Discrimination in Evaluative Judgments against Foreign-Accented Job Candidates

Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of the ethnicity of speakers, as suggested in accents, on judgments of suitability for a job, and to establish the relationship between listeners' attitudes and the evaluation of accented speech. 203 subjects acted as personnel consultants and evaluated 10 job applicants for four jobs varying in social status. Five candidates spoke with an English-Canadian and five with a foreign accent. Data showed discrimination in favour of English-Canadian and against foreign-accented speakers, foreign-accented applicants were rated lower for the higher status jobs, but higher for lower status jobs. Measures of listeners' attitudes (authoritarianism and ethnocentrism) showed low but significant correlations with discrimination.

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