TY  - JOUR
T1  - Intercultural Communicative Competence and Attitudes towards English Accents: Exploring the Nexus among EFL speakers
AU  - Gokgoz-kurt, Burcu
PY  - 2023
DA  - October
DO  - 10.31464/jlere.1336418
JF  - Dil Eğitimi ve Araştırmaları Dergisi
JO  - JLERE
PB  - Hakan ÜLPER
WT  - DergiPark
SN  - 2149-5602
SP  - 405
EP  - 424
VL  - 9
IS  - 2
LA  - en
AB  - The purpose of the present study is to explore the interplay between intercultural communicative competence and attitudes toward English accents among L2 English speakers at the tertiary level. Additionally, the study sought to examine the impact of self-rated proficiency and the year of enrollment in the degree program on the results. The participants were freshmen and sophomore students enrolled in the English Translation and Interpreting Department at a Turkish state university. To gather data, the students were asked to complete a survey in which they self-assessed their intercultural communication competence and rated four English accent varieties on a 7-point Likert scale, considering status-related, and solidarity-related characteristics as well as language-focused qualities. The findings indicated that there was no direct relationship between the self-rated intercultural communication competencies and perceptions of different English accents among EFL speakers. These findings held true for when excluding ratings of the American English variety from the analysis, but significant findings emerged, especially in regard to individual speech samples. Furthermore, the self-reported proficiency level of EFL speakers and their status as second-year students in the degree program showed a positive correlation with intercultural communicative competence.
KW  - intercultural communicative competence (ICC)
KW  - English accent perception
KW  - pluriculturalism
KW  - intercultural competence
CR  - Alptekin, C. (1993). Target-language culture in EFL materials. ELT Journal, 47(2), 136–143. http://doi.org/10.1093/elt/47.2.136
CR  - Atay, D., Kurt, G., Çamlıbel, Z., Ersin, P., & Kaslıoğlu, Ö. (2009). The Role of Intercultural Competence in Foreign Language Teaching. İnönü Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, 10(3) , 123-135.
CR  - Baker-Smemoe, W., Dewey, D. P., Bown, J., & Martinsen, R. A. (2014). Variables affecting L2 gains during study abroad: Variables affecting L2 gains during. Foreign Language Annals, 47(3), 464–486. https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12093
CR  - Baquiran, C. L. C., & Nicoladis, E. (2020). A doctor’s foreign accent affects perceptions of competence. Health Communication, 35(6), 726–730.	https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2019.1584779
CR  - Bektaş-Çetinkaya, Y., & Çelik, S. (2013). Perceptions of Turkish EFL teacher candidates on their level of intercultural competence. In H. Arslan & G. Rata (Eds.), Multicultural education: From theory to practice (pp. 345-362). Cambridge Scholars Press.
CR  - Biell, G., & Doff, S. (2014). It takes more than two for this tango: Moving beyond the self/other-binary in teaching about culture in the global EFL-classroom. Zeitschrift Für Interkulturellen Fremdsprachenunterricht, 19, 77–96.
CR  - Brown, H. D. (1986). Learning a second culture. In J. M. Valdes (Ed.), Culture bound (pp. 33-48). Cambridge University Press.
CR  - Byram, M. (1997). Teaching and assessing intercultural communicative competence. Multilingual Matters.
CR  - Byram, M. (2021). Teaching and assessing intercultural communicative competence: Revisited. Multilingual Matters. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781800410251
CR  - Byram, M., & Wagner, M. (2018). Making a difference: Language teaching for intercultural and international dialogue. Foreign Language Annals, 51(1), 140–151.     https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12319
CR  - Chao, T.-C. (2014). The development and application of an Intercultural Competence Scale for university EFL learners. English Teaching & Learning, 38(4), pp. 79-124.
CR  - Deardorff, D. K. (2020). Manual for Developing Intercultural Competences: Story Circles (UNESCO /Routledge). https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000370336
CR  - Demircioğlu, Ş., & Cakir, C. (2015). Intercultural competence of English language teachers in International Baccalaureate World Schools in Turkey and abroad. Journal of language and linguistic studies, 11(1), 15-32.
