ERIC Number: EJ1195069
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018-Oct
Pages: 16
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0161-1461
EISSN: N/A
Does Speaker Race Affect the Assessment of Children's Speech Accuracy? A Comparison of Speech-Language Pathologists and Clinically Untrained Listeners
Evans, Karen E.; Munson, Benjamin; Edwards, Jan
Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, v49 n4 p906-921 Oct 2018
Purpose: Some pronunciation patterns that are normal in 1 dialect might represent an error in another dialect (i.e., [ko(upsilon)l] for "cold," which is typical in African American English [AAE] but an error in many other dialects of English). This study examined whether trained speech-language pathologists and untrained listeners accommodate for presumed speaker dialect when rating children's productions of words. This study also explored whether effects of presumed race on perceived speech accuracy are mediated by individuals' knowledge and beliefs about AAE and their implicit attitudes about race. Method: Multiple groups of listeners rated the accuracy of a set of children's productions of words that have a distinct pronunciation in AAE. These were presented in 1 of 3 conditions: paired with no visual stimulus (to assess baseline accuracy) or paired with either African American children's faces (to suggest that the speaker uses AAE) or European American children's faces (to suggest that the speaker does not use AAE). Listeners also completed a set of measures of knowledge and attitudes about AAE and race, taken from previous studies. Results: Individuals in both groups rated children's productions more accurately when they were presented with African American children's faces than when paired with European American faces. The magnitude of this effect was generally similar across the 2 groups and was generally strongest for words that had been judged in the baseline condition to contain an error. None of the individual-differences measures predicted ratings. Conclusions: Assumptions about speaker attributes affect individuals' assessment of children's production accuracy. These effects are robust across trained and untrained listeners and cannot be predicted by existing measures of knowledge and attitudes about AAE and race.
Descriptors: Pronunciation, Dialects, Black Dialects, Speech Language Pathology, Allied Health Personnel, Children, Accuracy, Visual Stimuli, Whites, African Americans, Racial Differences, Attitudes, Knowledge Level, Individual Characteristics
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. 2200 Research Blvd #250, Rockville, MD 20850. Tel: 301-296-5700; Fax: 301-296-8580; e-mail: lshss@asha.org; Web site: http://lshss.pubs.asha.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Science Foundation (NSF); Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) (NIH); National Institutes of Health (DHHS)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: BCS0729140; P30HD03352; R01DC02932