Intelligibility benefits and attitudinal disadvantages? The listener’s mother tongue and level as variables affecting the pronunciation ratings of Spanish speakers’ English

Abstract

This study examines the effect of the listener’s mother tongue and competency level in second language (L2) English and L2 Spanish on the pronunciation ratings of Spanish-accented English. Pronunciation is operationalized by means of three constructs: intelligibility, comprehensibility and foreign-accentedness. Stimuli from 60 Spanish speakers of advanced English (levels B2–C2) were collected at a Spanish university. Subsequently, their speech samples were judged by 330 native and non-native speakers of English (Spanish, Polish and Other L1s) in an online test. Differences in intelligibility scores were associated with the listeners’ mother tongue, their English level, and their knowledge of Spanish with native English speakers outperforming all other groups. Foreign-accentedness was also affected by the listeners’ mother tongue: the Spanish listeners were the harshest accentedness judges although their understanding of the samples was not significantly hindered, which may suggest negative in-group attitudes towards Spanish-accented English among Spanish speakers. The native English listeners, conversely, were the most lenient raters. Moreover, comprehensibility differences were associated with the listeners’ mother tongue and their English level. Thus, evidence was found to support the existence of an interlanguage speech comprehensibility and intelligibility benefits, which stresses the role of the listener’s language background and their attitudes towards English as an international language.