25 years of Intelligibility, Comprehensibility and Accentedness
This special issue revisits an extraordinarily influential paper for L2 pronunciation research an... more This special issue revisits an extraordinarily influential paper for L2 pronunciation research and teaching (Munro & Derwing, 1995) by looking again at the original paper with new eyes and new analyses. The special issue also includes invited papers addressing current approaches based on the three key constructs in Munro and Derwing (1995): Intelligibility, comprehensibility, and accentedness. Papers in the issue include a reconsideration of the Intelligibility and Nativeness principles from Levis (2005), applications of the constructs to L2 Spanish (Nagle & Huensch), a consideration of how everyday L2 use affects comprehensibility (Zielinski & Pryor), long-term effects of intensive instruction (French, Gagné & Collins), influences on listener reaction to L2 speech (Isaacs & Thomson), empirical evidence for the dynamic nature of comprehensibility (Trofimovich et al.), a study on ELF intelligibility and functional load considerations (Thir), the relationship between comprehensibility...
Parentheticals, information that is not directly relevant to the topic being addressed, appear in... more Parentheticals, information that is not directly relevant to the topic being addressed, appear in all academic lectures and help listeners distinguish important from less important information. Their use is a critical skill for all teachers. Despite their importance, research on parentheticals in teaching is scarce. This chapter explores the instructional discourse of native English-speaking teaching assistants and international teaching assistants regarding the use of parentheticals, primarily in terms of the intonational and informational patterns they exhibit. Our analysis involved discourse data collected from sixteen classes, eight from chemistry (four taught by native English-speaking TAs and four taught by ITAs) and eight from English (also four taught by TAs and four by ITAs). While our study suggested that parentheticals can be used to connect the teacher and students interpersonally, and to break up the density of the lecture, we uncovered interesting differences between T...
The field of second language (L2) pronunciation is attracting researchers with many interests, as... more The field of second language (L2) pronunciation is attracting researchers with many interests, as well as the teachers who have always been interested in the field. Evidence is growing that pronunciation teaching is successful at promoting greater intelligibility, and that pronunciation learning is not strongly constrained by the age at which learning takes place. The importance of pronunciation in current approaches to language means that L2 pronunciation has a strong teaching-research connection, in which teaching practices are influenced by research, and research agendas are explicitly influenced by practical questions. This growing interest is visible in the field’s dedicated conferences, in growing numbers of scholarly books, and in increasing kinds of other scholarly and pedagogically oriented publications. This article suggests that the interface of research and practice with pronunciation learning is seen in attention to 6 areas: teachers, learners, pronunciation features, t...
Pronunciation features are not equal in how they affect listeners’ ability to understand. Some ar... more Pronunciation features are not equal in how they affect listeners’ ability to understand. Some are low value, while others are high value. This study explores whether contrastive stress is high value. Previous research has shown that identification of contrastive stress is learnable (Pennington & Ellis, 2000), and that explicit teaching about contrastive stress patterns can improve production for advanced learners (Hahn, 2002; Muller Levis & Levis, 2012). To test whether instruction on contrastive stress improved comprehensibility and fluency in spontaneous speech, we developed a 3-week class for intermediate ESL learners, whose preand posttest productions were rated by native listeners. Ratings for fluency showed no improvement. Ratings for comprehensibility significantly improved for the experimental group while control participants showed no improvement. Improvement resulted both from better contrastive stress and greater comfort with producing grammatical frames to express the c...
The use of suprasegmental cues to word stress occurs across many languages. Nevertheless, L1 Engl... more The use of suprasegmental cues to word stress occurs across many languages. Nevertheless, L1 English listeners' pay little attention to suprasegmental word stress cues and evidence shows that segmental cues are more important to L1 English listeners in how words are identified in speech. L1 English listeners assume strong syllables with full vowels mark the beginning of a new word, attempting alternative resegmentations only when this heuristic fails to identify a viable word string. English word stress errors have been shown to severely disrupt processing for both L1 and L2 listeners, but not all word stress errors are equally damaging. Vowel quality and direction of stress shift are thought to be predictors of the intelligibility of non-standard stress pronunciations—but most research so far on this topic has been limited to two-syllable words. The current study uses auditory lexical decision and delayed word identification tasks to test a hypothesized English Word Stress Erro...
