ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author considers the often-neglected skill of listening in a context where English, as a lingua franca, is spoken by individuals from many different linguistic backgrounds, leading to many different accents of English. She reports on a test development project that she conducted in Thailand, her home country. The author investigates the extent to which accents had an influence on Thai undergraduates’ listening comprehension in English. In order for English to function well as a lingua franca in Asia, speakers must be able to understand various types of English accents. When international communication takes place, accents may be a source of listening difficulty. That is, listeners may find it difficult to understand the accented speech of speakers who do not share their first languages. As accents relate to different characteristics of phonological systems, it might be worthwhile to begin with local understanding by introducing some salient key features of the target accent to students.
