The effect of listener background on the perception of foreign accent severity and intelligibility

This study examined the effect of listener background (speech language pathology graduate students, monolinguals, bilinguals) on the perception of foreign accent severity and intelligibility. A total of 53 individuals participated in the present study. Five bilingual Russian/English-speaking adults who learned Russian as their L1 and 3 monolingual English-speaking controls participated as speakers. Fifteen monolingual English-speaking speech-language pathology graduate students, 15 monolingual English-speaking individuals, and 15 bilingual English speaking adults participated as listeners to rate the speech samples. Listeners rated the speakers on a 9-point scale for accent severity and a 5-point scale for speaker intelligibility. Results indicate overall significant differences between the backgrounds of listener groups for accent severity ratings of all bilingual speakers. Additionally, significant differences for ratings of intelligibility were found for all but one bilingual speakers across all listener background groups. Conclusions and clinical implications are discussed.