Factors affecting strength of perceived foreign accent in a second language.
Level 4 - case-series / case-control
Level 4 by non-clinical design analogy (cross-sectional comparative study with regression modeling).
PubMed 7759652 · doi:10.1121/1.413041
What was done
This study assessed the relationship between age of learning (AOL) English and perceived foreign accent in sentence production. The sample included 240 native Italian speakers who began learning English in Canada between the ages of 2 and 23 years and had lived there for an average of 32 years, along with a native English comparison group of unspecified size. Ten native English-speaking listeners rated sentence recordings on a continuous scale. Data from language background questionnaires and accent ratings were analyzed using principal components and multiple regression analyses.
What was found
Estimated AOL for the onset of a detectable foreign accent ranged across the ten raters from 3.1 to 11.6 years (mean = 7.4 years). Accents were observed in many subjects who began learning English well before traditional critical period thresholds, and very few subjects who started after age 15 fell within the native English range. Multiple regression showed that AOL accounted for an average of 59% of the variance in foreign accent ratings, language use factors accounted for an additional 15%, and gender also influenced the ratings.
Why it matters
The study provides empirical evidence that foreign accent emergence is primarily a continuous function of the age of second language acquisition rather than a sudden shift at puberty, with ongoing language use playing a substantial secondary role.
Limits
The study was cross-sectional, examined only one native language group (Italian) learning English in Canada, relied on retrospective self-report for language background, and used sentence ratings from a small panel of 10 listeners. The sample size of the native English control group was not reported.
Cited by
- partial The critical developmental window for learning a second language without an accent closes around age 15 to 25.