The Effect of Accent Differences on Comprehension

Abstract

Several research studies, for example Brown (1968), Wilcox (1978), and Ekong (1982), support the position that the accent which is best understood in ESL/EFL situations is the accent of a good local speaker of English, rather than the accent of a standard native- speaker. Smith and Bisazza's (1982) study is less clear on this point. An experiment conducted in Hong Kong with native Chinese speakers arrived at a different conclusion, namely that the accent of native-speakers (British and American) is comprehended better than that of local Chinese speakers of English. 250 subjects were divided into four equal-proficiency groups and given two tests, a listening comprehension test and a dictation. Each group heard the tests delivered by a different speaker — one American, one British, and two Chinese. On the dictation test especially, the score of the groups who heard the American and British speakers was significantly better than that of the groups which heard the Chinese speakers. Further, the difference was found to be more pronounced with low proficiency subjects than with high proficiency subjects.