This paper reports on the role of technology in state-of-the-art pronunciation research and instr... more This paper reports on the role of technology in state-of-the-art pronunciation research and instruction, and makes concrete suggestions for future developments. The point of departure for this contribution is that the goal of second language (L2) pronunciation research and teaching should be enhanced comprehensibility and intelligibility as opposed to native-likeness. Three main areas are covered here. We begin with a presentation of advanced uses of pronunciation technology in research with a special focus on the expertise required to carry out even small-scale investigations. Next, we discuss the nature of data in pronunciation research, pointing to ways in which future work can build on advances in corpus research and crowdsourcing. Finally, we consider how these insights pave the way for researchers and developers working to create research-informed, computer-assisted pronunciation teaching resources. We conclude with predictions for future developments.
This issue addresses the intersection of technology and pronunciation, discussing past, current a... more This issue addresses the intersection of technology and pronunciation, discussing past, current and future uses of technology, the use of technology for researching L2 pronunciation, for training instructors, and for teaching learners. Technology is put forth as an essential and interconnected element of second language pronunciation. The topic grew out of the 8th Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching conference, held in August 2016 in Calgary, Alberta.
Spoken English, Tesol and Applied Linguistics, 2006
The ACTFL Guidelines for foreign language proficiency, the dominant measure for assessing foreign... more The ACTFL Guidelines for foreign language proficiency, the dominant measure for assessing foreign language proficiency in the United States, describe ten different levels of proficiency.1 Although they are extensive and detailed, the guidelines are strikingly random in describing how pronunciation contributes to speaking proficiency. Four of the levels (Advanced Mid, Advanced Low, Intermediate High, and Novice Mid) do not mention pronunciation, while three others (Intermediate Mid and Low, Novice High) suggest that pronunciation may be important as evidence of L1 influence, and thus, it appears, lower levels of proficiency. Another level, Advanced High, mentions only ‘precise vocabulary and intonation’ (Breiner-Sanders et al., 2000: 15). Only at the top level, Superior, and the bottom, Novice Low, do descriptors suggest a significant contribution for pronunciation. Superior speakers are able to use suprasegmentals to support coherent discourse, while Novice Low speakers may be unintelligible due to poor pronunciation. The overall effect of this haphazard collection of descriptors suggests that pronunciation is relatively unimportant in determining speaking proficiency. Evidence of L1 influence (common in almost all adult learners) automatically places speakers below the advanced level, and being intelligible does not appear to be closely related to pronunci-ation. Yet any experienced teacher knows that L2 speakers can be both very advanced in most elements of speaking ability and still be unintelligible due to pronunciation errors.
Online course offerings in all disciplines, including language and language-related courses, are ... more Online course offerings in all disciplines, including language and language-related courses, are becoming more common at universities everywhere. Given the number of different course offerings available, there has been surprisingly little research on the effectiveness of teaching linguistics online nor of how students in such classes develop in their linguistic knowledge and metalinguistic abilities to express linguistic reasoning. In response to an increasing demand for remote instruction, we developed an online version of our graduate introduction to linguistics course. Using a variety of online pedagogical options, including read-only, audio and audio/video presentations, online analysis and practice activities, discussion forums, and online quizzes, we examined how 19 graduate students developed in their beliefs about language, their factual knowledge of linguistic concepts, and the sophistication of their linguistic reasoning. We report initial findings from the student feedbac...
