Intelligibility and Comprehensibility of Thai-Accented English: The Role of Listener L1 in ELF Communication
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Abstract
This study investigates how listeners from six first language (L1) backgrounds: Thai, Burmese, Chinese (Mandarin), Japanese, Korean, and English, perceive Thai-accented English in terms of intelligibility and comprehensibility. Using a mixed-methods design, participants completed two tasks: (1) a sentence transcription task measuring objective intelligibility, and (2) a rating task evaluating subjective comprehensibility of unscripted speech. Results show a strong effect of listener L1 on both outcomes. Thai listeners demonstrated the highest intelligibility and comprehensibility, confirming the Interlanguage Speech Intelligibility Benefit (ISIB) in matched-L1 contexts. Burmese listeners performed comparably to native English speakers in intelligibility and rated Thai-accented English as highly comprehensible, likely due to phonological similarities and regional exposure. Mandarin Chinese listeners achieved moderate scores in both intelligibility and comprehensibility, with notable individual variation. Japanese and Korean listeners performed lower in both tasks, which reflects greater phonological distance from both Thai and English. Native English listeners achieved a moderately high score on the intelligibility task, yet rated Thai-accented English as the least comprehensible, illustrating the native listener paradox. These findings add to English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) research by underscoring the listener-dependent nature of intelligibility and questioning the continued reliance on native-speaker norms in speech assessment and pedagogy.
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