Factors and Challenges in English Accent Acquisition for Speakers-of-Other-Languages in Canada

In order to study native-like English accent acquisition among immigrants, a quantitative research design was conducted investigating age, gender, and exposure of 60 Iranian and Chinese immigrants in Canada. In order to collect the data, the researcher took use of a questionnaire, a reading text, a one-minute talk. Independent sample t-test indicated no significant difference between native-like accent acquisition and gender of the participants. However, a significant differene between native-like accent acquisition and age of the subjects were found by independent sample t-test. At last, descriptive statistics and ANOVA revealed a significant difference between native-like accent acquisition and exposure. According to the results, the highest mean belongs to ‘age of arrival’ component, followed by ‘length of residence’, ‘situations where one must speak English’, ‘number of native English friends’, ‘years of education in English’, ‘places where one speaks English’, and ‘use of English on a daily basis’, respectively

Keywords:

native , non-native , native-like accent , accent acquisition