Chapter published in:
The Evolution of Pronunciation Teaching and Research: 25 years of intelligibility, comprehensibility, and accentedness
Edited by John M. Levis, Tracey M. Derwing and Murray J. Munro
[Benjamins Current Topics 121] 2022
► pp. 7–32

Foreign accent, comprehensibility and intelligibility, redux

| Simon Fraser University
| Simon Fraser University | University of Alberta
We revisit Munro and Derwing (1995a), providing retrospective commentary on our original methods and findings. Using what are now well-established assessment techniques, the study examined the interrelationships among accentedness, comprehensibility, and intelligibility in the speech of second-language learners. The key finding was that the dimensions at issue are related, but partially independent. Of particular note was our observation that speech can be heavily accented but highly intelligible. To provide a fresh perspective on the original data we report a few new analyses, including more up-to-date statistical modeling. Throughout the original text we intersperse insights we have gained since the appearance of the 1995 paper. We conclude with retrospective interpretations, including thoughts on the relevance of the study to contemporary second language teaching and especially pronunciation instruction.
Keywords: accentedness, intelligibility, comprehensibility, pronunciation
Article outline
  • Intelligibility, comprehensibility and pronunciation
    • Method
      • Speech materials
        • Speakers
        • Recording
        • Listeners
    • Procedure
    • Results
      • Coding
    • Analyses
      • Judgment tasks
      • Orthographic transcription task
      • Cross-task comparisons
    • Discussion
  • Implications for second language teaching and research
    • Retrospective interpretations
  • Acknowledgements
  • Note
  • References
Published online: 01 June 2022
https://doi.org/10.1075/bct.121.02mun
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