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Nonnative English speaker performance on the Basic English Lexicon (BEL) sentences
Stacey Rimikis1, Rajka Smiljanic, Lauren Calandruccio
1Queens College of the City University of New York, Flushing, NY, USA.
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research : JSLHR
|January 1, 2013
Summary
The Basic English Lexicon (BEL) sentence materials are suitable for speech-perception testing in nonnative English speakers. Performance was consistent across different BEL sentence lists for this diverse group.
Area of Science:
- Audiology
- Speech-language pathology
- Linguistics
Background:
- Assessing speech perception in nonnative English speakers is crucial.
- The Basic English Lexicon (BEL) offers new sentence materials for such assessments.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate sentence-recognition performance using BEL materials in a large, diverse group of nonnative English speakers.
- To determine if BEL sentence lists are equally difficult for this population.
Main Methods:
- 102 nonnative English speakers with normal hearing participated.
- Participants listened to 500 BEL sentences embedded in spectrally matched noise.
- Demographic, linguistic data, and English proficiency (Versant English Test) were collected.
Main Results:
- Nonnative listeners demonstrated equivalent word-recognition performance across three groups of BEL sentence lists.
- English proficiency and various demographic/linguistic factors significantly correlated with BEL performance.
Conclusions:
- The BEL sentence materials are validated for speech-perception testing in nonnative English speakers.
- The materials are appropriate for a diverse population of nonnative English listeners.
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