A research study was conducted which investigated Americans' responses to different nonnative speakers depending on whether errors were present or absent in their speech. The purpose of the study was threefold: to examine the responses of Americans to nonnative speech, to analyze those responses in the light of non-cognitive factors to determine if stereotyping occurred, and to link any attitude findings to current error research. A semantic differential instrument consisting of 20 personality traits was employed to elicit responses and the resulting patterns of responses were investigated. / It was found that American respondents were indeed differentiating among the 5 nonnative speakers when rating these speakers on specific characteristics. These findings suggest that speakers were viewed as very different individuals when not making errors and as very similar individuals when making errors. On further investigation it was found that communicative errors seemed to both enhance and hinder English as a Second Language speech production depending on the accent of the speaker. American respondents in this study tended to exhibit different cultural prejudices towards different speakers depending on the relative strength of the stereotype elicited either by the speaker's accent or by the error content of the speech. / In general Americans participating in this study tended to be more generously disposed to Arabic and Farsi speakers when no errors were present and to French, Malay or Spanish speakers when errors were present in their speech. The researcher concluded that it may be advantageous for some nonnative speakers to make errors, while for others it may be preferable to have good control over the grammatical and lexical content of this speech if they are to be favorably viewed by Americans. / The pedagogical implications of the study are discussed focusing in particular on the role of error correction in the second language classroom. The researcher suggests that error hierarchies are useful tools for the teacher, and that teachers will continue to make subjective judgments as to which errors to select for remediation, but that they might also consider where the student is from and make determinations about the level of acceptability of the student's accent. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-07, Section: A, page: 2487. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1986.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_75870 |
| Contributors | DELAMERE, TRISH., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 121 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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