Influences of the Use of English Phonetics Website on Thai Undergraduate Students’ Attitudes toward their Non-native English Accented Speech

Abstract

The paper reports on parts of research extended from Tananuraksakul’s (2017) pilot study. Obe hypothesis in relation to influences of the use of University of Iowa’s Sounds of American English website, known as the “number 1 phonetics website” over Thai undergraduate students’ positive attitudes toward their own English accent was tested in two stages. Quantitative data were collected and analyzed with descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation in both stages. Qualitative data from interviews were only garnered in the second stage to crosscheck those quantitative data. Non-English major students who were purposively recruited for this study shared similar views and feelings about their own English accent perceptually considered non-native to those from the pilot study. The use of the phonetics website could enhance their positive attitudes toward their own non-native English accent to a slight extent due to their synchronous feelings of slightly decreased embarrassment and increased pride. What were found in this study however were extraneous variables that hindered enhancement of the students’ degree of attitudes toward their own non-native English accent: infrequent chances to talk in English; less preference to speak in English; and personal/social values to sound like a native speaker. These three extraneous variables are socio-culturally based, and teachers of English as a foreign language should be aware of. Details of the study are discussed.