CR  - Derwing, T. M., Fraser, H., Kang, O., & Thomson, R. (2014). L2 Accent and ethics: Issues that merit attention. In A. Mahboob and L. Barratt (Eds.), Englishes in multilingual contexts (pp. 63-80). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8869-4_5
CR  - Derwing, T. M., & Munro, J. M. (2015). Pronunciation fundamentals: Evidence-based perspectives for L2 teaching and research. John Benjamins Publishing.
CR  - Derwing, T. M., Rossiter, M. J., & Munro, M. J. (2002). Teaching native speakers to listen to foreign-accented speech. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 23(4), 245–259. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434630208666468
CR  - Eberhard, D. M., Simons, G. F., & Fennig, C. D. (Eds.). (2020). Ethnologue: Languages of the world (23rd ed). SIL International.
CR  - Fang, F., & Yuan, M. (2011). Globalised English in Asia, now and the future – a perspective between English in Singapore and China. In L. J. Zhang, R. Rubdy, & L. Alsagoff (Eds.), Asian Englishes: Changing perspectives in a globalised world (pp. 93–118). Pearson.
CR  - Fantini, A. E. (2006). Exploring and assessing intercultural competence: Final report. Federation EIL.
CR  - Fantini, A. E. (2018). Intercultural communicative competence in educational exchange: A multinational perspective. Routledge.
CR  - Gedik Bal, N., & Savas, P. (2022). Intercultural language teaching and learning: Teachers’ perspectives and practices. Participatory Educational Research, 9(6), 268–285. https://doi.org/10.17275/per.22.139.9.6
CR  - Genc, B., & Bada, E. (2005). Culture in language learning and teaching. The Reading Matrix, 5, 73–84.
CR  - Godwin-Jones, R. (2013). Integrating intercultural competence into language learning through technology. Language Learning & Technology, 17(2), 1–11.
CR  - Hammer, K. (2017). Sociocultural integration and second language proficiency following migration. In J.-C. 
Beacco, H.-J. Krumm, D. Little, & P. Thalgott (Eds.), The linguistic integration of adult migrants: Some lessons from research (pp. 91–96). DeGruyter Mouton.
CR  - Hayes-Harb, R., Smith, B. L., Bent, T., & Bradlow, A. R. (2008). The interlanguage speech intelligibility benefit for native speakers of Mandarin: Production and perception of English word-final voicing contrasts. Journal of 
Phonetics, 36(4), 664–679. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2008.04.002
CR  - Hismanoglu, M. (2011). An investigation of ELT students’ intercultural communicative competence in relation to linguistic proficiency, overseas experience and formal instruction. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 35(6), 805–817. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2011.09.001
CR  - Jenkins, J. (2006). Current perspectives on teaching world Englishes and English as a lingua Franca. TESOL Quarterly, 40(1), 157. https://doi.org/10.2307/40264515
CR  - Kachru, B. B. (1992). The other tongue: English across cultures. University of Illinois Press.
CR  - Kahng, J. (2023). Exploring individual differences in rating second language speech: Rater’s language aptitude, major, accent familiarity, and attitudes. TESOL Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.3217
CR  - Kang, O. (2015). Learners’ perceptions toward pronunciation instruction in three circles of world Englishes. TESOL Journal, 6(1), 59–80. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesj.146
CR  - Kang, O., Rubin, D., & Lindemann, S. (2015). Mitigating U.S. undergraduates’ attitudes toward international teaching assistants. TESOL Quarterly, 49(4), 681–706. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.192
CR  - Kang, O., & Rubin, D. L. (2009). Reverse linguistic stereotyping: Measuring the effect of listener expectations on speech evaluation. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 28(4), 441–456. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927x09341950
CR  - Kang, O., & Yaw, K. (2021). Social judgement of L2 accented speech stereotyping and its influential factors. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2021.1931247
CR  - Kavaklı, N. (2020). The relationship between language and culture, and its implications for EFL teaching. In S. Çelik & E. Solak (Eds.), World Englishes and culture in English as a foreign Language (EFL) education (pp. 88-100). Vizetek.
