1. Making yourself understood is not all about accent

2. Lead-in question Do you think accent is the most important issue in your English pronunciation? What kind of accent do you prefer to have? To what extent do you think accent would affect one’s comprehensibility in speech?

3. Structure analysis and the key concepts What is the assumption of the research? People with different first languages might have different difficulties in speaking English. What is the new research finding? a. what makes people sound accented is language factor such as the vowel and consonant errors. b. vowel and consonant errors are not the only factor that makes people difficult to understand. For Chinese learners this might be the case, whereas for Hindu or Urdu learners the lexicogrammar errors might be the issue that makes them difficult to be understood.

4. Accent might not be the issue Accent has received ‘an undue amount of attention’, because ‘they are highly noticeable to learners’. (P2) What is experts’ view? reducing one’s accent is not an appropriate goal. not necessary for people to sound like native to integrate into the society or carry out one’s professional task. Sounding like native is unrealistic: for adults for the identity issues What should be the goal? to be understandable or comprehensible

5. Making yourself understood What are the research questions? To what extent, one’s first language influence their comprehensibility in speaking a foreign language? To what extent does one’s accent influence one’s comprehensibility? How are the research questions answered? 10 English teachers marked 60 international students in 4 groups with 15 students in each group. First judging how accented they are, and how difficult he or she was to understand Then judging ten language variables: pronunciation, fluency, vocabulary and grammar.

6. How is the question ‘how accented the students sounded’ answered? variations in their pronunciation, to be specific, vowel and consonant errors. Chinese students are the most accented How is the question ‘To what extent does one’s accent influence one’s comprehensibility’ answered? pronunciation variables: vowel/consonant accuracy, word stress, intonation and speech rate contribute to 57% of the comprehensibility, and lexicogrammar accounts for 21%. for Chinese learners : lowest rated, vowel and consonant errors the most important issue that influence comprehensibility. For Hindi or Urdu speakers: sound more accented (contradicts the previous paragraph), but grammar affect the comprehensibility

7. conclusion Pronunciation lessons should help the students more easily understandable rather than minimizing their accents. Different first language learners might have different difficulties in making their spoken English comprehensible.

8. Seminar discussion questions What are the pronunciation errors made by the Chinese low mark student? What is the issue that makes her speech difficult to be understood? What are the variables that contribute to one’s comprehensibility in their speech? What do you find is the most important issue for Chinese learners to be more comprehensible in English speaking?