The use of suprasegmental cues to word stress occurs across many languages. Nevertheless, L1 Engl... more The use of suprasegmental cues to word stress occurs across many languages. Nevertheless, L1 English listeners' pay little attention to suprasegmental word stress cues and evidence shows that segmental cues are more important to L1 English listeners in how words are identified in speech. L1 English listeners assume strong syllables with full vowels mark the beginning of a new word, attempting alternative resegmentations only when this heuristic fails to identify a viable word string. English word stress errors have been shown to severely disrupt processing for both L1 and L2 listeners, but not all word stress errors are equally damaging. Vowel quality and direction of stress shift are thought to be predictors of the intelligibility of non-standard stress pronunciations—but most research so far on this topic has been limited to two-syllable words. The current study uses auditory lexical decision and delayed word identification tasks to test a hypothesized English Word Stress Error Gravity Hierarchy for words of two to five syllables. Results indicate that English word stress errors affect intelligibility most when they introduce concomitant vowel errors, an effect that is somewhat mediated by the direction of stress shift. As a consequence, the relative intelligibility impact of any particular lexical stress error can be predicted by the Hierarchy for both L1 and L2 English listeners. These findings have implications for L1 and L2 English pronunciation research and teaching. For research, our results demonstrate that varied findings about loss of intelligibility are connected to vowel quality changes of word stress errors and that these factors must be accounted for in intelligibility research. For teaching, the results indicate that not all word stress errors are equally important, and that only word stress errors that affect vowel quality should be prioritized.
In teaching L2 oral communication, intelligibility must be the ultimate measure of success (Levis... more In teaching L2 oral communication, intelligibility must be the ultimate measure of success (Levis, 2005). Intelligibility refers to the extent to which a speaker is understood by an interlocutor (Derwing & Munro, 2015). This chapter begins by reviewing how the construct has been explored in research, especially how intelligibility has been used in research on L2 pronunciation. The chapter then examines current issues related to intelligibility such as how the construct may be influenced by different factors and varied ways in which it has been measured. This examination is connected to a discussion of how methods and findings of previous research can be applied to future L2 pronunciation research. Finally, the chapter suggests how teaching for intelligibility can be optimized based on understanding of the construct.
25 years of Intelligibility, Comprehensibility and Accentedness
This special issue revisits an extraordinarily influential paper for L2 pronunciation research an... more This special issue revisits an extraordinarily influential paper for L2 pronunciation research and teaching (Munro & Derwing, 1995) by looking again at the original paper with new eyes and new analyses. The special issue also includes invited papers addressing current approaches based on the three key constructs in Munro and Derwing (1995): Intelligibility, comprehensibility, and accentedness. Papers in the issue include a reconsideration of the Intelligibility and Nativeness principles from Levis (2005), applications of the constructs to L2 Spanish (Nagle & Huensch), a consideration of how everyday L2 use affects comprehensibility (Zielinski & Pryor), long-term effects of intensive instruction (French, Gagné & Collins), influences on listener reaction to L2 speech (Isaacs & Thomson), empirical evidence for the dynamic nature of comprehensibility (Trofimovich et al.), a study on ELF intelligibility and functional load considerations (Thir), the relationship between comprehensibility...
Parentheticals, information that is not directly relevant to the topic being addressed, appear in... more Parentheticals, information that is not directly relevant to the topic being addressed, appear in all academic lectures and help listeners distinguish important from less important information. Their use is a critical skill for all teachers. Despite their importance, research on parentheticals in teaching is scarce. This chapter explores the instructional discourse of native English-speaking teaching assistants and international teaching assistants regarding the use of parentheticals, primarily in terms of the intonational and informational patterns they exhibit. Our analysis involved discourse data collected from sixteen classes, eight from chemistry (four taught by native English-speaking TAs and four taught by ITAs) and eight from English (also four taught by TAs and four by ITAs). While our study suggested that parentheticals can be used to connect the teacher and students interpersonally, and to break up the density of the lecture, we uncovered interesting differences between T...
