English is defined as the Standard against which all other languages must be meas-ured. My point here is that in English Canada language is real in its consequences forboth the native speaker of English and the non-native speaker. But more than lan-guage itself, accent is often the yardstick. Even total fluency in English does notchange the arrogant perception, rooted in colonialism, that some types of bilingualspeakers are (dis)able. An accent triggers a perception of lesser quality. 7

Acker, Joan. 1997. My Life as a Feminist Sociologist; or, Getting the Man out of My Head. In Feminist Sociology: Life Histories of a Movement, ed. Barbara Laslett and Barrie Thorne, 28-47. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

The moment the young waitress heard my request uttered in my accented English, my ESL-ness blocked her ability to understand; she seemed to have become deaf. As I spoke, the expression of her face turned more and more hopeless. After I repeated my request a couple of times while the waitress kept saying "pardon me," "pardon me," my student intervened to "interpret."

Class, gender and politics are closely connected to the character and outcomes of immigrants' encounters with the language of the society of settlement.

Language, in particular the accents of those who have learned to speak the dominant English language as adults, is one of the most important markers of Otherness and "difference," and of devaluation.

represents a threat to whiteness and Standard English. Hence, in the dominant discourse, bilingualism is constructed as inadequacy, impoliteness, and transgression, and is harshly disapproved; it is for the non-native speaker of English to be bilingual, not for the native speaker

We had dared to challenge the supremacy of Standard English, but at the cost of our child's marginalization in the classroom.

She knew that the education her daughter Gloria had achieved was of little value unless she spoke "un-accented" English:

While through Lemert's influence I integrate my life experience into my teaching and research, through Acker's metaphor of "getting the man out of [one's] head," I have been encouraged to get the power of Standard English and whiteness out of my head to be able to reflect and write on the connections between Standard English, colonialism, whiteness, and the ESL immigrant experience.

Probing the connections between Standard English, colonialism, whiteness and the immigrant experience, this piece moves from an educator's autobiography to the analysis of other immigrant lives to understand the production of a dominant discourse that reaffirms whiteness and the native speaker of English over the identity of the speaker of English as second language.

Consequently, thepractice, values and attitudes of speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are influenced bythe lens of measurement and comparison of language against a standardised dominantlanguage or dialect, allowing little space for the language variation that is a core compo-nent of our human identity (Clyne, 2008; Goldstein & Iglesias, 2001). In contrast, thelanguage use of individuals seeking speech-language pathology services challenges thesestandardised boundaries of “correct” language use through the geographical, cultural anddiachronic variation of language and the cross-linguistic influence in an increasinglyglobalised world. Thus, it is necessary for SLPs to critique the discourses that influencetheir own language attitudes and bias to accurately distinguish true communicationdisorders from language differences that may result from variations in dialect (Lowet al., 2019; Toohill et al., 2012).

Information about the study wasprovided online to potential participants.

In the current study, participants were aware that responses werebeing used in a study about language variation; hence, responses may reflect how partici-pants thought they should feel, rather than what they felt.

The study alsohas some limitations. Sample bias may be present due to the location of the study and thenetworks used in the distribution of the study. A

This may lead to teachers’ over-referral of children from linguistically diverse back-grounds to speech-language pathology services as their dialectal differences are perceivedas a potential communication disorder (Stow & Dodd, 2003). Although there is researchavailable both internationally and within Australia regarding language attitudes and theirimpact on school children, no studies have been published investigating SLPs’ attitudestowards non-standard dialects.

Whilst speakers draw on dialect for expression of identity, they also hold unacknow-ledged attitudes towards others based on language and dialect. According to the socialidentity theory of intergroup behaviour (Tajfel & Turner, 1986), when encountering some-one from a different background, people do not act as individuals engaging on the basis ofinterpersonal relationships, but rather as members of a defined group.

In contrast, thelanguage use of individuals seeking speech-language pathology services challenges thesestandardised boundaries of “correct” language use through the geographical, cultural anddiachronic variation of language and the cross-linguistic influence in an increasinglyglobalised world.

Consequently, thepractice, values and attitudes of speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are influenced bythe lens of measurement and comparison of language against a standardised dominantlanguage or dialect, allowing little space for the language variation that is a core compo-nent of our human identity