CAJ | 학술논문

Since“it is impossible to speak English without an accent”(Wardhaugh 1998: 43), English accent has been attached first importance to both native and non-native speakers. This study aims to explore teenagers ’understanding and attitudes to-ward differing English accents by investigating 19 international high school students’preferences toward five English audio sam-ples (the same materials with different accents) in Chingmai International School, Thailand. On the basis of five audio samples and respondents’self-reported answers, the results show that British English, instead of“powerful”American English, emerges as the preferred accent. The results also indicate that the need to understand both accented and non-accented English is required for EFLs. Finally, teaching implications concerning pronunciation teaching in EFL classrooms are also put forward.