Testing the Effects of Regional, Ethnic, and International Dialects of English on Listening Comprehension Roy C. Major Arizona State University Susan M. Fitzmaurice Northern Arizona University Ferenc Bunta Arizona State University Chandrika Balasubramanian Northern Arizona University It is widely believed that listeners understand some dialects more easily than others, although there is very little research that has rigorously measured the effects. This study investigated whether listeners experience more difficulty with regional, ethnic, and international Roy Major, Department of English; Susan M. Fitzmaurice, Department of English; Ferenc Bunta, Department of Speech and Hearing; Chandrika Balasubramanian, Department of English. This research was funded by Educational Testing Service. The authors wish to thank Educational Testing Service, as well as the following people for their help and support on this project: Paul Angelis, Dan Douglas, Robert Hilke, Joan Jamieson, Stan Jones, Vanessa Hubbard, William King, Ruth Larkin, Pamela Mollaun, Susan Nissan, Mark Rentz, Ricardo Romero, Ken Sheppard, William Stock, Alfred Stover, Carol Taylor, Randolph Thrasher, and Weifang Zhu. The opinions and conclusions expressed do not necessarily represent the views of Educational Testing Service. Correspondence concerning this article may be addressed to Roy Major, Department of English, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-0302. Internet: roy.major@asu.edu Language Learning 55:1, March 2005, pp. 37–69 37