An investigation into attitudes of english majored students at banking academy towards english accents in elf context

BANKING ACADEMY OF VIETNAM FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES GRADUATION THESIS AN INVESTIGATION INTO ATTITUDES OF ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS AT BANKING ACADEMY TOWARDS ENGLISH ACCENTS IN ELF CONTEXT Student: Nguyen Thi Loan Student ID: 22A7510006 Class: K22ATCB Supervior: Dr Bui Thi Minh Thu Ha Noi, May 2023 Tai ngay!!! Ban co the xoa dong chu nay!!! 17014125827451000000 BANKING ACADEMY OF VIETNAM FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES GRADUATION THESIS AN INVESTIGATION INTO ATTITUDES OF ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS AT BANKING ACADEMY TOWARDS ENGLISH ACCENTS IN ELF CONTEXT Student: Nguyen Thi Loan Student ID: 22A7510006 Class: K22ATCB Supervior: Dr Bui Thi Minh Thu Ha Noi, May 2023 DECLARATION I hereby declare that this research is completely my own and this study has not been previously submitted and approved for a degree at Banking Academy of Vietnam or any other higher educational institutions This dissertation is copyright material, from which no quotation may be published without appropriate acknowledgement Hanoi, May 2023 Signature Nguyen Thi Loan i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my gratitude to the people who have been instrumental in making this dissertation possible Without their love, support, and guidance, this achievement would not have been possible This section is used to show my gratitude and appreciation to all that assisted me in this research First and foremost, I would like to thank Dr Bui Thi Minh Thu, lecturer of Foreign Language Department at Banking Academy, for her perceptive guidance and insightful feedback throughout this progress She provided me with invaluable feedback and corrected my mistakes meticulously Her motivation and inspiration were critical in helping me complete my dissertation on time I would also like to extend my heartfelt appreciation to my two best friends, Ngo Ba Khoa and Tran Thi Van Anh, for their unwavering support and encouragement They stood by me through thick and thin, providing me with invaluable advice and feedback that helped me overcome many challenges along the way Many thanks are due to all the participants who took part in this research.Their contribution was of importance in shaping findings of this dissertation Finally, I would like to thank my family for their constant love and support My parents and sister have always been there for me, motivating me to keep going even during the most challenging times Thank you all from the bottom of my heart ii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii TABLE OF CONTENTS iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vi LIST OF TABLES vii TABLES OF FIGURES ix LIST OF APPENDICES x ABSTRACTS xi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the Study 1.2 Research Aim 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Significance of the study 1.5 Scope of the Study 1.6 Structure of the Study .2 1.7 Conclusion CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW .4 2.1 Definition of accent 2.2 English as a Lingua Franca .4 2.3 Classification of English accent varieties 2.3.1 Native English accents .6 2.3.2 Non-native English accents iii 2.4 English as Vietnamese English 2.4.1 English in Vietnam: An Overview .8 2.4.2 The Vietnamese Variety of English 2.5 Language attitude 10 2.6 Factors affecting learners’attitudes towards English accents 12 2.7 Previous studies on attitudes towards accents of English .13 2.7.1 Previous studies on accent attitudes in the world 13 2.7.2 Previous studies on accent attitudes in Vietnam 16 2.8 Proposed theoretical framework .17 18 2.9 Conclusion 19 CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .20 3.1 Methodological Approach - Mixed method 20 3.2 Rationale for choosing mixed methods 20 3.3 Participants 21 3.4 Data Collection, Instruments, and Procedure 22 3.4.1 The Questionnaire 22 3.4.2 The Interviews 25 3.5 Data Analysis 25 3.5.1 Quantitative Data Analysis 25 3.5.2 Qualitative Data Analysis 28 3.6 Conclusion 28 CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 30 4.1 Demographic results .30 4.2 Reliability of the Measurement 34 iv 4.3 Findings 39 4.3.1 English majored students’ attitudes towards their own English accent .39 4.3.2 English majored students’ attitudes towards other English accents 49 4.3.3 English majored students’s attitudes towards improving pronunciation to achieve native-like accents 55 4.4 Discussion .61 4.4.1 English-majored students’ attitudes towards their own English accent .61 4.4.2 English-majored students’ towards their other English accents .63 4.4.3 English-majored students’ attitudes towards improving pronunciation 65 4.5 Conclusion 67 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION, RECOMMENDATION AND LIMITATIONS 68 5.1 Summary of the Findings 68 5.2 Recommendations 69 5.2.1 Recommendations for Students 69 5.2.2 Recommendations for Lecturers .70 5.2.3 Recommendations for the Banking Academy of Vietnam 72 5.3 Limitations 72 REFERENCES 74 APPENDICES 80 v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Abbreviations Meaning ELF English as a lingua franca NNs Native English speakers NNSs Non-native English speakers ELT English language teaching L1 First Language L2 Second Language BA Banking Academy of Vietnam RP Received Pronunciation GA General American SPSS Statistical Package for Social Sciences vi LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1 Background information of five interviewees 22 Table 3.2 Classification of Questionare items 24 Table 3.3 Digitallized values of levels of Agreement and Disagreement 26 Table 3.4 Interpretation of Mean values 27 Table 4.1 Demographic results 30 Table 4.2 Summary statistics of the Cronbach’s Alpha 35 Table 4.3 The corrected item – total correlation of section 36 Table 4.4 The corrected item – total correlaton of section 37 Table 4.5 The corrected item – total correlation of section 4.1 .38 Table 4.6 The corrected item – total correlation of section 4.2 .38 Table 4.7 Descriptive statistics about Englih-majored students’ attitudes towards their own accent 40 Table 4.8 ANOVA statistics about the correlation between the primary living place and attitudes towards 44 Table 4.9 Descriptive statistics about correlation between the primary living place and attitudes towards their own English accent 45 Table 4.10 ANOVA statistics about the correlation between level of English proiciency and attitudes towards their own accent 46 Table 4.11 Descriptive statistics about correlation between level of English proficiency and attitudes towards their own accent 47 Table 4.12 Descriptive statistics about English-majored students’ attitudes towards other English accents .49 Table 4.13 ANOVA statistics about the correlation between the primary living place and attitudes towards other English accents 53 vii Table 4.14 ANOVA statistics about the correlation between level of English proficiency and attitudes towards other English accents 54 Table 4.15 Descriptive statistics about motivations for selection YES 56 Table 4.16 Motivations statistics for selection NO 59 viii