Presentation

Factors in Raters’ Perceptions of Comprehensibility and Accentedness

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Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine native-speaker (NS) and non-native speaker (NNS) raters’ thought processes while rating L2 speech samples for their comprehensibility and accentedness and identify the factors that may cause listeners to rate speech in certain ways. Think-aloud or vocalization of the thought processes of each speech rater was used to understand what aspects of speech and pronunciation six raters noticed while rating seven ESL learners’ speech for comprehensibility and accentedness. We found that there were both similarities and differences between the factors noticed while rating for accentedness and comprehensibility. In addition, the NS and NNS raters showed some major differences in the aspects mentioned during think-aloud.

How to Cite:

Jun, H. G. & Li, J., (2009) “Factors in Raters’ Perceptions of Comprehensibility and Accentedness”, Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Proceedings 1(1).