accent article

 

Teacher ‘told to sound less northern’ after southern Ofsted inspection

 

A school in Berkshire have argued that accent should change when there is interaction with students. I believe that, having read this article ,that this should be the rule for teachers when in the class room. Standard English must be spoken in classrooms.

Teachers are role models to students, the way they speak holds a huge influence on their students, your children. It is an outrage to learn that teacher’s regional colloquialisms and personal pronunciations are being passed on to their younger students. As an adult role model their school teachers has an extreme impact on the way each and every student speaks.  From the age of 4 children are pushed into a schooling environment where they will begin spending at least 5 hours of their day with the same teacher. Allowing teachers to pronounce words with a regional accent encourages the idea of speaking words which are native to the area which only the older generation of the region would understand. How would you feel if you knew that your 4 year old child was being indoctrinated with words that you yourself weren’t familiar with? 

The way teachers pronounce their words has a larger impact than most parents would initially think. Think about it, teachers educate your children on how to spell, with a thick accent how can we expect our children to grasp the correct spelling for wide vocabulary they’ll pick up off of their older peers whilst being in the schooling environment. Let’s say were in the Essex region, in a small country primary school , the teacher possess a thick Essex accent and is simply discussing topics with the children , she mentions the word ‘water’ in her distinctive regional accent , clearly missing out the ‘t’ and the ‘r’ , how do you think your child will spell this word? This is just one example of the abundance of impacts a simple accent can have.

I completely understand that accent is a form of identity but the idea of teaching is based on the ethos that each teacher is there to help and guide the student and to educate them not only their subject but to develop them as a person. What the children learn in school essentially sets them up for their future, whether its learning how to spell accurately at the age of 5 or developing their speech skills at the age of 10, at each stage of their academic life they learn another skill which will become beneficial to them in the future, at each stage they should be provided with the best chance of learning and I believe that this can only be done by the correct manner of teaching.

However, if there is a small part of you that would wish for your child to speak with an accent in order to fulfil your pride within your region then they will still subconsciously obtain that, but it just will not be taught within the classroom environment. As a child they will all have an abundance of friends which they will surround themselves with 24/7, each one of those children will obtain an accent they have developed within their family home, local community or with their circle of friends.  It is vital that within the classroom we’re they grow and develop academically, that they are spoken to in Standard English were all words are fully pronounced in order to allow a quality standard of English to be spoken and spelt. It sets the same high standard of literacy for students nationwide. The idea of diluting accents is only for the benefit of your children and their learning.

Cheshire and Eckert and Attitudes towards accent

Eckert and Cheshire

 

Eckert chose to do in depth research on the different groups within American high schools, she chose to focus mainly on the burnout and the jocks. She studied the language that they used and the difference between there lexical choice, pronunciation and context they used, she then compared these factors against they’re style of upbringing, class and social position in society. In most environments in life there is different groups who alter their pronunciation and grammar in order to fit in with their social group in order to give them a sense of belonging from their group, this happens within all schools, people who originated usually from the same class with the same ethics congregate together and then speak how they are brought up, which will usually be very similar as they are the same class of people. By speaking the same way and sharing certain idioms allows the individuals to identify with each other and find a basses where a relationship can be built.

 

Cheshire chose to do a similar investigation revolving around the speech of school children and how they use their grammar in order to fit in with their friends. I believe that it is true that individuals will change their grammatical choices dependent on who they are with and the topic in which they discussing. Most people would speak differently to their friends into how they speak in a work situation. Most people use a very informal stance when they are speaking to their friends as most situation are informal and relaxed, with a low register. However , situations such as work are formal situations where it is vital that good impressions are made therefore it requires a high register due to the high formality of the situation, less grammatical errors will be made and pronunciation will be clearer and more concise.

 

Within school there will be the usual groups; the popular lot, the nerds and the average. In each of these groups their grammar will change in order to suit the people they are surrounded by. For example, the nerds will usually make very little grammatical errors as they strongly pride themselves on their intelligence and would want to represent themselves in an intellectual manner. However , the average lot of people will not make many grammatically mistake but there will be some. This is because they will be surrounded by people who have similar intellect and they won’t feel as if they have to change their language in order to fit into their social group as they all will usually have similar back grounds. However, the popular group may use more colloquial language in order to identify with a larger group of people, hence why they are known by so many people and are referred to as popular. The more relaxed language they use it become easier to identify with them because the relationship becomes less pressuring, allowing them to build multiple relationships with several groups of people.

