Voicing expertise: Exploring strategic use of vowel variants in the English pronunciation of Chinese language instructors

Accent often carries social implications and can serve as an identity marker, reflecting how speakers perceive themselves and how they wish to be perceived by others. This study employs a variationist approach to examine the agency of Chinese English language teachers in negotiating their professional identities through accent. Instead of a loose association between identity and accent, detailed sociophonetic analyses reveal that these teachers construct desired self-representations through the strategic use of linguistic resources. Findings indicated that participants’ perceptions of the relationship between teacher qualifications and native-like/first-language-influenced English accent can predict their pronunciation patterns. Relating to how they perceive nativeness and professional identity, participants’ use of robust DRESS–TRAP nuclei and larger tongue movements in MOUTH and PRICE can be interpreted as strategies to distance themselves from a “non-native” identity, which is often stigmatized within the language teaching community. The utilization of stylistic resources allows participants to construct a professional teacher persona and signify expertise in language teaching.