Euro–English and Croatian national identity: are Croatian university students ready for English as a lingua franca?

Josipović Smojver, Višnja and Stanojević, Mateusz-Milan. (2011). Euro–English and Croatian national identity: are Croatian university students ready for English as a lingua franca?. Suvremena lingvistika, 37(71). pp. 105-130. ISSN 1847-117X

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Abstract

The present research establishes the impact of globalisation and the possible emergence of a Euro–English on the attitude of Croats towards their foreign accent. As one’s foreign accent gives away one’s national identity, the extent to which one strives to approach native–like pronunciation or preserve and display features of one’s national identity varies considerably and depends on a number of factors. We look at how gender, proficiency in English, the sociolinguistic status of the subject’s regional dialect of Croatian, regional pride, and perfectionism determine the way in which the subjects view their own production, teaching models and non–native speakers. It is shown that there is a clear divide between ’liberal’ and ’traditional’ students with regard to ELF, which is connected primarily with student profiles and self–assessed pronunciation proficiency. Gender, regional provenance and self–assessed perfectionism also play a role, but to a smaller extent. All these issues seem to be connected with the construction of identity in various societal roles.

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