Children, language comprehension, unfamiliar accent, speech and language therapy, speech processing
Background: The effect of speaker accent on listeners’ comprehension has become a key focus of research given the
increasing cultural diversity of society and the increased likelihood of an individual encountering a clinician with
an unfamiliar accent.
Aims: To review the studies exploring the effect of an unfamiliar accent on language comprehension in typically
developing (TD) children and in children with speech and language difficulties. This review provides a methodological
analysis of the relevant studies by exploring the challenges facing this field of research and highlighting
the current gaps in the literature.
Methods & Procedures: A total of nine studies were identified using a systematic search and organized under studies
investigating the effect of speaker accent on language comprehension in (1) TD children and (2) children with
speech and/or language difficulties.
Main Contribution: This review synthesizes the evidence that an unfamiliar speaker accent may lead to a breakdown
in language comprehension in TD children and in children with speech difficulties. Moreover, it exposes the
inconsistencies found in this field of research and highlights the lack of studies investigating the effect of speaker
accent in children with language deficits.
Conclusions & Implications: Overall, research points towards a developmental trend in children’s ability to comprehend
accent-related variations in speech. Vocabulary size, language exposure, exposure to different accents and
adequate processing resources (e.g. attention) seem to play a key role in children’s ability to understand unfamiliar
accents. This review uncovered some inconsistencies in the literature that highlight the methodological issues that
must be considered when conducting research in this field. It explores how such issues may be controlled in order
to increase the validity and reliability of future research. Key clinical implications are also discussed.