Standard accents in the Grenadian secondary and tertiary educational system: A study of attitudes and usage

Doctoral examination procedure finished at: Doctoral examination procedure at University of Münster

Start date of doctoral examination procedure: 01/04/2015

End date of doctoral examination procedure: 31/03/2025

Name of the doctoral candidate: Hänsel, Eva

Doctoral subject: Englische Philologie

Doctoral degree: Dr. phil.

Awarded by: Department 09 - Philologies

The proposed dissertation addresses the issue of whether endonormative standards are emerging in the small island countries of the Caribbean by using the educational system in Grenada as an example context. The degree of endonormativity of Standard English in Grenadian secondary and tertiary educational institutions will be evaluated based on an analysis of the accents of students, teachers, and lecturers as well as on an investigation of students’ attitudes toward the accents used by their educators. Reading passages will provide the data for an acoustic and auditory accent analysis and a ttitudes will be elicited by means of a verbal guise survey and interviews. By shedding lig ht on the question of whether endonormative national standards are emerging in the small Caribbean island nation, the proposed dissertation will contribute to the discussion of the situation of standards in the Caribbean as well as to the question of whether emerging standards are generally national in nature .