The Impact of the American English Variety on RP English in EFL Classrooms: The Case of English Teachers and Students at BELHADJ BOUCHAIB University Centre

Abstract

Received pronunciation (RP) is the variey frequently used as an academic model for teaching English as a foreign language. Nevertheless, American English is honed by a remarkable expansion of international business, techonology (internet), film industry and intrenational education. This significant expansion of American English has highly influenced the non native speakers (NNS) in their vocabulary choices and in their use of English mainly EFL students who tend to show this preferences inside the academic English context (classrooms). This current research work is concerned by the position of American English variety in the acdemic context, and it attempts to direct EFL teachers towards considering American English as an additional (to RP) academic variety in teaching. To this ends, the research study adopts a mixed method approach (quantitative and qualitative) conducted through (65) students’ questionnaire and a semi-structured interview which was conducted with (10) teachers in order to indentify their view points about American English use in classrooms. Moreover, the research study makes use of an observation grid that enables the researcher gaining more insight into the use of American English variety at BELHADJ BOUCHAIB University Centre EFL classrooms. The results show that the majority (71%) of the students prefered American English mainly in speaking. Whereas, both students and teachers claimed the usefulness of both varieties (RP and American) in teaching and learning some subjecet matters ( Oral and written expressions).