University Students’ Preferences and Recognition: British English Vs. American English

Marisa Yoestara, Juwita Wahyuni

Abstract


British English (BrE) or American English (AmE) are two common English varieties known and used in Indonesia in almost all level of formal education, including in university. This study was intended to find out two folds, which are; (1) the varieties of English the university students prefer to use in spelling and pronunciation; and (2) their ability to recognize the differences between these varieties in vocabulary. The design of this study was a descriptive design which involved 30 students of the English Department at the University of Serambi Mekkah from various semesters but with an average level of English capability. Questionnaire and oral test were used as the instruments to find out the students’ preferences of English varieties in spelling and pronunciation; while, written test is used to find out the students’ ability to recognize the difference of vocabulary within the two varieties. The result of the questionnaire and oral test was analysed by using percentage formula to find out which variation was more dominant in both spelling and pronunciation. Meanwhile, the written test result was checked for its true and false answer in order to decide how far the students could recognize the difference of vocabulary between BrE and AmE. The result showed that more than half of the students preferred to use American English variety in terms of spelling and pronunciation, 55.3% and 60.1% respectively. The results of this study also revealed that 65.2% of the university students had the ability to recognize the differences between BrE and AmE in terms of vocabulary.

Full Text:

PDF

References


Alftberg, A. K. (2009). British or American English? –Attitudes, awareness, and usage among pupils in a secondary school. Unpublished bachelor thesis, Halmstad University – Halmstad.

Algeo, J. (2006). British or American English? A handbook of word and grammar patterns. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Barber, C., Beal, J. C., & Shaw, P. A. (2009). The English language: A historical introduction. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Björkman, B. (2013). English as an academic lingua franca: An investigation of form and communicative effectiveness. De Gruyter Mouton. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110279542

Bolton, K. (2006). World Englishes today. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

Creswell, J. W. (2014). Educational research: Planning, conducting and evaluating quantitative and qualitative Research (4th ed.). Boston: Pearson.

Gelderen, E. (2006). A History of the English language. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Kerrigan, J. (2008). Archipelagic English: literature, history, and politics 1603-1707. Oxford University Press.

Lindell, c. (2014). British or American English?-An investigation of awareness of the differences in British and American vocabulary and spelling. Unpublished Bachelor thesis, University of Halmstad – Halmstad.

Schneider, E. W. (2007). Postcolonial English: Varieties around the world. Cambridge University Press.

Tottie, G. (2002). An introduction to American English. Oxford: Blackwell Publisher Ltd.




DOI: https://doi.org/10.35308/ijelr.v4i1.5561

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2022 Marisa Yoestara, Juwita Wahyuni

p-ISSN : 2721-429X
e-ISSN : 2721-4273

Published by Language Center of Universitas Teuku Umar
Website : http://jurnal.utu.ac.id/IJELR
Email    : ijelr@utu.ac.id

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.