13 Interrogating Accentism in Academia: An International Graduate Student’s Reflection on Her Rights to Her Language

A nation proud of its diverse heritage and its cultural and racial variety will preserve its heritage of dialects. We affirm strongly that teachers must have the experiences and training that will enable them to respect diversity and uphold the right of students to their own language. (Conference on College Composition and Communication, 1974, “To Readers of CCC”)

I was an international student from an English-speaking country colonized by the British, and English was my primary language of instruction. However, my first socialization into language was with my family, then with school. English, therefore, was a foreign language. I am Igbo and speak a distinct dialect of the language. The Igbo language is made up of varieties of dialects, each with its distinct pronunciations. My particular dialect, for instance, does not have the letter R. Growing up, while learning English, I struggled with the letter R, so rice was lice. When I began to learn English, if I could avoid saying a word with R, I intentionally did so—but how many words in English can you use in a part of speech without R? Not many!

This conflict between my Igbo dialect and English has persisted throughout my life. However, this is not a conflict unique to speakers of the Igbo language. Any international student will attest to the struggle to produce text in English because their primary language often takes precedence in the process of interpretation and writing. Can academic institutions accomplish the objective of educating students by deemphasizing uniformity in writing and speech and encouraging creativity and expression without considering students’ nonstandard accents or patterns of writing?

Accent stereotyping or accentism may seem novel, but it has been at the forefront of colonization for over 500 years. Accentism is a conscious or unconscious bias against groups of people based on their accents (Munro, 2003; Sumantry & Choma, 2021). Often, this bias is perpetuated by those with power. Lippi-Green (2011), using the Standard American English, highlighted how dominant institutions intentionally enforce the adoption of one language or accent over another. We all have some form of an accent, and downplaying the importance of other linguistic forms contributes to marginalizing them (Lippi-Green, 2011). As schools continue to emphasize the decolonization of classrooms, what does it really mean to decolonize a Canadian classroom for an international student? I believe this means acknowledging and recognizing linguistic plurality, the many ways in which people from around the world use language. In my view, it is the only way to begin addressing the issues related to accent stereotyping in writing and speaking.

I will provide context for my argument on the value of creating a space for the coexistence of various linguistic patterns. My first experience with linguistic disparity or exclusion came from the constant “Hmm, what did you say?” during class or even when shopping on campus. I was always worried about speaking in class because I did not want to be asked to repeat myself. I worked with foreigners in my home country for years and do not remember when I had to repeat myself in the workplace. However, I find that I have to continuously defend how I speak and write in North American academic spaces.

A while back, a friend shared her experience in class. She said:

I was one of four African students. I raised my hand to speak during class discussions, and the instructor continued speaking without acknowledging it. Maybe she did see me, I thought. A fellow African student had to draw her attention to the fact that I had my hand up. Of course, at this stage, I just wanted the class to end. After I provided my response and example relating to the topic, the instructor did not confirm or acknowledge my ideas despite asking that I repeat myself. The instructor’s attitude invalidated my input, and with that single interaction, I never spoke again in that class for the rest of the term.

My friend is not alone in this experience. Many international students, myself included, share similar experiences. Scholars have shown that teachers’ acknowledgment or confirmation of students’ contributions in class directly impacts international students’ performance (Eisenchlas & Tsurutani, 2011; Hsu & Huang, 2017; Nakane, 2006). Similarly, studies indicate that stereotyping of international students’ accents is evident even when they are understood (Lan et al., 2023). We use the same medium of English even though we pronounce or say words differently. According to Kang and Rubin (2009) when people hold preconceived notions about certain groups or accents, it affects their intention to understand. Kang and Rubin called it reverse linguistic stereotyping (RLS).

Personally, I believe that in any multicultural environment, people should make the effort to build skills to accommodate differences. I have found myself many times struggling to understand a native English speaker because of how they enunciate words. Yet, I see it as my responsibility to develop the competency to listen to and understand everyone I encounter. Similarly, I have found that enunciating slowly helps when conversing with people to accommodate differences in my listeners.

We know that differences in language have always existed, with one group being privileged over another (Munro, 2003; Sumantry & Choma, 2021). However, the presence of accentism within academia should prompt an interrogation of language in practice, especially in classrooms. Most importantly, there is an urgent need to investigate the role of such biases on international students’ mental health and wellbeing. Students should not be forced to accept that one form of writing or speaking is sacrosanct, or preferable to other forms of writing and speaking. The Conference on College Composition and Communication (1974, “To readers of CCC”) summed this up well when it said, “the claim that any accent is unacceptable amounts to an attempt by one social group to exert dominance over another. Such a claim leads to false advice for speakers and writers and immoral advice for humans.”

While I can confirm that my accent did not affect my performance, it affected my ability to interact with non-African descent students because I perceived I may need to accent switch to communicate. I have processed this experience, learned, and applied that learning to build my resilience. I hope that in reading this essay and reflecting on it, other international students realize—not as late as I did— that they matter and have every right to their language.

References

Conference on College Composition and Communication. (1974). Students’ right to their own language [Special issue]. College Composition and Communication, 25(3). https://cdn.ncte.org/nctefiles/groups/cccc/newsrtol.pdf

Eisenchlas, S. A., & Tsurutani, C. (2011). You sound attractive! Perceptions of accented English in a multilingual environment. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, 34(2), 216–236. https://doi.org/10.1075/aral.34.2.05eis

Hsu, C.-F. (S.), & Huang, I-T. (J.). (2017). Are international students quiet in class? The influence of teacher confirmation on classroom apprehension and willingness to talk in class. Journal of International Students, 7(1), 38–52. https://doi.org/10.32674/jis.v7i1.244

Kang, O., & Rubin, D. L. (2009). Reverse linguistic stereotyping: Measuring the effect of listener expectations on speech evaluation. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 28(4), 441–456. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X09341950

Lan, Y., Xie, T., & Lee, A. (2023). Portraying accent stereotyping by second-language speakers. PLOS ONE, 18(6), e0287172.  https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0287172

Lippi-Green, R. (2011). English with an accent: Language, ideology and discrimination in the United States (2nd ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203348802

Munro, M. J. (2003). A primer on accent discrimination in the Canadian context. TESL Canada Journal, 20(2), 38–51. https://doi.org/10.18806/tesl.v20i2.947

Nakane, I. (2006). Silence and politeness in intercultural communication in university seminars. Journal of Pragmatics, 38(11), 1811–1835.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2006.01.005

Sumantry, D., & Choma, B. L. (2021). Accent-based stereotyping, prejudice, and their predictors. Personality and Individual Differences, 179. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2021.110894