To what extent do native and non-native English accents influence Dutch students’ evaluation of higher education lecturers in terms of comprehension, affect, and status?
Keywords
Loading...
Authors
Issue Date
2026-01-16
Language
en
Document type
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Title
ISSN
Volume
Issue
Startpage
Endpage
DOI
Abstract
The present study investigates the influence of English accents (standard British English, Dutch-English, and Spanish-English) on Dutch students’ evaluation of higher education lecturers in terms of comprehension, affect and status. The study employed a quantitative verbal guise experiment with a between-subjects design. Data were collected through an online questionnaire in which participants (N = 180) listened to one filler and one lecture fragment in one accent condition. Perceived comprehension was rated higher for standard British English than for Dutch-English and Spanish-English accents, with Dutch-English accents receiving higher evaluations than Spanish-English accents. No significant differences were found for actual comprehension. Regarding affect, the Dutch-English accents received higher evaluations than the Spanish-English accents. Finally, standard British English scored higher than Dutch-English and Spanish-English accents in terms of status. Overall, the findings indicate that English accents influence students’ percerception of lecturers, particularly with regard to perceived comprehension, affect and status, while actual comprehension appears to be unaffected by accent variation.
Description
Citation
Supervisor
Faculty
Faculteit der Letteren