Dr. Antonia Johnson
Stand Still and Watch Your Confidence Grow During Presentations!
What Practical Real-Life Difference will Increase in Intelligibility Make?
Everybody wants people to grasp what they say, so a high intelligibility score is better than a low score. It is a no-brainer. Speaking accurate English sounds and words makes life much better for the speaker and the listener!
Recall the range of scores for our clients before any accent reduction instruction has been between 2% and 85%. The average was 38% for accurate English pronunciation.
But exactly what practical real-life difference will a 30, 40, 50 or even 100%, which is a doubling of intelligibility, make for a talker.
Here are some rules of thumb. For graduate students doing a teaching assistant job, university departments prefer the students aim for at least 70% intelligibility. That level vastly reduces complaints from the university undergraduates in the labs and recitations.
International speakers themselves who reach at least 65% intelligibility say they have more confidence and comfort when speaking English.
Those who reach 80% intelligibility often boast of glowing praise from employers and colleagues.
Yes. You and many are brave in seeking the new path to the joy of accurate English pronunciation. Weird but true and lovely. It is all about focus. See the speech tip below on “focus.” Don’t be embarrassed by “fuckus.”
How Does an Audience Impact a Speaker?
Why is Intelligibility Important?
A key question for you is: What do you want for your English speech communication skills?
Probably first on your wish list is for people to understand your words. The professional term for that is “intelligibility.”
Wikipedia states that intelligibility is a measure of the degree to which speech can be understood. Most important is that you need clear English speech sounds or accurate English pronunciation. Intelligibility is usually measured as a whole word intelligibility or understandability score.
Native born speakers get an average of 90 to 95% on whole word pronunciation accuracy or intelligibility. In comparison, average intelligibility for new students tested before they start our program has been 38% in quiet surroundings and 30% with background noise. (The range over 314 recent students has been 2% to 85%). For more information on intelligibility, see this: http://www.cleartalkmastery.com/what-we-do/intelligibility/
Above is an accent reduction video tip of one of the most frequent error sounds or mispronounced sounds in English, the short vowel “i.” Also, you can hear the word “intelligibility” in this speech tip video.
