English pronunciation and fluency development in Mandarin and Slavic speakers

The development of accent and fluency are traced in the speech of 20 Mandarin and 20 Slavic adult immigrants to Canada over a period of 10 months. The participants were enrolled in an ESL program but had no special instruction in either pronunciation or fluency. The immigrants’ self-reported exposure to English outside of class was used to determine whether there was a relationship between accent, fluency, and voluntary contact with English. Judgment tasks were carried out in which native English listeners assessed L2 speech samples recorded at the outset of their studies, 2 months later, and again 10 months after the first recording. The listeners’ scalar judgments of accentedness and fluency indicated that there was a small improvement in accent over time, and that the Slavic learners made significant progress in fluency, whereas the Mandarin participants showed no improvement. The Slavic participants reported significantly more contact with English speakers than did the Mandarin speakers. Suggestions are made for ESL instruction and further research.