The Accent Reduction Myth: What Actually Makes You Easy to Understand - Tracey Derwing

"Trying to change somebody's accent isn't the goal - accent itself is not a problem. Our goal is to find out what affects intelligibility and comprehensibility so people can express themselves effortlessly without setting them up for a target they can never achieve."

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Tracey Derwing.

Tracey is Professor Emerita of Educational Psychology at the University of Alberta and an Adjunct Professor at Simon Fraser University. Co-author of Pronunciation Fundamentals, she is an internationally recognized researcher whose work focuses on L2 pronunciation, intelligibility, pragmatics, and workplace integration for newcomers.

In this episode, we discuss:

How working with Vietnamese immigrants in Alberta launched decades of groundbreaking pronunciation research.

Breaking down the exact differences between Accent, Intelligibility (message delivery), and Comprehensibility (listener effort) in plain language.

Why spending classroom time on low-impact sounds (like /θ/ vs /t/) wastes energy, and how focusing on high functional load contrasts unlocks immediate clarity.

Shifting the burden of understanding off immigrant speakers and onto listeners, employers, and workplaces.

Red flags in the "accent reduction" market and why chasing "native-like" speech is an unhelpful trap.

How teaching predictable social routines dramatically improves comprehensibility without changing sound production.

Evidence proving that adult learners continue to improve naturally over a decade simply by staying engaged and using the language

*Prefer video? Watch the episode on YouTube.