Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-x5gtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-30T14:05:03.664Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Applying Accommodation Theory to Variable Performance Data in L2

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2008

Jane Zuengler
Affiliation:
Teachers College, Columbia

Abstract

The pilot study reported here used Accommodation Theory in addressing this question: when L2 speakers are asked to reply to a statement which is ethnolinguistically threatening, will their speech diverge (i.e., become less TL-like) ? The study focused on phonological variants in the replies of 13 ESL speakers. Results indicated that the nature of reply was important: only those whose replies were personal and/or ethnically related showed a decrease in TL correctness.

Type
Research Notes
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1982

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anisman, P. H. 1975. Some aspects of code switching in New York Puerto Rican English. Bilingual Review 2 (1 & 2).5685.Google Scholar
Beebe, L. M. 1977. The influence of the listener on code-switching. Language Learning 27(2).331339.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beebe, L. M. 1980. Sociolinguistic variation and style shifting in second language acquisition. Language Learning 30(2).433448.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beebe, L. M. 1981. Social and situational factors affecting the communicative strategy of dialect code-switching. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 30.Google Scholar
Beebe, L. M., and Zuengler, J.. (In press). Accommodation theory: an explanation for style shifting in second language dialects. TESOL and sociolinguistic research, ed. by Wolfson, N., and Judd, E.. Rowley, Mass.: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Bourhis, R. Y.; Giles, H.; Leyens, J. P.; and Tajfel, H.. 1979. Psycholinguistic distinctiveness: language divergence in Belgium. Language and social psychology, ed. by Giles, H., and Clair, R. St., 158185. Baltimore: University Park Press.Google Scholar
Dickerson, L. 1974. Internal and external patterning of phonological variability in the speech of Japanese learners of English: toward a theory of second language acquisition. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. University of Illinois. Champaign.Google Scholar
Giles, H. 1977. Social psychology and applied linguistics: towards an integrative approach. ITL: A Review of Applied Linguistics 35.2742.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giles, H. 1979. Ethnicity markers in speech. Social markers in speech, ed. by Scherer, K. R., and Giles, H., 251290. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Giles, H., and Powesland, P. F.. 1975. Speech style and social evaluation. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Giles, H., and Smith, P. M.. 1979. Accommodation theory: optimal levels of convergence. Language and social psychology, ed by Giles, H., and Clair, R. St., 4565. Baltimore: University Park Press.Google Scholar
Hartford, B. S. 1978. Phonological differences in the English of adolescent female and male Mexican-Americans. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 17.5564.Google Scholar
Hildebrandt, N., and Giles, H., 1980. The English language in Japan: a social psychological perspective. JALT Journal 2.6387.Google Scholar
Lukens, J. G. 1979. Interethnic conflict and communicative distance. Language and Ethnic Relations, ed. by Giles, H., and Saint-Jacques, B., 143158. Oxford and New York: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Schmidt, R. W. 1977. Sociolinguistic variation and language transfer in phonology. Working Papers on Bilingualism 12.7995.Google Scholar
Segalowitz, N., and Gatbonton, E.. 1977. Studies of the nonfluent bilingual. Bilingualism: Psychological, social, and educational implications, ed. by Hornby, P. A., 7790. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Tarone, E. 1979. Interlanguage as chameleon. Language Learning 29(1). 181191.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weintraub, W. 1981. Verbal behavior. New York: Springer Publishing Co., Inc.Google Scholar