International students’ accented English—Communication difficulties and developed strategies

Abstract

The purpose of the present investigation is to explore the communication challenges caused by accented English along with strategies of international students in the Australian context. A quantitative approach was employed in order to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the linguistic experience of the students. Participants comprised 182 international students who spoke English as a second language and were undertaking undergraduate and postgraduate programs at three universities in South East Queensland. Results revealed that they experienced accent-related problems particularly in an educational setting. Their preferred strategies to overcome such difficulties were in conflict with what they regarded as the most effective strategies.

Keywords

• language barriers
• communication difficulties
• accented english
• international students
• communicative strategies