Abstract

Previous research has demonstrated that a relationship exists between perceived accent and ethnic group loyalty in a conflictual situation (i.e., when the members of an ethnic group are in conflict with members of the target language group) and that such a relationship may have behavioral consequences. The present study investigated (1) whether such a relationship exists in a situation when there is no conflict between the two language groups involved (i.e., for native Chinese speakers learning English in Montreal), (2) what the behavioral manifestations of this relationship would be, and (3) what factors influenced this relationship. Eighty-four participants from mainland China residing in Montreal listened to native Chinese reading a passage in English (spoken with various degrees of foreign accent) and Chinese in a matched-guise procedure. They then judged the speakers' accentedness, loyalty towards the Chinese, personality traits and ability to be leaders and members of two different group situations. Results revealed that a relationship between perceived accent and ethnic group loyalty indeed exists in a non-conflictual situation and that this relationship has consequences upon native Chinese listeners' choices of speakers as leaders and members of their group. These consequences are different from those observed in earlier research in a conflictual situation. Results overall highlight the importance of group factors in L2 learning and suggest the need to consider ethnic group loyalty as a variable in both applied linguistic research and L2 pedagogy.