Return-Path: <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id i2BJVmI18342; Thu, 11 Mar 2004 14:31:48 -0500 (EST) Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2004 14:31:48 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <005201c4079f$9cca61c0$9a01a8c0@language.ca> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: "Pauline Mcnaughton" <pmcnaughton@language.ca> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-ESL:10011] Re: Fw: Diversity in staffing X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook CWS, Build 9.0.2416 (9.0.2910.0) Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Content-Type: text/plain; Status: O Content-Length: 2568 Lines: 78 Actually they have been some successful human rights cases in Canada based on discrimination because of "accents". It is more appropriate to talk about pronunciation rather than accent. People can improve their pronunciation in order to be understood - they cannot get rid of an "accent". I try to nicely warn people about this whenever I can - particularly anyone involved in human resources or employment counselling because it can get them into trouble. I have even noticed adds from private language schools and organizations offering workplace training talking about "accent reduction" or "eliminating your accent" - this is so very wrong and misleading. Pauline McNaughton Executive Director / Directrice executive Centre for Canadian Language Benchmarks/Centre des niveaux de competence linguistique canadiens 200 Elgin Street, Suite 703 / 200 rue Elgin, piece 703 Ottawa, ON K2P 1L5 T (613) 230-7729 F (613) 230-9305 pmcnaughton@language.ca < http://www.language.ca/> Ligne de services en francais/ French Services Line: (613) 288-2072 -----Original Message----- From: nifl-esl@nifl.gov [mailto:nifl-esl@nifl.gov]On Behalf Of Ujwala Samant Sent: March 11, 2004 11:16 AM To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: [NIFL-ESL:10008] Re: Fw: Diversity in staffing Tanya, > A correct accent is essential in my opinion to teach > any language.I have a friend who teaches ESOL with > a very heavy Spanish accent, She is not clearly > intelligible in her pronunciation and her emphasis > is on the wrong syllable many times. I, my self, > wouldn't want to learn a language from someone who > wasn't a native if I had the choice. > Tanya Tweeton GED and ESOL > Fort Lauderdale, Florida Whose accent is deemed correct? I speak with an Indian accent and British pronunciation, and use a melange of British, American, Indian and French argot. I have taught people to speak English. I suppose if I wanted to sound American (and again which regional accent would I choose?) or British (same question about accents) or Australian, or Indian (we do have a large number of people who speak English) then I would have to ask someone to teach me the inflections, nuances etc. I think accents are different from learning language as communication. For example, do your friend's students end up learning how to communicate, have confidence in speaking English? Do they learn her accent when they learn spoken English? regards, Ujwala __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Search - Find what youre looking for faster http://search.yahoo.com
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