Teachers' Perceptions Of Students Regional Accents When Speaking English In The EFL Classroom: An Exploratory Case Study

Abstract

The present investigation explores how English teachers perceive students who use regional accents to speak English, particularly those who speak Javanese and Madurese. An exploratory case study is used in this study aimed to investigate English teachers' perceptions of their students who speak English in EFL classrooms with regional language accents. I analyzed the data using thematic analysis. I utilized two ways to collect data: focus group discussion and semi-structured interviews. The finding of this thesis, however, the four teachers' perspectives resulted in two distinct outcomes. They initially tolerated students who spoke English in class with regional language accents, but this second opinion stated that some teachers had accent intolerance towards students because, during the semi-structured interview, two teachers emphasized that when someone is used to speaking and listening to a standard inner circle accent, they find it quite unusual and uncomfortable to hear their students speaking English with regional accents.