Teaching native speakers to listen to foreign-accented speech

Abstract

This study examined the effects of cross-cultural awareness training and explicit linguistic instruction on attitudes towards and comprehension of foreign-accented speech.One group of social work students received both types of instruction; another received only cross-cultural training, and a third group served as a control (they received no instruction but participated in the pre- and post-tests). Listening comprehension passages read in Vietnamese-accentedspeech before and after the eight-week instruction period and a sentence transcription task revealed no significant between-group differences. Attitude questionnaires indicated increased empathy for immigrants on the part of both experimental groups. The group that received explicit instruction regarding the characteristics of Vietnamese-accented English showed significantly greater improvement in confidence that they could interact successfully with individuals who speak English as a second language, while the group that received only cross-cultural awareness showed moderate gains. Similarly, the Accent-trained group believed that their ability to understand foreign accents improved as a result of instruction to a significantly greater degree than the other groups. © 2002 T.M. Derwing et al.