The Relationship Between Listeners’ Cultural Preferences and L2 Speech Perception

This study explored the impact of listeners’ cultural preferences and knowledge on their L2 accented speech evaluations. A total of 148 undergraduate students in the US listened to 16 scripted recordings representing eight English varieties. They provided their perceptual ratings of the recordings in terms of accentedness, comprehensibility, acceptability, and linguistic stereotyping and responded to a questionnaire exploring their preference of the cultures associated with the accent varieties used (e.g., eagerness to visit, preference for food). Findings revealed that listeners' cultural preferences significantly influence their ratings across four dimensions of speech perception (p < 0.001). However, accent familiarity emerged as the strongest predictor of perceptual judgments, with higher familiarity consistently associated with more favorable ratings. These results suggest that cultural biases may not play a significant role in shaping perceptions of L2 speech, underscoring the potential for L2 speakers to be evaluated on linguistic rather than cultural grounds.