Adjusting Students' Attitude toward English Accent in China's EFL Education from the Perspective of World Englishes

Faced with the social phenomenon that EFL school education in China is currently blamed for its inefficiency and it is proposed that some urgent measures should be taken to cope with this issue, the present study advocates a shift of Chinese students' attitude toward English accent. Actually Chinese speakers' attitude has gone through several changes in the past half a century due to China's contact with the West under different historical circumstances. In this paper concepts of World Englishes and China English are introduced and used as justification for adjustment of Chinese attitude. Then Chinese students' attitude toward English accent is illustrated and it is the negative feeling about their accent that hinders them from focusing on what is essentially important in English learning for EFL learners. Finally suggestions are offered for both students and teachers. It also should be noticed that a liberal attitude in EFL education will both benefit Chinese students' English learning and the English language per se.