Attitudes of Yemeni EFL Students at Hadhramout University Towards American and British Accents

The present study investigates the attitudes of Yemeni EFL students at Hadhramout university towards American (henceforth, AE) and British (henceforth, BE) accents. A quantitative survey approach is employed in order to collect numerical data from students. The researcher adopted the verbal guise questionnaire to collect the data. Ninety Yemeni EFL students from the fourth level of two colleges at Hadhramout university were selected as convenience sampling (nonprobability sampling) to fill in the questionnaire. The study reveals that: firstly, the majority of Yemeni EFL students have a preference towards the use of the AE accent than the BE one. Secondly, Yemeni EFL students hold positive attitudes towards both accents in terms of the dimensions of status and solidarity, however, they hold more positive attitudes towards the AE accents in terms of status. Finally, the majority of the students were able to identify both accents. The study suggests that the familiarity with the AE accent and the powerful impact of the American media around the world are the main factors for preferring the AE accent over the BE accent.