Original scientific paper
Euro–English and Croatian national identity: are Croatian university students ready for English as a lingua franca?
Višnja Josipović Smojver
; Filozofski fakultet u Zagrebu
Mateusz–Milan Stanojević
orcid.org/0000-0001-7221-5842
; Filozofski fakultet u Zagrebu
Abstract
The present research establishes the impact of globalisation and the possible emergence
of a Euro–English on the attitude of Croats towards their foreign accent. As one’s foreign
accent gives away one’s national identity, the extent to which one strives to approach
native–like pronunciation or preserve and display features of one’s national identity varies
considerably and depends on a number of factors. We look at how gender, proficiency in
English, the sociolinguistic status of the subject’s regional dialect of Croatian, regional pride,
and perfectionism determine the way in which the subjects view their own production,
teaching models and non–native speakers. It is shown that there is a clear divide between
’liberal’ and ’traditional’ students with regard to ELF, which is connected primarily with
student profiles and self–assessed pronunciation proficiency. Gender, regional provenance
and self–assessed perfectionism also play a role, but to a smaller extent. All these issues
seem to be connected with the construction of identity in various societal roles.
Keywords
national identity; Croatian language; English pronunciation; English as a Lingua Franca; speakers of Croatian; Euro–English
Hrčak ID:
70497
URI
Publication date:
14.7.2011.
Visits: 2.204 *