Student Theses and Dissertations
Date of Award
Spring 5-17-2024
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
B.A.
Honors Designation
yes
Program of Study
Psychology
Language
English
First Advisor
Dr. Jennifer Mangels, Ph.D.
Second Advisor
Dr. Jaihyun Park, Ph.D.
Third Advisor
Dr. Daniele Artistico, Ph.D.
Abstract
Many people in the United States speak with a non-native accent that reveals their racial identity. Accent bias and discrimination are prevalent issues in many social interactions, including academic and work environments. Past research has argued that foreign-accented speech is generally more difficult to process. The present study aimed to explore the impact of Chinese and Latino accents compared to standard American accents on subjective evaluations and objective memory in a classroom setting. Participants were asked to evaluate speaker competence, trustworthiness, and warmth in math and Western literature lessons and completed a memory test for them. I found that Chinese-accented speakers were evaluated as more competent in the math lesson than in the Western literature lesson, consistent with the “Asians are good at math” stereotype. American-accented speakers were rated highest in all measures overall and Latino-accented speakers were rated the lowest, showing stereotypes of these ethnic groups’ status. Memory results suggested that participants who learned from accented speakers did not have worse overall memory compared to those who learned from native speakers. In the Western literature topic, where participants were less experienced, they tended to remember more from visual information of the lesson than speakers’ verbal information; this differential dependence on lesson components was strengthened for accented lessons. Lastly, recent exposure to Chinese-accented instructors might provide a positive exemplar that carries over to increase warmth rating for the Chinese group as a whole. In sum, findings from the present study revealed the impact of non-native accents in classrooms not only on subjective evaluations, but also on learning, and thus, have implications for education in multi-cultural learning environments.
Recommended Citation
Lau, Ka Wai, "Listener Biases toward Chinese and Latino Instructor Accents: Their Impact on Subjective Evaluations and Objective Memory Measures" (2024). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/bb_etds/187