TY - JOUR
T1 - Testing the effects of regional, ethnic, and international dialects of english on listening comprehension
AU - Major, Roy C.
AU - Fitzmaurice, Susan M.
AU - Bunta, Ferenc
AU - Balasubramanian, Chandrika
PY - 2005/3
Y1 - 2005/3
N2 - It is widely believed that listeners understand some dialects more easily than others, although there is very little research that has rigorously measured the effects. This study investigated whether listeners experience more difficulty with regional, ethnic, and international dialects of English than with Standard American English. The results demonstrated that speaker dialect had a significant effect for both English as a second language (ESL) listeners (n = 158) and native-English-speaking listeners (n = 58). ESL listeners scored lower on listening comprehension tests hearing ethnic and international dialects of English compared to Standard American English; however, there were no significant differences between the scores of those hearing regional dialect and Standard American English. These results suggest that regional dialects should be considered in listening comprehension tests such as the Test of English as a Foreign Language.
AB - It is widely believed that listeners understand some dialects more easily than others, although there is very little research that has rigorously measured the effects. This study investigated whether listeners experience more difficulty with regional, ethnic, and international dialects of English than with Standard American English. The results demonstrated that speaker dialect had a significant effect for both English as a second language (ESL) listeners (n = 158) and native-English-speaking listeners (n = 58). ESL listeners scored lower on listening comprehension tests hearing ethnic and international dialects of English compared to Standard American English; however, there were no significant differences between the scores of those hearing regional dialect and Standard American English. These results suggest that regional dialects should be considered in listening comprehension tests such as the Test of English as a Foreign Language.
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U2 - 10.1111/j.0023-8333.2005.00289.x
DO - 10.1111/j.0023-8333.2005.00289.x
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:14844285377
SN - 0023-8333
VL - 55
SP - 37
EP - 69
JO - Language Learning
JF - Language Learning
IS - 1
ER -