Charlie Nagle, associate professor of Spanish, has co-authored a paper entitled “Beyond Linguistic Features: Exploring behavioral and affective correlates of comprehensible second language speech.”
The paper appears in Studies in Second Language Acquisition, which is published by Cambridge University Press.
The paper explores the factors that make it easy or difficult to understand a speaker. Nagle and his colleagues conclude that is is not always solely about the speaker’s language use–including grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation. A speaker’s affect (anxiety) and behavior can also impact understandability.
Studies in Second Language Acquisition is a refereed journal of international scope devoted to the scientific discussion of acquisition or use of non-native and heritage languages.