Attitudes of Japanese nationals resident in Scotland towards standard and nonstandard varieties of Scottish English speech

This paper investigates the perceptions of 32 Japanese nationals of two varieties of English speech; Scottish Standard English speech and Glasgow vernacular speech, and the influence of gender and place of residence on these perceptions. The experiment employed both direct and indirect techniques of language attitude measurement. The results obtained suggest a general tolerance for both the standard and non-standard varieties of Scottish English selected and indicate that both gender and place of residence are not significant variables in determining the language attitudes of the informants. The findings are discussed in relation to the pedagogical implications for the choice of linguistic model in English language teaching and in terms of the potential direction of future attitudinal research in this area.