This article details the rationale and development of a new, easy-to-use scale to measure student comprehensibility. The scale is applicable to multiple L1 backgrounds, does not measure speakers against “natives”, and has practical uses in the classroom.
This study took place in the US against the backdrop of increasing numbers of international students. The concern of the researchers seems to be that international students in US universities might be perceived differently by EAP teachers as compared to their subject teachers (e.g. a Biology lecturer or a History tutor).
This study confirms common claims about the benefits of shadowing for improving English learners’ listening skills, namely that shadowing enhances learners’ phoneme perception, thus improving listening comprehension skills, and that shadowing is most effective with lower-proficiency learners.
McCrocklin’s article looks at how automatic speech recognition software can be used to improve independent pronunciation practice.
