Understanding the Unheard: Italian Students’ Recognition and Comprehensibility Ratings of English Accents

This study examines how Italian secondary school learners perceive and process different English accents, focusing on recognition accuracy and perceived comprehensibility. Students listened to recordings of nine English accents from Kachru’s Inner, Outer, and Expanding Circles and were asked to identify their geographical origin and rate their comprehensibility on a 5-point scale. The study investigates how accurately learners recognize different accents and whether perceived intelligibility correlates with correct identification. Preliminary expectations suggest that more familiar accents, such as British and American English, will be recognized more accurately and rated as more comprehensible, while less familiar varieties may be misidentified and perceived as less intelligible. The findings aim to shed light on sociolinguistic biases, language attitudes, and the impact of limited exposure to diverse Englishes in foreign language learning.