The field of second language (L2) pronunciation is attracting researchers with many interests, as... more The field of second language (L2) pronunciation is attracting researchers with many interests, as well as the teachers who have always been interested in the field. Evidence is growing that pronunciation teaching is successful at promoting greater intelligibility, and that pronunciation learning is not strongly constrained by the age at which learning takes place. The importance of pronunciation in current approaches to language means that L2 pronunciation has a strong teaching-research connection, in which teaching practices are influenced by research, and research agendas are explicitly influenced by practical questions. This growing interest is visible in the field’s dedicated conferences, in growing numbers of scholarly books, and in increasing kinds of other scholarly and pedagogically oriented publications. This article suggests that the interface of research and practice with pronunciation learning is seen in attention to 6 areas: teachers, learners, pronunciation features, t...
Pronunciation features are not equal in how they affect listeners’ ability to understand. Some ar... more Pronunciation features are not equal in how they affect listeners’ ability to understand. Some are low value, while others are high value. This study explores whether contrastive stress is high value. Previous research has shown that identification of contrastive stress is learnable (Pennington & Ellis, 2000), and that explicit teaching about contrastive stress patterns can improve production for advanced learners (Hahn, 2002; Muller Levis & Levis, 2012). To test whether instruction on contrastive stress improved comprehensibility and fluency in spontaneous speech, we developed a 3-week class for intermediate ESL learners, whose preand posttest productions were rated by native listeners. Ratings for fluency showed no improvement. Ratings for comprehensibility significantly improved for the experimental group while control participants showed no improvement. Improvement resulted both from better contrastive stress and greater comfort with producing grammatical frames to express the c...
The use of suprasegmental cues to word stress occurs across many languages. Nevertheless, L1 Engl... more The use of suprasegmental cues to word stress occurs across many languages. Nevertheless, L1 English listeners' pay little attention to suprasegmental word stress cues and evidence shows that segmental cues are more important to L1 English listeners in how words are identified in speech. L1 English listeners assume strong syllables with full vowels mark the beginning of a new word, attempting alternative resegmentations only when this heuristic fails to identify a viable word string. English word stress errors have been shown to severely disrupt processing for both L1 and L2 listeners, but not all word stress errors are equally damaging. Vowel quality and direction of stress shift are thought to be predictors of the intelligibility of non-standard stress pronunciations—but most research so far on this topic has been limited to two-syllable words. The current study uses auditory lexical decision and delayed word identification tasks to test a hypothesized English Word Stress Erro...
This paper reports on the role of technology in state-of-the-art pronunciation research and instr... more This paper reports on the role of technology in state-of-the-art pronunciation research and instruction, and makes concrete suggestions for future developments. The point of departure for this contribution is that the goal of second language (L2) pronunciation research and teaching should be enhanced comprehensibility and intelligibility as opposed to native-likeness. Three main areas are covered here. We begin with a presentation of advanced uses of pronunciation technology in research with a special focus on the expertise required to carry out even small-scale investigations. Next, we discuss the nature of data in pronunciation research, pointing to ways in which future work can build on advances in corpus research and crowdsourcing. Finally, we consider how these insights pave the way for researchers and developers working to create research-informed, computer-assisted pronunciation teaching resources. We conclude with predictions for future developments.
This issue addresses the intersection of technology and pronunciation, discussing past, current a... more This issue addresses the intersection of technology and pronunciation, discussing past, current and future uses of technology, the use of technology for researching L2 pronunciation, for training instructors, and for teaching learners. Technology is put forth as an essential and interconnected element of second language pronunciation. The topic grew out of the 8th Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching conference, held in August 2016 in Calgary, Alberta.
