Perceiving Intelligibility and Accentedness in Non-Native Speech: A Look at Proficiency Levels
Abstract
This paper presents a study on how German and Spanish learners of English at different proficiency levels (as defined in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages – CEFR) perceive accentedness and intelligibility of Spanish non‐native accents in English. The study is based on rating tasks, structured interviews and transcriptions in response to short narratives, and aims to find out what kind of influence listeners’ first language (L1) backgrounds (i.e. German and Spanish) and their levels of proficiency in the second language (L2; i.e. English) have on how accentedness and intelligibility are perceived. Results suggest that L2 proficiency levels and L1 background significantly influence how intelligibility and accentedness are rated. In addition, our results suggest that perceived intelligibility is influenced by factors such as familiarity with the relevant accent while actual comprehensibility seems to be less affected by this aspect.
Topics
Field: Psychology · Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Keywords
Intelligibility (philosophy),German,Language proficiency,Psychology,Linguistics,Stress (linguistics),Pedagogy
UN Sustainable Development Goals
- Quality Education (0.85)
Citations by Year
| 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 3 |
- Perceiving Identity through Accent 2013 · 74
- 1 Scribes and Language Change 2013 · 39
- 1. Merchants of Innovation: the languages of traders 2017 · 28
- Perceiving Intelligibility and Accentedness in Non-Native Speech: A Look at Proficiency Levels 2014 · 24
- The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: a European framework for foreign language speech development 2016 · 6
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