Harmful Effects and Implications of Accent Discrimination

Harmful personal effects and implications of accent discrimination Harmful effects on ESL learners As concluded by Munro (2003), accent discrimination has played a negative effect on many situations. Some of the nigh common cases include discrimination in hiring process, in employment, and even resulting in harassments. As a harmful result, sanction language users argon facing negative forces that may cause them to question beyond the expose. One example is these learners get pop up questioning their own characteristics.Aspects such as skin color, dress, and other behaviors fall into the category, and soon, these second language users will show decrease in self-esteem, questioning if the issue is more(prenominal) than just accent. When this happens, most batch with low confidence and unwilling to gift issues, will chose to avoid situation that requires oral communications, resulting the stage of avoiding contact with native speakers. The second stage starts when these low s elf-esteem learners seek companion.And because their lack of effort in talking with their ESL teachers, it is more likely that they find people with similar situations. These second language learners, who have experienced accent discrimination, will form a self-protective group. internal this group, they are free to communicate in their first language and regain self-confidence. Unfortunately, as a result, they begin losing interest in improving their English and snap their social lives within the group. This derriere be summarized as lose of motivation.If no one interferes with this group of people, sooner or later, the group of people will start to feel isolated and disconnected with the native Canadians, leaving the accent discrimination issue unsolved, and even causing reversed effects, such as hostility and more discrimination towards the nation. This is the end of the cycle where people lose faith in believing Canada is an equal opportunity solid ground that welcomes diver sified culture. As we can see, the issue has turned from an accent level into a national prejudice level.Implication Despite some people are experiencing the process described above, more and more people with accent issues are taking their stairs to reduce the problem. To speak with a more accurate and understandable language, many learners are investing both their while and money so they might have a better future. Over the past few years, enrollment in classes that help reduce accent has change magnitude significantly (Gorman, 2007). In some situations, poor second language speakers are being placed responsible for their oral English ability.In the US, it is consider that graduate instruct assistants must achieve a certain level of proficiency in spoken English, as this is a developing policy by the Institutions of higher statement (Thomas, 1993). For some institutions, teaching assistants with low oral English teaching skills are required to first successfully complete course s in English before they can serve as a teaching assistant. According to Statistic Canada, it is predicted that a steady increase in the number of immigrants to this country will occur throughout the decade. By 2006 there are over 1. 4 million Chinese in Canada (Stat. ca, 2006). The size is projected to double within 20 years. As Canada becomes a globalized country with increasingly multicultural exposure, the notion of an accent may change and increase in types. As a nation, only by becoming increasingly happy in our ability to understand English spoken with various accents and be warm in attitudes toward all accents, can we live up to the reputation of accept diversity. Communication is a two-way process. Both the speaker and the listener have a responsibility for the act of communication.While different or unconnected accents can sometimes interfere with the listeners ability to understand the message, accents can conjure up negative evaluations of the speaker, reducing the li steners willingness to accept their responsibility in the communication process. Sometimes, it becomes easy to say, I plain cant understand you, placing full responsibility for the communication process on the speaker. We all have standards and preferences about the spoken language and certain accents can take more effort to understand.It is to be hoped, though, that we can make an effort to hear the content of the message and look beyond the stereotypes associated with the way the message is being spoken. Friedman (2004) suggests several steps for ESL teachers when working with someone who is difficult to understand. First, dont pretend to understand. Ask the person to slow down a bit because you are having difficulty understanding them. Second, dont rush. Slow down yourself. Third, resist the temptation to shout. The speaker is not hard of hearing. Fourth, avoid being rude. Ask for help from others if you need it.As a global citizen, we interact with newcomers to the communities, with businesspersons from around the globe, and with individuals and families who are at various stages in the process of developing Standard English speaking skills. I believe respect for diversity can be extended over language and speech. Modeling supportive behavior ourselves is an important step. Further, we can encourage others to confront the stereotypes and prejudices that are often associated with specific speech patterns. - Bibliography Friedman, N. (2004).How to handle foreign accent. Networking Today. Retrieved Nov 3, 2012, from http//www. networkingtoday. ca/articles/foreignaccent. htm Gorman, A. (2007). Accenting the American in their speech. Los Angeles Times, Retrieved Nov 3, 2012, from http//mobile. latimes. com/detail. jsp? key=57283&rc=null&p=1 Munro, M. (2003). A primer on accent discrimination in the Canadian context. TESL Canada Journal, v20, n2, p38-51 Thomas, C. F. , & Monoson, P. K. (1993). Oral English language proficiency of ITAs Policy, implemen tation, and contributing factors. Innovative Higher Education, 17 (3), 195-209.