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The assessment of foreign accent and its communicative effects by naïve native judges vs. experienced non‐native judges
Author(s) -
Gallardo del Puerto Francisco,
García Lecumberri María Luisa,
Gómez Lacabex Esther
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
international journal of applied linguistics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.712
H-Index - 39
eISSN - 1473-4192
pISSN - 0802-6106
DOI - 10.1111/ijal.12063
Subject(s) - stress (linguistics) , psychology , first language , linguistics , foreign language , agreement , social psychology , pedagogy , philosophy
The capacity of non‐native evaluators to perform foreign accent ( FA ) judgments has been questioned. This study explores differences between linguistically trained non‐native judges ( NNJs ) who are teachers of E nglish familiar with the students' L 1s and naïve native judges ( NJs ) who do not speak the students' L1s. Both groups were compared in their global evaluation of FA and its potential communicative effects (comprehensibility and irritation) in two groups of language learners (more and less experienced). Results show striking similarities between the two groups of judges. NNJs were as able as NJs to assess FA despite finding it more comprehensible than the NJs did. It is suggested that NNJs ' linguistic training promotes a more analytic approach to FA evaluation, which can compensate for the lack of native intuitions.