| The purpose of this study was to determine if listeners can accurately identify age and gender of non-native speakers of English, as well as quantify their perceptions of these speakers' professional and personal traits before and after accent modification training. Native speakers in four language groups were studied: 14 Chinese, 6 Japanese, 8 Spanish, and 10 Vietnamese. All speakers completed a one-semester course in accent modification, in which audio recordings of speech were made. A portion of Aesop's fable The Fox and the Grapes was selected from the beginning and end of the program to use as the stimulus material. These passages were presented over two listening/judging sessions to college-aged listeners, who evaluated speaker age, gender, and personal traits. The traits to be evaluated were presented as semantic differentials on a seven point scale. Positive traits included intelligent, modern, strong, upper class, employable, native English sounding, hard-working, independent, professional, active, young, and friendly.; Results suggest that speaker age and gender can be accurately identified in both conditions; however, correlations range from weak to moderate. In addition, most subjective trait scores (semantic differentials) changed significantly in a positive direction after accent modification for all four language groups. These findings lead to implications about the effectiveness of the accent modification program used in this study as well as aiding in clarification of perceptions held of non-native speakers of English as a function of native language. |
