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Journal of Second Language Pronunciation
Vol. 6:1 (2020) ► pp.68–95

Does personality influence ratings of foreign accents?

| University of Toronto, Canada
ORCID logo | University of Toronto, Canada

In both research and educational settings, native and non-native speakers are often asked to make foreign accent ratings (FARs) as a measure of second language pronunciation. However, previous research has identified several factors that influence these ratings. The current study investigates one such variable that, to date, has received little attention in the literature: personality. Thirty-six monolingual English speakers completed the Big Five Aspects Scales personality test (DeYoung, Quilty, & Peterson, 2007) and provided accentedness ratings for 15 non-native English speakers (L1 Mandarin) and five native controls. Results show that two of the Big Five personality traits – conscientiousness and extraversion – were significantly correlated with the ratings listeners provided, while another trait – agreeableness – approached significance. These findings further underline the need to interpret FARs with caution, as variables unrelated to foreign accent, in this case listeners’ personality, may be associated with these ratings, as well.

Keywords: personality, foreign accent, foreign accentedness ratings, L2 English
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
    • 2.1Foreign accent ratings
      • 2.1.1Methodological variables
      • 2.1.2Speaker variables
      • 2.1.3Listener variables
    • 2.2Personality
      • 2.2.1The Big Five Model
      • 2.2.2Personality and L2 assessment
  • 3.Current study
    • 3.1Hypotheses
    • 3.2Participants
    • 3.3Method
  • 4.Results
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • References
Published online: 25 November 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jslp.18042.gaf
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