Presenters

Shicheng Xu, Mia Pou & Yoon Hwang,  Department of Psychology, University of Alberta

Abstract

Name mispronunciations can be common experiences for individuals whose names are in a foreign language. Previous studies indicate hosts’ mispronunciation of international students’ (IS) heritage names may carry negative psychological and relational consequences to the students. However, very little is known about the perspectives of host members on this regard. The current study 1) assesses the perceived importance of pronouncing IS’ heritage names accurately from the views of host faculty and staff members, and 2) explores the strategies employed in handling pronunciation difficulties. Faculty and staff members at a Canadian university (n=173) completed an online survey. Thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) was conducted on the collected responses using NVivo. Preliminary analysis indicated that the majority of respondents perceived accurate pronunciation of IS’ heritage names as relatively important because it showed inclusiveness and respect to the students and their heritage culture. A lesser number of respondents who rated pronunciation accuracy as relatively unimportant regarded mispronunciations to be common and perceived IS as generally understanding toward the incidents. Upon encountering pronunciation challenges, most respondents actively tried to produce authentic pronunciations and approached to learn from the students if difficulties persisted. In sum, the present findings reinstate the importance of pronunciation accuracy to IS’ heritage names from the opinions of faculty and staff members at a host institution and highlight the need for the provision of different resources (e.g., pronunciation workshops of different names) to assist members of the host institution to overcome pronunciation challenges during their interaction with IS.

Poster

Authors & Affiliations

M. Pou, Y. Hwang, S. Xu, D. Zhang & K. Noels (Psychology Department, University of Alberta)