Teaching for Intelligibility

Abstract In 2005, TESOL Quarterly published John Levis's highly influential paper “Changing contexts and shifting paradigms in pronunciation teaching.” As part of TESOL Quarterly's 60th anniversary issue, I review the extent to which Levis's advocacy for intelligibility over nativelikeness in second language (L2) pronunciation learning and teaching has been addressed empirically and implemented pedagogically. I begin with a review of three key global dimensions of L2 speech, mainly intelligibility (i.e., accuracy of understanding), comprehensibility (i.e., ease of understanding), and accentedness (i.e., nativelikeness), and their influential role in L2 pronunciation research. I next consider the methodological approaches used to investigate these three dimensions, specifically in reference to (a) the degree to which they are independent of each other, and (b) the measures of the speech stream to which listeners attend to when asked to assess each. Drawing on relevant empirical findings, I then discuss the claimed pedagogical implications of such research in light of their practicality of implementation by teachers. Finally, I highlight several areas of interest for future research into intelligibility‐oriented L2 teaching, including the need for increased researcher–teacher dialogue, more longitudinal inquiry, and refinement of technology use.