Varieties of English Accents: A Study of the Degree of Preference and Intelligibility Among Second-Year English Major Students at Maejo University

Thailand is regarded as a country of the expanding circle (EC). The fact that English has become a working language in the asean community makes it vital that Thai students are aware of the varieties of English. The study examined the perception of English majors towards varieties of English pronunciation. Listening tasks spoken by speakers in the expanding circle (EC), the inner circle (IC) and outer circle (OC), were presented to students enrolled in a course on Sound and English Sound System. The students rated accent preference and intelligibility. A semi-structure interview was included for more in-depth information. The results revealed that the variety of English that was perceived as the most favorable accent by the participants was English spoken by speakers from IC. The participants were more aware of varieties of English, especially those spoken by non-native speakers of English. However, English spoken by speakers from the EC was perceived as the most intelligible.