 

Attitudes towards language

Accent is only focused around the individual’s pronunciation rather than the context of their speech. Essentially the same language is spoken nationwide however the way the lexis and phonemes are pronounced gives us an insight into their region or origin. An individual will usually make a connection with the accent being spoken with and will create a judgement based upon the way the individual pronounces their words. This is due to the fact that certain accent are originated from regions of the country which have connections with poverty and a lower standard of living , this background knowledge an individual will have an impact on the connection made between the persons accent and the social class they originate from. When someone with a foreign accent begins to speak a negative assumption is likely to be made in association with the accent they speak with. This is because more individuals believe their social group is the most important subconsciously and anyone who can’t identify with social group in a phonological manner. These people are likely to rate social groups according to their class in association with accent. Some view their accent in association with class as well as the grammatical errors which are made in connection with that specific accent. For example, having a thick northern accent , from a poor standard of living area with inadequate quality of education , the context of this person speech is likely to have many grammatical errors , which will then be associated with the accent they speak in , stereo-typing the accent negatively. Just by the accent an individual can form a whole identity of the person speaking.

conversation transcript

A; You wanna tea?
F: (2) Nah you're alright , I'm not really feeling/
A:                                                                 / You sure?
F: Actually yeah I do want one (.) wait for me?
A: Hurry up I'm cold (laughs)
M: Wait (.) where are you going? don't leave me
F: tea , you want one?
M: errrrr (.) nah I'll have a hot chocolate though
F: get out of it they're well expensive (laughs)
A: (laughs)
M: (laughs)
A: erm (.) if i drink tea with chewing gum in will it melt
F: (laughs) what the hell (laughs)
G: Amy what are you on about? (laughs)
A: (laughs) I swear its melting (3) it's actually quite sick

In this conversation there are four participants , speaker A and F are the most prominent speakers within this conversation , they are constantly using turn taking language and using an exchange structure throughout the spoken text. For example , at the beginning A begins with an interrogative sentence   and waits for a reply from F and the conversation continues in this format of exchange of information and taking turns in the conversation. The conversation takes an unprepared and  informal stance , from the beginning A is seen to be the instigator , due to the fact she begins with a question , this shows her to be more dominate in the situation, she also reinforces her question to pressurise F into the situation , showing A to have the control and F to be more intimated and less confident.Also the overlapping of speech with F and A at the beginning shows that A is completely in control because she is able to cut F off without a second thought and it is not a problem for her to do so.
The conversation has low register and is set in a very informal tone which is most probably influenced by the environment , the conversation was recorded in the common room where the environment is very relaxed and chilled out which holds an influence on the conversations held in there , this is why the conversation has such a low register because there in no need for formality. There are several features which suggest that this conversation is informal , first of all due to the elision used ; 'wanna' , by slurring this word together it creates a light and informal start to the conversation and sets the tone for the rest of the speech. Another feature used is ephemeral language; "it's actually quite sick" , the use of the word 'sick' creates informality because the word will last a short time and will come in and out of fashion , it is also only frequently used in some parts of the world or nation is it has to be used contextually for it to makes sense. Lastly , the non-frequency features (hitaus) are used and it brings the low register to the speech , 'errr' and 'erm' are both used by A and M , by using these it shows the uncertainty and unpreparedness of the conversation. There is constant laughter within this conversation which also shows its a relaxed conversation in a friendly and hospitable environment.

In this conversation there are many phonetic features used. Firstly , assimilation is used when F says ' you're alright' when it is spoken out loud the it is changed into ' yourright' however due to the context of the shorten it is known that the speaker actually means ' you're alright' , the beginning of alright is taken so that it shortens the phrase and is quicker to speak. Due to the characteristics of speech it is more acceptable to shorten words and create new ones by laziness because no written knowledge is need when it is spoken and aspects such as punctation and grammar are needed which allows it to be a lot more free and open.