Last year, Dr Alex Baratta, a lecturer in linguistics at the University of Manchester, published research showing that trainee teachers with regional accents are often told by their mentors to try and speak “the Queen’s English” when in the classroom.
However, new findings from Dr Baratta’s work, revealed last week, show that students think otherwise.
Research involving the views of 55 students of a range of ages, class levels and ethnic groups at three Manchester schools – a state primary, a state secondary and a private primary – found an overwhelming respect for the diversity of accents.
Students made comments such as “I don’t think there should be a standard accent because it’s wrong to discriminate”, “you should just talk how you want to” and “people shouldn’t have to change themselves”.
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