Foreign-Accent Comprehension and Adaptation: What We Can Learn From Young Native Learners of English

外國口音理解與適應之相關研究：由英語為母語孩童談起

胡潔芳(Chieh-Fang Hu)

《英語教學期刊》 40卷4期 (2016/12) Pp. 65-89

https://doi.org/10.6330/ETL.2016.40.4.03

摘要

Despite the growing recognition of English as a lingua franca for international communication over the past 30 years, our understanding about how to prepare nonnative learners of English for such communication is limited by the paucity of research on how nonnative listeners process the various phonetic variations in foreign-accented speech. Given this dearth of research on nonnative learners, the present study reviews and synthesizes the recent literature on young native learners of English and outlines the contribution that this line of research can make to an understanding of foreign-accent comprehension and adaptation in nonnative speakers. Foreign-accent comprehension in young native learners is particularly relevant because like that of most nonnative learners, their lexico-phonological system has not fully developed and is susceptible to phonetic variation in foreign accent. Taking into consideration the pedagogical implications of this research in English teaching, the present study seeks to achieve three ends: (1) to document the stimulus factors that may affect foreign-accent comprehension and adaptation, (2) to identify the potential sources of individual learner differences in such adaptation, and (3) to propose directions for future empirical and classroom-based research in this area.

關鍵字

foreign accent ； accent adaptation ； English as a lingua franca

並列摘要

英語在過去三十年已發展成為國際溝通的共通語言，然而要如何培養英語為外語的學習者適應非母語人士的各種口音，因相關文獻缺乏，無具體共識。本文除了回顧少數以英語為外語的學習者的口音適應研究外，並分析母語孩童理解與適應外國口音的相關研究，以期從相對成熟的研究領域，歸納出外國口音理解與適應的相關因素，做為未來研究英語為外語的學習者適應外國口音的參考。與大多數英語為外語的學習者相似，母語孩童因音韻系統尚未成熟，在口音理解與適應上較易受到外國口音的影響。本文的分析與歸納以對英語教學的啟發為首要考量，最終目的有三：瞭解在口音語料上可能影響外國口音理解與適應的因素；找出可能影響外國口音理解與適應的學習者因素；提出未來實證以及課堂研究可能的發展方向。

並列關鍵字

外國口音 ； 口音適應 ； 英語為共通語

參考文獻

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