A study conducted by researchers at the University of Essex reveals that children as young as five years old link accents to social stereotypes, associating middle-class accents like Standard Southern British English (SSBE) with intelligence. The research involved 27 five-year-olds and utilized EEG technology to assess their attitudes towards accents. Results showed a bias favoring SSBE and a negative perception of the Yorkshire accent, while children showed less negativity towards the stigmatised Essex accent. The findings have major implications for addressing accent stereotypes and promoting inclusivity in educational settings.
One crucial finding of our study indicates that children associate the middle-class SSBE accent with intelligence, while they perceive the Yorkshire accent as lacking cleverness.
Our research explores how childrenâs biases towards accents develop, revealing significant implications for educational policies aimed at fostering appreciation of linguistic diversity.
Collection
[
|
...
]