An immigrant from Ghana relays his experience about his "accent"

Hello colleagues, I came across a super interesting podcast which features the story of an immigrant from Ghana and his experience being understood and misunderstood in the US due to his accent when speaking English. As you may know, English is the official language in Ghana, and this man grew up speaking English as well as several of the over 50 indigenous languages spoken in his home country.

When teaching English to immigrants, one quickly grows in the ability to understand English being spoken with various accents. This episode of The Christian Science Monitor podcast Say That Again?,  entitled "Accent discrimination happens at work. How do we listen better?", argues that helping the general public-- and specifically co-workers in diverse workplaces -- to deveop some of the same listening skills English teachers have would enable far more immigrants to be understood at work and in the community. 

The episode also features a pronunciation teacher who worked with the Ghanian immigrant to help him to be better understood by tweaking a few specific features of his pronunciation. How have you supported learners to be better understood?

What skills would you say would support people to better understand those who speak English with an accent?

Cheers, Susan Finn Miller

Moderator, English Langauge Acquisition Group

Comments

Susan - thanks for suggesting listening to this podcast about accents! 

I have lived this to a small degree. I grew up in the Midwest and then moved to North Carolina at age 18. Some members of my family think I speak with a southern accent. Native southerners know instantly that I'm not "not from around here." There is definite bias against northerners in some areas of the South.  

I admit that I have asked to talk to a native English speaking supervisor when on the phone with a customer service representative in India. I will confess to irritation that this job was offshored instead of being done by a native English speaker when I am trying to resolve an issue.

A few key take aways from the podcast:

  • So much of listening is up to the listener, how much they show up and try to listen

  • Accent is a lagging indicator of proficiency when you learn a new language. It’s often the last thing to develop.

  • It’s really about attitudes and how [native and non-native speakers] approach each other

  • An effective strategy for those with accents that might be misunderstood is to put some rules at the beginning that help people from both ends. You say, “Is it okay with you if I stop you, if I don’t get a word? Or may I repeat back what I think you said for verification?” 

Thanks for making me think today!

Steve Schmidt, Moderator

LINCS Reading and Writing Group 

Thanks for these comments, Steve. I have taught classes for internationally trained scientists and engineers who regulary give talks or presentations to their professional colleagues. The advice offered by the Ghanian immigrant in the podcast is exactly what I have recommended to these professionals. Acknowledge that English is not your native language and give the audience permission to ask questions if they don't understand something that is said.  

I have also worked with English speakers who train new employees who come from diverse backgounds and speak various languages including English. The goal is to help the trainers to "listen better" by giving them some ways to repair communication breakdowns. Just as is pointed out in this podcast, there are times when a trainer doesn't understand the new employee, and other times when the new employee may not understand the trainer.

Here are some tips for repairing communication when it breaks down:

When you don't understand someone:

  • Apologize and tell the person you did not understand.
  • Repeat any part of what you thought you heard, “Did you say …?”
  • Ask the person to write if this seems helpful.
  • Repeat what you heard to check your understanding.

When someone doesn't understand you:

  • Repeat what you said more slowly and clearly (with a caveat since speaking too slowly can be insulting).
  • If possible, use easier to understand words and sentence structure.
  • Use gestures and writing if either seem helpful.
  • Ask the person to repeat what they heard to confirm understanding.

Members, you are invited to post your thoughts on this essential topic and add to these lists.

Cheers, Susan

 

 

 

Thank you, Susan, for sending this!  I listened to the episode that you suggested and I'm working my way through the others. I think this question of accent is very important, and I really appreciated the idea of shifting some of the burden of effective communication to the listener.

It's easy to imagine that as ESL teachers, we are just lucky to have the super-power of understanding the accents of English learners from all over the world. In fact, it's a skill that we've developed and worked on! If only every listener who interacted with our students was willing to put in a little work...

I think it's worth noting that over the years I've had students tell me that they prefer one ESL teacher or another due to accent. For example, some Spanish speakers try to avoid teachers with Spanish accents because they feel it reinforces their "mistakes" in pronunciation. Others prefer a teacher with a similar accent because it gives them a little boost toward full comprehension during class. I try to remind students that everyone has an accent, and that they will hear every possible accent outside of school, so while they're here it's important to work with all students and teachers with the goal of improving both their intelligibility and their comprehension.

Liz

 

Thanks for these comments, Liz. I agree with you wholeheartedly that all it really takes is putting in a bit of work. I think we English teachers can play a valuable advocacy role by relaying to those we interact with that, in a majority of cases, it really is not that hard. Many times some patience is all that's required. I think the understandable stumbling block for many -- on both sides of the issue -- is embarrassment. I firmly believe that spreading the word that it really and truly is not that hard and sharing some of the communication breakdown strategies above can make a huge difference.  My hope is that more and more people can and will be empowered toward more effective communication.

Cheers, Susan