Impact of L2 learners' background factors on the perception of L1 Spanish speech

Listener background variables have been recognized as potential contributors to language evaluation bias. This continuum of trait-irrelevant factors creates implications from the L2 classroom to integration in the target language community. This study examined how L2 Spanish learners' listener background factors including ethnicity, heritage speaker status, and study abroad experience predicted their perceptual ratings of native Spanish accented speech on comprehensibility, accentedness, acceptability, and open-mindedness. Results showed mixed findings regarding the impact of L2 listener background factors and study abroad experiences on L1 speech perception ratings with little variance explained overall despite significant differences between speech constructs, suggesting that there may be other effects that impact how L2 learners perceive L1 speech. Results support previous findings that learner L2 level and ability seem to influence how target language speech is perceived. Findings provide implications for the fields of study abroad and immersion learning and teaching.