ENGLISH ACCENT VARIATIONS OF AMERICAN ENGLISH (AmE) AND BRITISH ENGLISH (BrE): AN IMPLICATION IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

Abstract

This research describes English accent variations including American English (AmE) and British English (BrE) and its implication in English Language Teaching (ELT). This research is library research. The analysis shows that the two most common varieties of English are American and British English. To learn English accents both American English and British English, we can use several online tools, such as Google Translate and Text-to-Speech apps (NaturalReader and toPhonetics). American English dialects usually pronounce the letter 'r' by rolling the tongue back and pressing the roof of the mouth together whereas the British English dialect does not pronounce the 'r' in words, especially when it occurs at the end of a word. There are several benefits to learning English accents, including facilitating communication and interaction with native speakers, giving the impression of our English ability, provide a positive to increase communication skills. Knowing the English accent makes it easier for us to get better understand English, so the spoken language cannot be separated from the accent. Therefore, this is important for teachers to recognize the existence of American English and British English with the intention that teachers are not faced with any difficulties that might be encountered later. They need to know and understand the characteristics of the differences between the two variants for the sake of strengthening the provision of their teaching and learning process. The problem of using English variants is not the most important thing to note. Being able to speak English fluently with a fluent accent, maybe a pride for people. But there are no provisions governing the use of certain variants. Both teachers and students can speak English freely accordingly to their desired variants.