












































 
 

ISSN #2331-6845 

 
Welcome from the Senior Editor 

By Gertrude Tinker Sachs 
Georgia State University 

gatesolinaction2020@gmail.com  
 
 

Do I Hear an Accent? 

This is a question sometimes sounding like a bold statement that I often get from 

people meeting me for the first time or implicit in colleagues’ teasing about the 

way I speak.  What is it about accent and language variation that spurs 

conversation and/or controversy?  In general, variation in our lives provides an 

alternative, another form, way of being, seeing, or variant way of doing.  The 

alternative, from the perceived or dominant accepted norm, can be a very 

positive attribute or a very negative characteristic for some people, depending on 

their own lived histories and experiences with others’ ways of thinking and being 

and … speaking.  What reaction should be expected?  Sometimes one cannot 

place the response to a variation, in particular in the case of this editorial, 

linguistic variation.   One is often left speculating on the intent behind the 

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question.  Diversity, as an associate of variation, can be a seen as so beautiful 

when we consider the diversity of plants in our gardens, or the animals in the 

animal kingdom, for example.  People with different ethnic, cultural and linguistic 

diversity however, bring along a historical and social complexity that may not be 

evoked in the same way as the diversity of plants or animals.  

 For example, in today’s Atlanta Journal Constitution (Bilefsky, 2016), I read 

about the fatal beating of a Polish immigrant in London, England.  He and another 

friend were having pizza in a local restaurant and were chatting in Polish when a 

group of boys and girls (15 and 16 years of age) beat them up while calling them 

racial slurs.  One of the men died from the injuries.  The newspaper writer 

hypothesized that the beating was precipitated by the two men’s Polish and was 

believed to have been also exacerbated by the United Kingdom’s recent 

referendum to leave the European Union.  Here, difference was not accepted or 

celebrated.   It may have been perceived as a threat.  Many other similar linguistic 

examples of intolerance can be found in countries around the world. 

 In another example, close to home, here in Georgia, legislation was created 

to keep the linguistic and ethnic differences at bay.  Immigrants who came to the 

United States as children with undocumented parents, are suing the University 

System of Georgia over a policy that does not allow them to attend the top 

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universities in the state.  In addition, they must pay out of state tuition fees for 

the universities that they are allowed to attend.  However, the federal Deferred 

Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) programs afford these youths the rights to 

stay in the United States.  According to the PEW Research Center (2015), 75% of 

the total unauthorized immigrant population in 10 states are Mexicans.  The 

question to be asked is, is there an historical association between certain 

immigrants and the legislations created to keep them on the periphery?     

 Indeed, Baron (nd) reports that from as early as the 1750s “American 

nativists have sought to eradicate minority languages and discourage bilingualism 

wherever it could be found.”  German was the target in the 1750s and he states 

that “today . . . there is opposition to non-Anglophones and bilinguals --- this time 

not Germans but Hispanic and Asian Americans.” Baron notes that “ELA, English 

Language Amendment to make English the official language of the US have yet to 

be passed.”   On the plus side, New Mexico (1989), Oregon (1989) and 

Washington State (1989), Rhode Island (1992) have English Plus resolutions that 

encourage the preservation and maintenance of home languages and the study of 

English as an additional language (English Plus Resolution, 1989).     

In striving to recognize the validity of linguistic variation, we must 

acknowledge that acceptance of variation or difference is associated with many 

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factors such as the speaker’s ethnic background, race, class, gender, country or 

state or county of origin, family and community membership etc.  The issue of 

linguistic variation is highly political and therefore, when the question is asked, 

“Do I hear an accent?” one is inclined to be cautious in determining the 

questioner’s intent. 

 The papers in this edition are the insightful stories of educators as they 

reflect on their own positioning regarding languages and linguistic variation.  As 

always, the place to start any interrogation is with oneself.   What do I hear, see, 

think, and feel when I hear an accent that is different from my own?  How do I 

feel about those undocumented parents who bring their young children into my 

home country?   Should we accommodate all the languages spoken by immigrants 

or should we have one official language?   What is my stance?    

 Our writers for this edition are all United States based but from varying 

backgrounds: Park, coming from South Korea, Wang and Li coming from China, 

and Poindexter and Lewis, from the United States.   Collectively, these authors 

give us insight into the complexity of the critical issues surrounding identity and 

language, multilingualism, the hegemony of English, outsider and insider status in 

speaking varieties of English, and perceptions regarding the many Englishes 

accents and variations that exist in the world. 

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All the papers, with the exception of Li, were written in my doctoral class 

on Language Variation and Learning at Georgia State University in the spring of 

2015.  As the instructor of this class, I want to say that while I gave extensive 

feedback to my students, they also had opportunities for additional feedback 

when they participated on a panel at the 2015 Georgia Association of Teacher 

Educators’ (GATE) Conference on Jekyll Island in October of 2015.  I thank all 

those who attended the session and provided additional feedback, in particular 

Dr. Barbara Benson, past president of GATE.   Once the revised papers were 

uploaded to our GATESOL ournal system, all the papers were subjected to the 

journal’s review process with at least two or three reviewers each and here I 

pause to thank our reviewers.   Not all the doctoral papers have made it to the 

final round so I applaud all the submitters who stayed the course and made it to 

publication.    

 As educators, we all need to recognize and confront our biases and 

subjectivities so that we can work to change them for the betterment of ourselves 

and all the learners who come in our path.   After all, we too, came from 

somewhere and we all have accents. 

Let’s embrace and celebrate linguistic diversity and diversity of all types! 

 

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References 

Baron, D. (nd).  The legendary English-only vote of 1795.  Official American English  

only. Public Broadcasting Service. 

http://www.pbs.org/speak/seatosea/officialamerican/englishonly/ 

Bilefsky, D. (2016, New York Times). Fatal beating fuels debate over British  

xenophobia.  World.   Atlanta Journal Constitution, Sunday, September 4, 

2016 (page A16). 

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. Department of Homeland Security. 

https://www.dhs.gov/deferred-action-childhood-arrivals 

English Plus Resolution in New Mexico (1989). 

http://www.languagepolicy.net/archives/nm.htm 

English Plus Resolution, 112th Congress (2011-2012).  

https://www.congress.gov/bill/112th-congress/house-concurrent-

resolution/8 

PEW Research Center. (November 20, 2015).  What we know about illegal  

immigrant from Mexico.  http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-

tank/2015/11/20/what-we-know-about-illegal-immigration-from-mexico/ 

 

6                                                                      GATESOL in Action, Vol. 1, Fall 2016 

http://www.pbs.org/speak/seatosea/officialamerican/englishonly/
https://www.dhs.gov/deferred-action-childhood-arrivals
http://www.languagepolicy.net/archives/nm.htm
https://www.congress.gov/bill/112th-congress/house-concurrent-resolution/8
https://www.congress.gov/bill/112th-congress/house-concurrent-resolution/8
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/11/20/what-we-know-about-illegal-immigration-from-mexico/
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/11/20/what-we-know-about-illegal-immigration-from-mexico/

