Page 28 - ELG2505 May Issue 494

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FEATURE

Ending the shame:

Why every English accent is valid

Quest Education Group’s Helen Pattio Combe exposes the harmful
legacy of accentism in English language teaching.

ecently, a colleague of mine was The English language is much more than
preparing an English language just an accent, but then why is there a scale
assessment test, and mentioned that of acceptable and unacceptable accents?
Rshe always understood the audio The answer is pretty bleak: colonialism.
track, but she never understood when “real” It is ingrained in everybody’s brain, in France
people were speaking to her, on the street for at least, that the only “legitimate” English
example. She made me listen to the audio speakers are the native ones or the one
track she was referring to: it was, of course, who can masquerade as “natives”, in other
Received Pronunciation (RP). She then words, people with a RP accent. Even if your
proceeded to explain how easier life would be, mastery of the language is quite poor, that
for non-native speakers, if everybody spoke your grammar is worth a 5th grader, if your
RP English because that is so effortless to accent sounds “British” enough, you will be
understand. It made me realize that English fine. Which message is being conveyed here
learners definitely had expectations about then? Besides the fact that despite studying
what their English should sound like, and it for years, the learners will never get proficient
couldn’t be further from reality. because their accents will always get in
The French obsession over accents is not the way?
new at all: after all, the Parisian accent is So, why is colonialism the reason behind
considered “standard” and the local accents the hierarchy of accents? After all, colonialism
(Picard, Breton, Nordiste, Sudiste, Doubs, is long gone, except that, not in the field of department head told me and my colleagues
Alsacien, basically everything else) are, linguistics. Macedo, Dendrinos & Gounari that it was “absolutely necessary” to hire
unfortunately, still being looked down upon. (2003) provided with a clear explanation: native speakers like us to teach masters’
There’s little to no wonder then to understand “the context of English language teaching, students. I took out, very slowly, my driving
that the need for a “Standard” English accent colonialism created a hierarchy of accents, license out of my pocket to show my place
is quite strong in France, whatever it means. where the British and later the American of birth: Pontoise, France. He went pale and
The number of students who are complaining accents were presented as the ‘norm’ to be then said that I should not wave that around,
about their accents is astounding, despite a emulated, reinforcing power dynamics that that people might hear that I was not a native
perfect command of the language. Speaking privilege native speakers from former colonial speaker, hence, questioning my legitimacy as
with anything but a RP accent seems to be powers.” Pretending that a native of Leeds, of a teacher. But as he added “thank god you
shameful more than anything else. One girl Bournemouth, of Glasgow, of Cardiff speaks speak with a good accent.” I am not a native
once told me that she wished so hard to have with the same accent is probably one of the speaker of English, I said, I am a multilingual
a “British accent” that she didn’t want to greatest insults ever uttered. The main issue speaker and teacher of English, and in
speak in English altogether. we face is that the notion of intelligibility is our specific context, that should be more
I cannot blame my students, of course. somehow lost on the native speaker ideology. important, not my accent. My contract was
Pronunciation is barely taught, and As teachers, it is our role to model a successful not renewed.
intelligibility is glanced over, if not fully learner and speaker of English, an intelligible
ignored. It is easy to find real life, intelligible one, despite what our accents sound like.
examples; it is easier to utterly ignore them It is worth remembering that “the emphasis Bibliography
and promote native speakerism. I work with should be on intelligibility rather than striving Jenkins, J. (2000). The phonology of English
numerous multilingual teachers, all qualified for native-like pronunciation. The ultimate as an international language: New models,
and experienced: the number one comment goal is for learners to be understood in diverse new norms, new goals. Oxford University
I get from the students is about their accents. communicative contexts, ensuring they can Press.
What is an accent, anyway? Who decided interact effectively with speakers of various Macedo, D., Dendrinos, B., & Gounari, P.
there was a scale of accents from “very bad” English varieties” (Jenkins, 2000). As a (2003). The colonialism of English language
to “great”? Why is English language teaching language teacher, I am focused on developing teaching. In D. Macedo, B. Dendrinos,
associated so much with RP? I often think my student’s intelligibility without erasing & P. Gounari (Eds.), The globalisation of
about that girl who wanted so desperately to the accent behind, which also means making English and the English language classroom
have a so-called British accent, even though them aware of their own identities as learners. (pp. 33-49). Routledge.
she only lived in Lyon, never travelled and Focusing on changing their accents would only
evolved in a low to middle class environment. lead to false assumptions and moreover, would
Her accent in French was the reflection of only lead to forgetting that English is now a Helen Pattio Combe is currently
these elements: her accent in English could global language. It is moving away from the ideal the National Department Head
not match the Queen’s, despite the countless native speaker ideology by the speed of light, of Languages and Cultures at
hours she spent trying to mimic the late but somehow it is still easier to find schools Quest Education Group. She
Elizabeth II. Teaching our students about promoting their native speakers, with their holds a MA in TESOL & Applied Linguistics
what is truly an accent, what it means, and “good” accents teachers, than the opposite. from the University of Portsmouth and an
more importantly why they shouldn’t be To end this diatribe, I would like to recall a Instructional Leadership certificate from
ashamed of theirs should be part of every discussion that I had a few years back when I
language course curriculum. was teaching at a French business school. One Harvard University.
28 May 2025