Multiculturalism, English, and Globalization.

Throughout the readings, one of the most important aspects of multiculturalism, English, and globalization is the breaking down of stereotypes associated with English.  Kubota and Ward do an excellent job discussing this in their article about World Englishes.

Throughout the article, Kubota discusses the importance of making students realize their own accents.  I came to the realization that I had an accent a few years ago.  For the most part, I guess I just believed that the Chicago accent was a "normal, "standard" English.  I mainly viewed U.S. in 4 accents:  The Southern accent, New Yorker accent, bostonian accent, and then the "normal" midwestern accent. Everyone around me spoke similarly to me, so I had no reason to really be cognizant of my own accent. It wasn't until I was surrounded by a few people from Florida, when I said the word "apple," with an æ. I was met with giggles because of the way I spoke.  After this encounter, I realized people thought differently about my accent, and maybe my Chicago accent wasn't as "normal" as I once thought.

Along with picking up on accents, people have stereotypes associated with accents.  A common stereotype for U.S. English is that southern accents may sound less intelligent.  Before traveling to Liverpool, England, I wanted to get a glimpse of the accent over there.  After looking at Scouse (Liverpool's accent) I was met with a bunch of derogatory associations with Scouse.  A large number of people on the internet Liverpool to being the "Armpit of England."  Videos of Scouse on the internet portray it as a language of those of lower socio-economic status. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4vxN9vP3mg).  After arriving at Liverpool, I did run into many people who did speak similarly to the video.  Aside from the few examples on the internet I have seen of Scouse, I did not have many preconceived notions of people with such an accent.  I ran into college students, professors, or shop workers who all shared the same accents, free from a collective stereotype.  Other British English speakers may have had other ingrained feelings towards Scouse accent. On a similar note, many students on my international floor In England failed to identify a Southern U.S. English accent as "Unintelligent."  This shows more perspectives and how stereotypes can be paired with schema.

The main point of those stories is to show that ideas and stereotypes can be developed with accents. By addressing these different accents, stereotypes can be broken down or avoided completely.  Every speaker has their own accent and sense of individuality.  It is important that English Language learners, and all speakers of languages learn this.