Abstract:

Reading authentic materials seems to be more and more relevant for language acquisition and learning. Some applied linguists see particular advantages in being exposed to authentic languages as the writers try to imitate the language that is used in everyday life for real-life purposes. Contemporary literary prose provides examples of the natural use of English. In English classes, learners commonly read authentic texts, analysing the language from several perspectives such as lexicology, grammar or orthography.

Accents are the ways in which people in a particular area, country or social group pronounce words, and English learners are primarily exposed to their use through watching videos or listening to a variety of sound materials. Although the teaching of pronunciation now promotes the concept of mutual intelligibility between speakers of English, native speakers are sensitive to a person’s accent as it can reveal their social and/or geographical background. Therefore, we decided to focus on the British contemporary writers’ perceptions of English accents and varieties.

Our study aims to determine whether contemporary British English native-speaking writers mention different accents as markers of who their characters represent. The students attending an ELT course were divided into three groups, and each group was given one book to be read in two months. The goal of reading was to identify all the examples in which the author tries to present the character’s accent or their variety of English. Since prose is a written form of text, the students were expected to copy writers’ descriptions of the used pronunciation as clearly and detailed as possible. The samples presented in our study will be theoretically explained and thoroughly analysed.

Keywords:

Accents, varieties of English, social and geographical background, authentic materials.