Presentation

Exploring Acceptability: L1 Judgements of L2 Danish Learners’ Errors

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Abstract

Second language (L2) pronunciation research often focuseson accentednessand comprehensibility. In contrast, little attention has been given so far to the dimension of acceptability (Thomson,2018). Acceptability of an L2 speaker’s pronunciation is a crucial aspect in the communication between native speakers (L1) and L2 speakers. It displays L1 speakers’ evaluation of their L2 communication partners and determines their further (speech) behavior. To gain deeper insights into this dimension, this study focuses on Danish as an L2. L2 Danish learners often experience L1 speakers switching into a lingua franca in L1-L2 communication. This is an undesired behavior for L2 learners, especially when they want to practice their target language. Yet, the switching behavior can function as a measure for the evaluation of acceptability. This study explores the dimension by operationalizing acceptability with the switching tendency of L1 Danish speakers. The analysis focuses on two aims. First, it compares L1 ratings of typical L1 German L2 Danish learners’ errors to determine those errors that are most critical with regard to comprehensibility, accentedness and acceptability. These results provideevidence-basedimplicationsfor teachingpurposes andcan be helpful to design curricula and learning objectives. Second, the analyses aim towards gaining more insightinto the dimensions’interrelations. The resultsof the correlation analysescorrespond to previous findingsthat acceptability and comprehensibilitycorrelateto a higher degree than acceptability and accentedness.

How to Cite:

Tulaja, L., (2019) “Exploring Acceptability: L1 Judgements of L2 Danish Learners’ Errors”, Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Proceedings 11(1).