From the course: Public Speaking for Non-Native English Speakers

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Accent bias is real

Accent bias is real

From the course: Public Speaking for Non-Native English Speakers

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Accent bias is real

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- The first step, recognizing that accent bias is real. Before we begin practicing how to make your speech more intelligible and comprehensible, let's take a moment to consider why that work will help you advance your goals. You probably decided to take this course because you have experienced accent bias. Maybe it made you less confident. Perhaps you think your accent is having a negative impact on the way people see you. These feelings are common, and research shows that accent bias is real. It's not in your imagination. Our accents, like many other parts of our being, help us to distinguish certain groups from others. The practice of defining an in-group, an out-group based on speech dates back millennia. In fact, in the Old Testament, the tribe of Gilead identified the Ephraimites based on their difficulty pronouncing the sh sound associated with the word shibboleth. Each time we divide people, whether it's based on…

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