Although there have been some studies conducted in Sweden about the language attitudes towards different varieties of English, most of these studies have focused on the language attitudes found amongst students. There have not, however, been many studies conducted that examines teachers’ language attitudes. The focus of the present study is to investigate which attitudes are found towards two varieties of English, American English and British English, amongst English teachers in Sweden. The study also aims to explore whether the teachers’ age and language backgrounds have an impact on the teachers’ attitudes. The hypothesis was that older teachers would be more positively inclined towards British English while younger teachers would prefer American English. Furthermore, it was also hypothesized that teachers who grew up monolingual would prefer British English and those who grew up bilingual would favour American English. The data collection method that was used in the study was a questionnaire which was distributed online to English teachers in Sweden. 115 teachers participated in the study and answered the questionnaire, which provided both quantitative and qualitative data. The results of the study show that the teachers seem to display equally positive attitudes towards both varieties. For example, American English is favoured in terms of being most familiar, easiest to understand and easiest to teach. British English, on the other hand, is favoured in terms of pleasantness and is in many ways seen as more respected. The findings of the study did confirm the hypotheses to a certain degree. The results showed a tendency amongst younger teachers and teachers who have grown up bilingual to prefer American English. In contrast, the tendency amongst older teachers and teachers who have grown up monolingual was to prefer British English. Overall, the results of the study raise the question of how these attitudes affect the teachers’ teaching of English.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:su-157312 |
| Date | January 2018 |
| Creators | Amdaouech, Leila |
| Publisher | Stockholms universitet, Engelska institutionen |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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