English as a Lingua Franca: 
                  Teachers' Discourses on Accent and Identity 
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
                                                            MA Thesis 
                                                     Department of English 
                                                     University of Helsinki 
                                                           October 2008 
                                                          Silke Majanen 
                                                            012629262 
                                    
                                  
                                  
                                 CONTENTS 
                                  
                                 1     INTRODUCTION................................................................................................. 1 
                                 2     ENGLISH AS A LINGUA FRANCA.................................................................. 4 
                                    2.1     ELF and the English-speaking Community............................................... 4 
                                    2.2     ELF versus ENL and EFL............................................................................ 6 
                                    2.3     Research into ELF......................................................................................... 8 
                                 3     ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING AND ELF..............................................10 
                                    3.1     Persistent Native Speaker Authority.........................................................10 
                                    3.2     Reforming ELT by ELF...............................................................................12 
                                    3.3     ELT in Finland.............................................................................................14 
                                 4     IDENTITY AND ELF..........................................................................................17 
                                    4.1     What Is Identity?.........................................................................................17 
                                    4.2     Research into (ELF) Identities....................................................................19 
                                    4.3     Identity Options for Nonnative Teachers..................................................21 
                                 5     ACCENT AND ELF.............................................................................................24 
                                    5.1     What Is Accent?...........................................................................................24 
                                    5.2     (ELF) Studies of Accent and Attitude........................................................25 
                                 6     RESEARCH QUESTIONS...................................................................................28 
                                 7     MATERIAL AND METHODS............................................................................30 
                                    7.1     Semi-structured Interviewing....................................................................30 
                                    7.2     Participants and Procedure........................................................................31 
                                    7.3     Analysing the Interviews............................................................................32 
                                    7.4     Considerations of Ethics and Quality Criteria..........................................33 
                                 8     TEACHERS' ACCENT PERCEPTION DISCOURSES......................................36 
                                    8.1     Native and Nonnative Accents of English................................................36 
                                      8.1.1    Intelligibility of Accents.............................................................................36 
                                      8.1.2    Suitability of Accents to ELT.....................................................................38 
                                      8.1.3    Amusing and Irritating Accents................................................................40 
                                    8.2     Finnish Speakers' Accent of English..........................................................42 
                                      8.2.1    Young Finns' Decent Pronunciation.........................................................42 
                                      8.2.2    Lack of Intonation, Lack of Appreciation....................................................44 
                                      8.2.3    Finns' Ability to Learn Different Accents..................................................45 
                                    
                                  
                                    8.3      Teachers' Accents of English......................................................................46 
                                      8.3.1     Modest yet Functional Accent...................................................................46 
                                      8.3.2     Adaptation and Accommodation................................................................50 
                                 9     TEACHERS' IDENTITY DISCOURSES.............................................................53 
                                    9.1      Desirable yet Unattainable Native Accent................................................53 
                                      9.1.1     Desirable Native Accent ............................................................................53 
                                      9.1.2     Undesirable Native Accent........................................................................55 
                                      9.1.3     Unattainability of Native Accent...............................................................57 
                                      9.1.4     Native Teachers versus Nonnative Teachers...............................................57 
                                    9.2      Dual Identity................................................................................................59 
                                      9.2.1     Switching Roles of Learner and User.........................................................59 
                                      9.2.2     Life-long Learning with the English Language...........................................61 
                                 10    DISCUSSION.......................................................................................................63 
                                    10.1     Discussion on Accent Perceptions.............................................................63 
                                    10.2     Discussion on Identities..............................................................................67 
                                    10.3     Implications for Teacher Training, ELT and Further Studies..................71 
                                 11    CONCLUSION....................................................................................................73 
                                 BIBLIOGRAPHY..........................................................................................................75 
                             
                                          
                                 Appendix 1: Interview Guide in English 
                                 Appendix 2: Interview Guide in Finnish 
                                 Appendix 3: Quotes in Finnish 
                         
                       
                  Abbreviations 
                            
                      CEF   Common European Framework of Reference for Languages 
                      EFL   English as a foreign language 
                      ELF   English as a lingua franca 
                      ELT   English language teaching 
                      ENL  English as a native language 
                      ESL   English as a second language 
                      GA    General American 
                      L1    First language 
                      L2    Second language 
                      NNS  Nonnative speaker 
                      NS    Native speaker 
                      RP    Received pronunciation 
                      SLA  Second language acquisition