Teachers feel pressure to ’standardise’ their accents in class

Dr Alex Baratta, lecturer in linguistics, found trainee teachers with Northern accents felt they were 'selling out'. Teachers feel under pressure to change their accents to be understood in the classroom, according to a study carried out at The University of Manchester. Dr Alex Baratta, a lecturer in linguistics, says that trainee teachers feel they are 'selling out' by neglecting their regional accents in favour of more 'standard' classroom speaking voices. Last year Dr Baratta conducted the first study into how accent modification in Britain affects the way people feel about themselves. He found that many people felt like fakes for 'poshing up' their accents to fit in to certain work and social situations, threatening their personal identities and often causing anger and frustration. His latest study explores accents in the classroom and examines the way regional accents affected teachers in their work. In's with trainee teachers with Northern accents, Dr Baratta said almost all of his ees admitted that their accent had been picked-up on by mentors, leading to too many teaching staff feeling they had to neglect their 'true voice' and modify accents that were somehow deemed inappropriate for education.