Presentation

Analyzing Comprehensibility Among Non-Native Speakers of English: The Effect of Listener First Language Background

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Abstract

The evolution of English from a native speaker centered language to a means of communication among speakers of various first language (L1) backgrounds motivates the empirical examination of communication among non-native speakers (NNS) of English. This paper describes a study where NNS of various L1 backgrounds, as well as a native speaker, rated NNS speech samples for comprehensibility. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and descriptive statistics were used to address the following questions: In comprehensibility ratings of NNS speech, do NNS listeners vary: (1) by L1 background? and (2) when compared with a NS listener trained in assessment? Results showed a significant effect for listener L1 background in comprehensibility ratings of several speakers. This finding contradicts previous research suggesting that the quality of an NNS utterance itself is more influential in determining comprehensibility than are any listener characteristics (Hazan & Markham, 2004; Munro et al., 2006). However, it may be an example of matched interlanguage intelligibility benefit, where NNS listeners of the same L1 background as the speaker find speech easier to understand than their non-matched peers (Bent & Bradlow, 2003). It seems that further investigation is needed into the complicated relationship between L1 background and comprehensibility among NNS of English.

How to Cite:

Roberson, A., (2011) “Analyzing Comprehensibility Among Non-Native Speakers of English: The Effect of Listener First Language Background”, Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Proceedings 3(1).