ERIC Number: EJ1273796
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2020-Dec
Pages: 43
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0023-8333
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Available Date: N/A
Foreignness or Processing Fluency? On Understanding the Negative Bias toward Foreign-Accented Speakers
Foucart, Alice; Costa, Albert; Morís-Fernández, Luis; Hartsuiker, Robert J.
Language Learning, v70 n4 p974-1016 Dec 2020
The extent to which negative bias toward foreign-accented speakers originates from social categorization (in-group/out-group categorization) and/or from processing fluency (ease in processing information) is not clear. Some have argued that accent first induces a social identity effect and that processing fluency later modifies the impact of this effect. Using event-related potentials (ERPs), this registered report tested this hypothesis, looking at the effect of social categorization and processing fluency on sentence processing. Truth evaluation and the ERP data (N400) did not show significant differences across native and foreign speakers. Debriefing scores on social variables (e.g., status) were lower for foreign speakers, and an exploratory analysis revealed a larger P200 (related to acoustic features) for the native than for the foreign speakers. Hence, foreign speakers were not necessarily perceived as less credible, but accent negatively affected the evaluation of speakers on social variables.
Descriptors: Pronunciation, Social Bias, Language Attitudes, Language Processing, Language Fluency, Diagnostic Tests, Self Concept, Second Language Learning, Brain Hemisphere Functions, Credibility
Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www-wiley-com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-us
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Data File: URL: https://osf.io/f2umv/files/
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