Giles + the Acceptability Test Flashcards
What was the drive of the research?
Into the attitudes people have towards certain accents.
How did Giles conduct this research?
Used a number of University student groups and asked each group to listen to a speech about crime and punishment. The speakers (unknown to the students) were actually actors reading from the same script, but with different accents. After the speeches were finished, each student was asked to rate how approachable and how knowledgeable each speaker was.
What were the results?
Giles found that the speakers who used Standard English were rated more knowledgeable but less approachable. The speakers with accents were all rated less knowledgeable but more approachable.
What do the results show?
That despite the scripts being exactly the same, the SE speakers were rated more knowledgeable based off of their accents. This proves that there is a general assumption that SE speakers must be from a higher class and therefore must have a better education than the speakers with the accent, but this isn’t necessarily true.
