How accent bias can impact a person’s job prospects

As anyone who has looked for a job can tell you, finding one isn’t the easiest process. This experience can be even more challenging if you’re new to a country and speak with what is perceived to be a “foreign” accent.

An accent can often impact how we are viewed and judged by others. Despite being proficient in a second language, having an accent considered “foreign” can still feel like a barrier.

At a time when more newcomers are coming to Canada and looking for jobs, it’s important to gain a deeper understanding of accent bias.

In our research, we have focused on how second language accents are associated with listener bias, broadly understood as negative responses to a speaker whose pronunciation is influenced by their previously known languages.

We conducted studies on what human resources (HR) instructors, students and professionals know about accent bias, how they understand it and how they enact it in making decisions about a person’s employability.