Second language (L2) scholars generally agree that pronunciation development should prioritize understandable over
nativelike speech. However, which linguistic features enable understanding lacks clarity. While monologic research indicates a
combined effect of segmental and suprasegmental measures, interactive research has emphasized a segmental focus. The current study
takes a step in addressing this divide by applying a monologic methodology to interactive speech. 20 L2 English learners completed
one interactive and three monologic tasks. 36 native listeners rated each speaker per task for comprehensibility. I additionally
coded all utterances for a series of phonological and fluency measures. Surprisingly, segmental and suprasegmental measures had
minimal impact on listerners’ ratings. Instead, ratings for the two more linguistically-constrained monologic tasks demonstrated
stronger associations with fluency measures than the less-constrained monologic and interactive tasks. This finding is likely an
effect of (a) increased cognitive task demands placed on speakers, and (b) listener familiarity with L2 English speech.
Bergeron, A., & Trofimovich, P. (2017). Linguistic dimensions of accentedness and comprehensibility: Exploring task and listener effects in second language French. Foreign Language Annals, 50(3), 547–566.
Bowles, M. A., Toth, P. D., & Adams, R. J. (2014). A comparison of L2-L2 and L2-heritage learner interactions in Spanish language classrooms. Modern Language Journal, 92(2), 497–517.
Crowther, D., Trofimovich, P., Isaacs, T., & Saito, K. (2015a). Does a speaking task affect second language comprehensibility?The Modern Language Journal, 991, 80–95.
Crowther, D., Trofimovich, P., Isaacs, T., & Saito, K. (2018). Linguistic dimensions of L2 accentedness and comprehensibility vary across speaking tasks. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 40(2), 443–457.
Crowther, D., Trofimovich, P., Saito, K., & Isaacs, T. (2015b). Second language comprehensibility revisited: Investing the effects of learner background. TESOL Quarterly, 49(4), 814–837.
Derwing, T. M., Munro, M. J., & Thomson, R. I. (2008). A longitudinal study of ESL learners’ fluency and comprehensibility development. Applied Linguistics, 29(3), 359–380.
Derwing, T. M., Munro, M. J., Thomson, R. I., & Rossiter, M. J. (2009). The relationship between L1 fluency and L2 fluency development. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 31(4), 553–557.
Derwing, T. M., Munro, M. J., & Wiebe, G. (1998). Evidence in favor of a broad framework for pronunciation instruction. Language Learning, 48(3), 393–410.
Derwing, T. M., Rossiter, M. J., Munro, M. J., & Thomson, R. I. (2004). Second language fluency: Judgments on different tasks. Language Learning, 54(4), 655–679.
Educational Testing Service. (2012). The official guide to the TOEFL test (4th ed.). New York: McGraw Hill.
Ejzenberg, R. (2000). The juggling act of oral fluency: A psycho-sociolinguistic metaphor. In H. Riggenbach (ed.), Perspectives on fluency (pp. 287–313). Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press.
Field, J. (2005). Intelligibility and the listener: The role of lexical stress. TESOL Quarterly, 39(3), 399–423.
Galaczi, E. D. (2008). Peer–peer interaction in a speaking test: The case of the First Certificate in English examination. Language Assessment Quarterly, 5(2), 89–119.
Gallois, C., Ogay, T., & Giles, H. (2005). Communication accommodation theory: A look back and a look ahead. In W. B. Gudykunst (Ed.), Theorizing about intercultural communication (pp. 121–148). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Gass, S., & Varonis, E. M. (1984). The effect of familiarity on the comprehensibility of nonnative speech. Language Learning, 341, 65–89.
Gurzynski-Weiss, L., & Baralt, M. (2014). Exploring learner perception and use of task-based interactional feedback in FTF and CMC modes. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 361, 1–37.
Hilton, H. (2008). The link between vocabulary knowledge and spoken L2 fluency. The Language Learning Journal, 36(2), 153–166.
International English Language Testing System. (2009). Cambridge IELTS 7: Examination papers from University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations: English for speakers of other languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
International English Language Testing System. (2011). Cambridge IELTS 8: Examination papers from University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations: English for speakers of other languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Isaacs, T., & Thomson, R. I. (2013). Rater experience, rating scale length, and judgments of L2 pronunciation: Revisiting research conventions. Language Assessment Quarterly, 10(2), 135–159.
Issacs, T., & Trofimovich, P. (2012). Deconstructing comprehensibility: Identifying the linguistic influences on listeners’ L2 comprehensibility ratings. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 34(3), 475–505.
Jenkins, J. (2000). The phonology of English as an international language. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Kang, O. (2010). Relative salience of suprasegmental features on judgments of L2 comprehensibility and accentedness. System, 38(2), 301–315.
Kang, O., Rubin, D. L., & Pickering, L. (2010). Suprasegmental measures of accentedness and judgments of language learner proficiency in oral English. Modern Language Journal, 94(4), 554–566.
Kang, O., Thomson, R. I., & Moran, M. (2018). Empirical approaches to measuring the intelligibility of different varieties of English in predicting listener comprehension. Language Learning, 681, 115–146.
Kennedy, S., Guénette, D., Murphy, J., & Allard, S. (2015). Le rôle de la prononciation dans l’intercompréhension entre locuteurs de français lingua franca [The role of pronunciation in comprehension between speakers of French as a lingua franca]. Canadian Modern Language Review, 711, 1–25.
Lazarton, A., & Davis, L. (2008). A microanalytic perspective on discourse, proficiency, and identity in paired oral assessment. Language Assessment Quarterly, 5(4), 313–335.
