Research finds that non-native English speakers get less attention than native speakers.

This suggests that accents can be a form of bias.

This is linked to stereotypes and cognitive processing.

We can develop strategies to improve knowledge transmission across cultures.

By Amir Sepehri, Ph.D., and Julia Smith, MSc

Anyone who speaks a language other than their mother tongue has inevitably had moments of self-doubt about their accent: “Do they understand me? Do I sound silly? Is my pronunciation okay?”

While it’s tempting to dismiss these fears and reassure yourself that no one is judging you based on your accent, recent research suggests there’s some basis to those concerns. Amir Sepehri, assistant professor of marketing at ESSEC Business School, and co-authors Aliah Zewail at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Reihane Boghrati at Arizona State University, and Mohammad Atari at the University of Massachusetts Amherst published a study in Psychological Science suggesting public speakers with non-native English accents struggled to get attention compared with native speakers. This indicates that there’s work to be done when it comes to sharing knowledge across cultures and languages.

In our interconnected world, it’s easier than ever to share your message, but ensuring your message gets heard is more complicated. TED Talks are one strategy for spreading the word, used by experts all over the world and viewed by millions of people. However, not every video will rack........

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