Exploring the Relationship Between Listener Comprehensibility Ratings and Actual Comprehension Difficulty : Advancing Comprehensibility Research Through Objective Online Rating Method

Within the domain of second language (L2) pronunciation studies, the exploration of factors influencing listeners comprehension has been a focal point. Research on comprehensibility has traditionally relied on listeners’ subjective ratings to gauge the ease or difficulty of understanding speech. However, the inherent subjectivity and offline nature of such ratings raise concerns about their accuracy. This paper advocates for a paradigm shift in comprehensibility research, proposing the adoption of objective and online judgments as a more precise and reliable assessment method. By emphasizing the need for studies to incorporate real-time assessments, we aim to address the limitations associated with subjective ratings and advance the quality of comprehensibility research in the field of L2 pronunciation studies.