Lee, J., Jang, J., & Plonsky, L. (2015). The effectiveness of second language pronunciation instruction: A meta-analysis. Applied Linguistics, 36(3), 345–366.
Levis, J. M. (2005). Changing contexts and shifting paradigms in pronunciation teaching. TESOL Quarterly, 39(3), 369–377.
Loewen, S., & Isbell, D. (2017). Pronunciation in face-to-face and audio-only synchronous computer-mediated learner interactions. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 39(2), 225–256.
Michel, M. C., Kuiken, F., & Vedder, I. (2007). The influence of complexity in monologic versus dialogic tasks in Dutch L2. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 45(3), 241–259.
Munro, M. J., & Derwing, T. M. (1995). Foreign accent, comprehensibility, and intelligibility in the speech of second language learners. Language Learning, 451, 73–97.
Munro, M. J., & Derwing, T. M. (2001). Modeling perceptions of the accentedness and comprehensibility of L2 speech: The role of speaking rate. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 23(4), 451–468.
Munro, M. J., & Derwing, T. M. (2006). The functional load principle in ESL pronunciation instruction: An exploratory study. System, 34(4), 520–531.
Nagle, C. (2018). Motivation, comprehensibility, and accentedness in L2 Spanish: Investigating motivation as a time-varying predictor of pronunciation development. Modern Language Journal, 1021, 199–217.
Ockey, G. J. (2009). The effects of group members/ personalities on a test taker’s L2 group oral discussion test scores. Language Testing, 26(2), 161–186.
Ockey, G. J., Koyama, D., & Setoguchi, E. (2013). Stakeholder input and test design: A case study on changing the interlocutor familiarity facet of the group oral discussion test. Language Assessment Quarterly, 10(3), 292–308.
Oppenheimer, D. M. (2008). The secret life of fluency. Trends in Cognitive Science, 12(6), 237–241.
Pickering, L. (2009). Intonation as a pragmatic resource in ELF interaction. Intercultural Pragmatics, 6(2), 235–255.
Plonsky, L., & Oswald, F. L. (2014). How big is “big”? Interpreting effect sizes in L2 research. Language Learning, 64(4), 878–912.
Robinson, P. (2005). Cognitive complexity and task sequencing: Studies in a componential framework for second language task design. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 431, 1–32.
Saito, K., Trofimovich, P., & Isaacs, T. (2016). Second language speech production: Investigating linguistic correlates of comprehensibility and accentedness for learners at different ability levels. Applied Psycholinguistics 37(2), 217–240.
Scollon, R., Scollon, S. W., & Jones, R. H. (2012). Intercultural communication: A discourse approach (3rd ed.). Oxford: Blackwell.
Segalowitz, N. (2010). Cognitive bases of second language fluency. New York: Routledge.
Swain, M., & Lapkin, S. (1998). Interaction and second language learning: Two adolescent French immersion students working together. The Modern Language Journal, 82(3), 320–337.
Trofimovich, P., & Baker, W. (2006). Learning second language suprasegmentals: Effects of L2 experience on prosody and fluency characteristics of L2 speech. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 281, 1–30.
Trofimovich, P., & Isaacs, T. (2012). Disentangling accent from comprehensibility. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 15(4), 905–916.
Winke, P., Gass, S., & Myford, C. (2013). Raters’ L2 background as a potential source of bias in rating oral performance. Language Testing, 30(2), 231–252.
Cited by (18)
Cited by 18 other publications
Chou, Mu-Hsuan
2024. Communication Strategies, Difficulties, and Speaking Tasks in Foreign Language Learning. Sage Open 14:3
2024. Linguistic influences on comprehensibility and accentedness in second language Korean speech. International Journal of Applied Linguistics
Ali, Mahmoud M.E.
2023. The foreign-accentedness, comprehensibility, and intelligibility of L2 Arabic speech. Language Teaching Research► pp. 136216882311587 ff.
Choi, Sungeun & Okim Kang
2023. The roles of suprasegmental features in assessing paired speaking tasks in high-stakes language assessment. System 119 ► pp. 103183 ff.
Crowther, Dustin & Daniel R. Isbell
2023. Second language speech comprehensibility: A research agenda. Language Teaching► pp. 1 ff.
Isbell, Daniel R & Dustin Crowther
2023. Revisiting US Undergraduate Perceptions of Non-native English Varieties: From Millennials to Generation Z. Applied Linguistics 44:2 ► pp. 287 ff.
Verbeke, Gil & Ellen Simon
2023. Listening to accents: Comprehensibility, accentedness and intelligibility of native and non-native English speech. Lingua 292 ► pp. 103572 ff.
Hu, Xueyan, Li-Jen Kuo & L. Quentin Dixon
2022. Effectiveness of interventions on improving English language learners’ intelligibility and comprehensibility: A meta-analytic review. Language Teaching Research► pp. 136216882211068 ff.
NAGLE, CHARLIE L., PAVEL TROFIMOVICH, MARY GRANTHAM O'BRIEN & SARA KENNEDY
2022. Comprehensible to Whom? Examining Rater, Speaker, and Interlocutor Perspectives on Comprehensibility in an Interactive Context. The Modern Language Journal 106:4 ► pp. 675 ff.
Deygers, Bart & Carolien Frijns
2021. Begrijpelijkheid en accent bij beginnende NT2-leerders.
Nederlandse Taalkunde
26:2 ► pp. 195 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 10 august 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.