Sep 9, 2026 · 22 min · 8 segments
In this episode we look at why people have different accents, understanding speech diversity and when a speech pathologist might get involved. Clark, E. L., Easton, C., & Verdon, S. (2021). The…
Sarah VerdonHost
Lucia FlintHost
We are going to talk about whether the differences in accents is an error that we need to correct, or whether it's something we need to respect.
Ooh, and I really appreciate you picking this because this was very heavily similar to my PhD topic, which looked at culturally responsive practice in speech pathology.
So I can probably look at this one with no notes and just talk off the top of my head.
So Sarah, tell me, when might someone come to speech pathology wanting to get support for their accent?
... would be in the camp of saying that as speech pathologists, we should not offer accent modification therapy-
... um, because a person's accent is a big part of their identity, particularly their cultural identity, and that in the world we should accept diversity in the way that people talk rather than trying to change it to make everyone sound the same.
... which is not accent modification in that the aim is not to get rid of an accent or to make someone have an Australian accent, for example, but it's about making a person aware of why other people might not be able to understand them-
We are going to talk about whether the differences in accents is an error that we need to correct, or whether it's something we need to respect.
Ooh, and I really appreciate you picking this because this was very heavily similar to my PhD topic, which looked at culturally responsive practice in speech pathology.
So I can probably look at this one with no notes and just talk off the top of my head.
So Sarah, tell me, when might someone come to speech pathology wanting to get support for their accent?
... would be in the camp of saying that as speech pathologists, we should not offer accent modification therapy-
... um, because a person's accent is a big part of their identity, particularly their cultural identity, and that in the world we should accept diversity in the way that people talk rather than trying to change it to make everyone sound the same.
... which is not accent modification in that the aim is not to get rid of an accent or to make someone have an Australian accent, for example, but it's about making a person aware of why other people might not be able to understand them-
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