Learners’ beliefs about teachers’ social characteristics influence their pronunciation preferences

Learners’ beliefs about language and language users impact the inferences they make about linguistic structure as well as their learning outcomes (Ballard & Winke 2017; Falkert 2016; Hayes-Harb et al. 2022). Hayes-Harb et al. (2022) demonstrated that participants preferred speech samples exhibiting a pronunciation pattern that was associated with a “teacher” over that of a “student” in a simulated language classroom context, indicating that language learners differentially weigh their input based on characteristics of the speaker. We extend this work by investigating whether preferences for the teacher’s pronunciation could be modulated by attributing “favorable” versus “unfavorable” social characteristics to the teacher regarding their teaching experience, teaching effectiveness, and linguistic background. We found that participants still tended to prefer the teacher’s pronunciation, but that this preference was reduced when the teacher had been characterized unfavorably. We thus provide evidence that preferences for speech input from teachers are modulated by beliefs about the social characteristics of the teacher, contributing to our understanding of linguistic stereotyping and its impact on language teaching and learning.