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The innovative aspect of this study lies in the fact that the multiple features of accentedness were measured via instrumentation rather than being rated by judges who may, themselves, be subject to rating biases. A multiple regression analysis revealed the individual and joint predictiveness of each of the suprasegmental measures.

undergraduates (n = 188) judged the speakers’ oral proficiency and comprehensibility. Twenty-six speech samples elicited from iBT TOEFL® examinees were analyzed using a KayPENTAX Computerized Speech Laboratory. It examines relations between those acoustic measures of accentedness and listeners’ impressions of second-language oral proficiency. The present study addresses a constellation of suprasegmental characteristics of nonnative speakers of accented English, combining indices of speech rate, pause, and intonation. Prior studies of English language learners’ (ELLs’) pronunciation have focused on single parameters of English, such as vowel duration, fundamental frequency as related to intonation, or temporal measures of speech production. In high-stakes oral proficiency testing as well as in everyday encounters, accent is the most salient aspect of nonnative speech.