CR  - Kazykhankyzy, L., & Alagözlü, N. (2019). Developing and validating a scale to measure Turkish and Kazakhstani ELT pre-service teachers’ intercultural communicative competence. International Journal of Instruction, 12(1), 931–946. https://doi.org/10.29333/iji.2019.12160a
CR  - Kim, T. (2008). Accentedness, comprehensibility, intelligibility, and interpretability of NNESTs. The CATESOL Journal, 20(1), 7-26.
CR  - Lee, J. (2020). Informal digital learning of English and strategic competence for cross-cultural communication: Perception of varieties of English as a mediator. ReCALL, 32(1), 47-62. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0958344019000181
CR  - Li, D. C. S. (2009). Researching non-native speakers’ views toward intelligibility and identity: Bridging the gap between moral high grounds and down-to-earth concerns. In F. Sharifian (Ed.), English as an international language: Perspectives and pedagogical issues (pp. 81–118). Multilingual Matters. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781847691231-008
CR  - Lindemann, S. (2003). Koreans, Chinese or Indians? Attitudes and ideologies about non-native English speakers in the United States. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 7(3), 348–364. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9481.00228
CR  - Lindemann, S. (2005). Who speaks “broken English”? US undergraduates’ perceptions of non-native English1. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 15(2), 187–212. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1473-4192.2005.00087.x
CR  - Ludwig, A., & Mora, J. C. (2017). Processing time and comprehensibility judgments in non-native listeners’ perception of L2 speech. Journal of Second Language Pronunciation, 3(2), 167–198. https://doi.org/10.1075/jslp.3.2.01lud
CR  - Matsuda, A. (2017). Preparing teachers to teach English as an international language. Multilingual Matters.
CR  - Munro, M. J. (1998). The effects of noise on the intelligibility of foreign-accented speech. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 20(2), 139–154. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0272263198002022
CR  - Nymeyer, K., Dewey, D. P., Eggington, W., & Baker-Smemoe, W. (2022). Factors that affect native English speakers’ comfort levels when communicating with non‐native English speakers. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 32(1), 158–174. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijal.12410
CR  - Ramjattan, V. A. (2022). The accent work of international teaching assistants. TESOL Quarterly. Online first. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.3190
CR  - Reid, K. T., Trofimovich, P., & O’Brien, M. G. (2019). Social attitudes and speech ratings: Effects of positive and negative bias on multiage listeners’ judgments of second language speech. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 41(2), 419–442. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0272263118000244
CR  - Risager, K. (2006). Language and culture: Global flows and local complexity. Multilingual Matters.
CR  - Saito, K., Tran, M., Suzukida, Y., Sun, H., Magne, V., & Ilkan, M. (2019). How do second language listeners perceive the comprehensibility of foreign-accented speech?: Roles of first language profiles, second language proficiency, age, experience, familiarity, and metacognition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 41(5), 1133–1149. doi:10.1017/s0272263119000226
CR  - Saricoban, A., & Oz, H. (2014). Research into pre-service English teachers’ intercultural communicative competence (ICC) in Turkish context. Anthropologist, 18(2), 523–531. https://doi.org/10.1080/09720073.2014.11891570
CR  - Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. C. (1979). An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. In W. G. Austin & S. Worchel (Eds.), The social psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 33–47). Brooks/Cole.
CR  - Tavakoli, H. (2013). A dictionary of research methodology and statistics in applied linguistics. Rahnama.
CR  - Timmis, I. (2002). Native-speaker norms and International English: a classroom view. ELT Journal, 56(3), 240–249. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/56.3.240
CR  - Tsang, A. (2020). Why English accents and pronunciation ‘still’ matter for teachers nowadays: a mixed-methods study on learners’ perceptions. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 41(2), 140–156. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2019.1600528
CR  - Van Houten, J. B., & Shelton, K. (2018). Leading with culture. The Language Educator, 13(1), 34–39.
CR  - Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press.
CR  - Weinberger, S. (2015). Speech Accent Archive. George Mason University. https://accent.gmu.edu/
CR  - Winke, P., Gass, S., & Myford, C. (2013). Raters’ L2 background as a potential source of bias in rating oral performance. Language Testing, 30(2), 231–252. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265532212456968
UR  - https://doi.org/10.31464/jlere.1336418
L1  - https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/3302734
ER  -