Assessing Accent Anxiety: A measure of Non-native English Speakers’ concerns about their Accents

Abstract

Non-native speakers (NNS) often experience anxiety due to challenges posed by their accented speech. Building on these insights, this paper introduces an instrument, the Accent Anxiety Scale (AAS), specifically designed to assess three sources of NNSs’ accent anxiety, including: (1) NNS’s apprehension about negative evaluations about themselves, personally, tied to their non-standard pronunciation (Fear of Negative Evaluation), (2) concerns about rejection from the native speaker community because of their "foreign" pronunciation (Fear of Intergroup Rejection), and (3) anxieties over potential communication hurdles attributed to their pronunciation (Intelligibility Concerns). We evaluated the psychometric robustness of the AAS by analyzing data from a total of 474 immigrant and international student NNSs at a western Canadian university. Study 1 (N = 203) employed exploratory factor analysis and correlational analysis, Study 2 (N = 153) employed confirmatory factor analysis and replicated validation in study 1, and Study 3 (N = 118) tested temporal consistency and provided further evidence validating the scale. Robust evidence emerges supporting the factor structure, reliability, and validity of the AAS. The findings not only support the use of the AAS in research, they also offer implications for pedagogical strategies aimed at alleviating NNSs’ accent anxiety.