The Effects of Speaking Rate on Listener Evaluations of Native and Foreign-Accented Speech Murray J. Munro Simon Fraser University Tracey M. Derwing University of Alberta This study tested the hypothesis that accented speech heard at a reduced rate would sound less accented and more comprehensible than speech produced at a normal rate. In 2 experiments, English native-speaker listeners rated a passage read by 10 high-proficiency Mandarin learners of English. In the first experiment, 20 listeners evaluated passages read slowly as more accented and less comprehensible than normal-rate passages. In the second experiment, in which a computer modified speaking rates, 20 new listeners preferred some speeded passages, but none of the slowed ones. Overall, the findings suggest that although native listeners may prefer to hear accented speech at slower rates, a general speaking strategy of slowing down may not help second language learners. Language Learning 48:2, June 1998, pp. 159–182 Murray J. Munro, Department of Linguistics; Tracey M. Derwing, Depart- ment of Educational Psychology. This research was supported by a President’s Research Grant from Simon Fraser University and by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The authors express their appreciation to K. Jamieson, S. Russell,X.Wang,W.McFeely and G.Wiebe for their assistance with recording, stimulus preparation, and data collection, and to J. Flege for comments on an earlier draft. Correspondence concerning this article may be directed to Murray J. Munro,Department of Linguistics,Simon Fraser University,Burnaby,British Columbia, Canada V5A 1S6. Internet: mjmunro@sfu.ca 159