Linguistics Faculty Awarded Grant to Study Accent Bias

Two faculty in the Department of Linguistics, Shannon Barrios and Rachel Hayes-Harb, along with colleague Alayo Tripp from the University of Florida, have been awarded a prestigious Spencer Foundation Racial Equity Grant to examine accent and accent bias in adult language learning.

The Speech Acquisition Lab on the second floor of LNCO houses several soundbooths and a plethora of monitoring equipment that wouldn’t look out of place in a recording studio. It is in this room that the study, titled “The Impact of Social Bias on Adults’ Learning of the Pronunciation of a New Language,” will run until April 2027. This project builds on research Barrios and Hayes-Harb have already conducted which explored a new idea in the discipline of linguistics: the concept of accentism in spoken language acquisition.

Much previous research assumed that all input – any information that a language learner has access to – is treated as equally relevant to language learning. However, these collaborators’ work is indicating that perhaps that is not the case after all. Their work explores ideologies of language that assume there is a “right” and “wrong” way to speak a language. By using artificial languages, this research can focus specifically on this phenomenon without the interference that experimental participants would have from interacting with real languages they already have experience with.

Says Barrios, “Kids do this all the time with first language learning. They speak with the accent of their parents first, and then if they live in a different setting or their friends have a different accent, they’ll start speaking like their friends.”

“Some people say that language is the last acceptable form of racism – it seems somehow that because these value systems are communicated via language, that it’s under the radar for most people,” adds Hayes-Harb.  

The study’s design is relatively straightforward. Participants in the experiment will be told that they’ll be learning a language from a native speaker, and that the (artificial) language is from Western Europe. They’ll see photos of two teachers, one of whom is white and one of whom is Black. By using an artificial language and removing all other variables, this allows researchers to isolate the effect of any racial bias of adult language learners.

This is part of a phenomenon called “gating,” where language learners unconsciously decide who is the best model of a new language.

The grant, which will run for two years, presents opportunities for student researchers to work alongside the faculty. Undergraduate students regularly work in the Speech Acquisition Lab, presenting their work at conferences and co-authoring studies with Barrios and Hayes-Harb. Says Hayes-Harb, “This is a game-changer for us. It also permits us to honor the work of our undergraduate collaborators by providing them with funding, and taking them to conferences.” These research assistantship stipends and travel funding make it possible for students to truly immerse themselves in the research process and the scholarly community.

Joan Boulds, a linguistics major and research assistant on the project, outlines the breadth of experience she is gaining: “Through this project, I can get the experience in psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, and accentism research I need to contribute to this important field of study—one that affects everyone in one way or another. With the experience from this project in my toolbelt, I will be better prepared and accredited for any of the future graduate, doctorate, or professional endeavors I will undertake to reach this goal.”

Another research assistant and linguistics major, Jarely Cruz, adds her insights. “My participation will deepen my understanding of how social biases shape language acquisition and provide information crucial for navigating and deepening insights on “native speakerism” and accent bias. It will be extremely valuable as I pursue a career in ESL teaching and allow me to challenge linguistic discrimination and support a unique variety of language learners."

This research is intellectually significant because of the gap in the literature it fills; namely, the intersection of linguistic bias like “accentism” and adult language acquisition. More broadly, this research can help us better understand the impact of various social factors in the language classroom, ultimately paving the way to better teaching methodologies and outcomes for all language learners.