South Korean university students' perceptions of different English varieties and their contribution to the learning of English as a foreign language

Abstract

This study explored South Korean university students' perceptions of different English varieties and their speakers, student attitudes towards the learning of English and its varieties, and the role of these attitudinal variables in the learning of English as a foreign language. One-hundred-one students who were enrolled in four sections of a semester-long English course completed a country-rating task and a perception questionnaire of recorded English speech samples (European-American-, Indian-, Italian-, and Korean-accented English assigned to each section). Student attitudes towards the learning of English and its different varieties were also examined. The results from the country ratings and the speech-perception questionnaire suggest the influence of extra-linguistic factors (familiarity, geographic proximity, and global/local sociopolitics) on student attitudes. Different sets of attitudinal variables predicted the teacher and student assessments of the learning of English. Teacher-assessed learning was predicted by students' desire to communicate with other speakers, regardless of the variety they spoke, as well as their beliefs that communication takes two parties and that English serves as a means for upward mobility. The students' self-assessments, however, were related to their beliefs in their high achievement in English and their views of English as a lingua franca and of non-Standard English as legitimate.