A comparison of French and Kiswahili native-speaker reactions to nonnative speech

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of language and of degree of contextualization of the speech sample on native-speaker judgments of nonnative language. Two languages from different linguistic families were used: French and Kiswahili. Ten contextualized and ten decontextualized speech samples were drawn from oral interviews conducted and rated by trained raters using procedures outlined by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). Both French and Kiswahili speech excerpts were chosen in such a way that each exemplified the characteristics of the intermediate level according to the ACTFL Guidelines, ensuring that they were relatively homogeneous in terms of fluency, vocabulary, accuracy and language function. Twenty French native speakers from France and twenty Kiswahili native speakers from Tanzania and Kenya listened and rated the pre-recorded speech samples on two major criterion measures: comprehensibility and acceptability. Four linguistic criterion measures were also used to rate the samples; grammar, pronunciation, fluency and vocabulary. Data analysis showed that native-speaker judgments were significantly influenced by the language of the judges, but not by the degree of contextualization. Specifically, Kiswahili native speakers were more lenient in their judgments of nonnative speech than were French native speakers. These findings suggest that linguistic and cultural backgrounds have an important impact on native-speaker perception of nonnative speech. Differences in linguistic and cultural backgrounds constitute important factors which should be taken into consideration for language syllabus designs and oral proficiency guidelines.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Education, Bilingual and Multicultural

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2011

Author dc:creator

• Ngame, Matuku Ndunga

Contributors dc:contributor

• Hadley, Alice Omaggio

• Education, Bilingual and Multicultural
• Language, Modern
• Speech Communication

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 1992 Ngame, Matuku Ndunga

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

AAI9236551
(UMI)AAI9236551

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/21946