This presentation delivers and discusses the results of a questionnaire conducted among students of the School of English, AMU Poznań, Poland in October 2002. About 200 students participated and their views on accent teaching are quite uniform.

 

Offered a choice between the American or British pronunciation models, prospective students themselves opt for which of these two varieties they wish to master. Subsequently, in accordance with their wishes, they follow the appropriate practical phonetics course for two years and are exposed to the speech of native speakers.

 

Since the choice is made prior to taking up coursework and is the conscious decision of each individual student, it is worth examining the motivational factors that lead them in one or the other direction.

 

Therefore, in completing the questionnaire, students were asked to justify each of five responses.

 

The first question asked which accent they had chosen: British or American. The second question sought to elicit the rationale behind their choice. The third explored the students’ stance on accent teaching in general. The fourth question aimed at educing responses concerning varieties other than General American or Received Pronunciation such as Irish, Scottish and Canadian English. The final question pertained to the students’ views on teaching accent as prospective teachers, as many of the graduates of the School of English will be embarking on careers in teaching.

 

The results express the students’ opinions and provide some insight into the question of what future teachers of English will be teaching their future students and why.