For any person with an accent, the first question you tend to get when interacting with others is: “Where are you from?” Linguists note that accent is a highly salient or recognizable feature of an individual that allows listeners to identify a speaker as an out-group member or foreigner almost immediately based on their speech alone (Derwing & Munro 2009). They note that people are generally very good at picking up on different accents even with limited exposure, but that is not always a good thing. Adults tend to view familiar accents in one of two ways. Familiar, western accents like British-English and French-accented English are often given prestige in the US, while the accents spoken by marginalized or immigrant populations are often viewed pejoratively. Unfamiliar accents often face a similarly negative perception, with people rating individuals with unfamiliar accents as unpleasant sounding, unintelligent, and less competent than other speakers. Unfortunately this stigmatization and stereotyping of accents does not end in theory. It is often translated into the real world and leads to discrimination against people based on the way that they speak when they seek employment, housing, and even defense or protection from the legal system. Linguists refer to this concept as linguistic discrimination.

The interaction of accent, communication, and discrimination has been studied for several decades, with results showing that individuals with perceived foreign accents often face prejudice and damaging or incorrect stereotypes from native English speakers which leads to discrimination (Lippi-Green 1997; Gluszek & Dovidio 2010). This research is particularly alarming when one investigates trends in immigration and the international movement of people in an increasingly globalized economy. There are currently over 44 million foreign-born residents in the United States and only 50% of immigrants are considered proficient in English (Radford 2019). Immigration and globalization trends indicate that Americans will spend more time interacting with people who have foreign accents over the next few decades, rendering perceptions of those accents especially important for policymakers who hope to curb discrimination. Of particular concern in this context are the examples of linguistic discrimination that openly permeate institutions like universities. During that late 1980s and early 1990s, a sharp increase in the number of foreign accented professors and graduate educators (GEs) lead to complaints from students stating that they find it harder to learn new concepts or get high grades when the professor or GE of a course has a foreign accent. Studies show, however, that student outcomes are actually the same whether the class GE is foreign accented or not, and that many students complaints actually stem from bias and excuse making.

In order to deal with this issue, I have proposed an intervention that seeks to curb linguistic discrimination on the University of Oregon campus by educating students about the importance of listening and being an active participant when communicating with others. Research shows that it is much more difficult for a non-native speakers of English to try and change their speaking habits than it is for a listener to improve their ability to understand an accent (Xie et al. 2018; Bradlow & Bent 2008). For the intervention I recommend delivering a linguistics-based lecture and providing an accent training strategy to undergraduate students that enhances their confidence with understanding accents while also informing them about their power as listeners during the UO’s Week of Welcome student orientation. A well timed, science-based intervention, like the one have proposed, has the capacity to improve the inclusivity of the UO campus by creating a more positive environment for educators and students alike.