Spoken English, Tesol and Applied Linguistics, 2006
The ACTFL Guidelines for foreign language proficiency, the dominant measure for assessing foreign... more The ACTFL Guidelines for foreign language proficiency, the dominant measure for assessing foreign language proficiency in the United States, describe ten different levels of proficiency.1 Although they are extensive and detailed, the guidelines are strikingly random in describing how pronunciation contributes to speaking proficiency. Four of the levels (Advanced Mid, Advanced Low, Intermediate High, and Novice Mid) do not mention pronunciation, while three others (Intermediate Mid and Low, Novice High) suggest that pronunciation may be important as evidence of L1 influence, and thus, it appears, lower levels of proficiency. Another level, Advanced High, mentions only ‘precise vocabulary and intonation’ (Breiner-Sanders et al., 2000: 15). Only at the top level, Superior, and the bottom, Novice Low, do descriptors suggest a significant contribution for pronunciation. Superior speakers are able to use suprasegmentals to support coherent discourse, while Novice Low speakers may be unintelligible due to poor pronunciation. The overall effect of this haphazard collection of descriptors suggests that pronunciation is relatively unimportant in determining speaking proficiency. Evidence of L1 influence (common in almost all adult learners) automatically places speakers below the advanced level, and being intelligible does not appear to be closely related to pronunci-ation. Yet any experienced teacher knows that L2 speakers can be both very advanced in most elements of speaking ability and still be unintelligible due to pronunciation errors.
Online course offerings in all disciplines, including language and language-related courses, are ... more Online course offerings in all disciplines, including language and language-related courses, are becoming more common at universities everywhere. Given the number of different course offerings available, there has been surprisingly little research on the effectiveness of teaching linguistics online nor of how students in such classes develop in their linguistic knowledge and metalinguistic abilities to express linguistic reasoning. In response to an increasing demand for remote instruction, we developed an online version of our graduate introduction to linguistics course. Using a variety of online pedagogical options, including read-only, audio and audio/video presentations, online analysis and practice activities, discussion forums, and online quizzes, we examined how 19 graduate students developed in their beliefs about language, their factual knowledge of linguistic concepts, and the sophistication of their linguistic reasoning. We report initial findings from the student feedbac...
The use of suprasegmental cues to word stress occurs across many languages. Nevertheless, L1 Engl... more The use of suprasegmental cues to word stress occurs across many languages. Nevertheless, L1 English listeners' pay little attention to suprasegmental word stress cues and evidence shows that segmental cues are more important to L1 English listeners in how words are identified in speech. L1 English listeners assume strong syllables with full vowels mark the beginning of a new word, attempting alternative resegmentations only when this heuristic fails to identify a viable word string. English word stress errors have been shown to severely disrupt processing for both L1 and L2 listeners, but not all word stress errors are equally damaging. Vowel quality and direction of stress shift are thought to be predictors of the intelligibility of non-standard stress pronunciations—but most research so far on this topic has been limited to two-syllable words. The current study uses auditory lexical decision and delayed word identification tasks to test a hypothesized English Word Stress Error Gravity Hierarchy for words of two to five syllables. Results indicate that English word stress errors affect intelligibility most when they introduce concomitant vowel errors, an effect that is somewhat mediated by the direction of stress shift. As a consequence, the relative intelligibility impact of any particular lexical stress error can be predicted by the Hierarchy for both L1 and L2 English listeners. These findings have implications for L1 and L2 English pronunciation research and teaching. For research, our results demonstrate that varied findings about loss of intelligibility are connected to vowel quality changes of word stress errors and that these factors must be accounted for in intelligibility research. For teaching, the results indicate that not all word stress errors are equally important, and that only word stress errors that affect vowel quality should be prioritized.
In teaching L2 oral communication, intelligibility must be the ultimate measure of success (Levis... more In teaching L2 oral communication, intelligibility must be the ultimate measure of success (Levis, 2005). Intelligibility refers to the extent to which a speaker is understood by an interlocutor (Derwing & Munro, 2015). This chapter begins by reviewing how the construct has been explored in research, especially how intelligibility has been used in research on L2 pronunciation. The chapter then examines current issues related to intelligibility such as how the construct may be influenced by different factors and varied ways in which it has been measured. This examination is connected to a discussion of how methods and findings of previous research can be applied to future L2 pronunciation research. Finally, the chapter suggests how teaching for intelligibility can be optimized based on understanding of the construct.
Uploads