disciplines

Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education

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