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ERIC Number: EJ1240410
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2019
Pages: 24
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1345-8353
EISSN: N/A
An Investigation of Chinese EFL Learners' Perceived Comprehensibility of Nine English Accents
Zhang, Yanyan
Journal of Pan-Pacific Association of Applied Linguistics, v23 n2 p109-132 2019
With the emergence of different varieties of English in the world, the issue of intelligibility has attracted many researchers' attention. While a large number of studies have focused on the intelligibility of different English varieties for native speakers, few of them have involved Chinese learners of English as participants; yet, they constitute the largest group of non-native English speakers. The current study aims to investigate Chinese university students' perceived comprehensibility, i.e., intelligibility judgments, of nine English accents, including British, American, Australian, Indian, Philippine, Singaporean, French, Japanese, and South Korean English. Thirty-nine English major sophomores from a top university in China were invited to identify the speakers' nationalities and assign ratings for their perceived comprehensibility of the nine English accents. A follow-up semi-structured interview was also undertaken. It was found that all of the participants could identify American English and most of them could also recognize British, Australian and South Korean English. In contrast, they could hardly recognize the other five English accents. With regard to perceived comprehensibility, the Inner Circle English accents on the whole are significantly more comprehensible than the Outer Circle and Expanding Circle English accents. Chinese university students' perceived comprehensibility significantly correlates with properties of the speech. Moreover, it was observed that familiarity with English accents and speech properties may interplay and influence perceived comprehensibility. The study contributes to the ongoing literature on intelligibility and provides pedagogical implications for English education.
Pan-Pacific Association of Applied Linguistics. Cheongji National University of Education. Main Bldg #506, 2065 Cheongnam-ro, Cheongju-si, Chungcheongbuk-do 28690, Korea. e-mail: paaljournal@gmail.com; Web site: http://paal.kr/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research; Tests/Questionnaires
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: China
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A