Wendy Baker‐Smemoe
Biographic Data
| ID | 5435658 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Wendy Baker‐Smemoe |
| GIVEN NAMES | Wendy |
| FAMILY NAME | Baker‐Smemoe |
| SIGNATURE | SMEMOE W B |
| AFFILIATIONS | Brigham Young University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9740-6303 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 10 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 60 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 10 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
The relationship of language anxiety and English learners’ accentedness, comprehensibility, and speech rate across three communication tasks
The Missionary Voice
In this paper, we report on what we are calling “Missionary Voice,” or a particular way of speaking characteristic to missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The first study elicits perceptions of Missionary Voice by Latter-day Saints in the Intermountain West without reference to any particular recording or person. We find a complex, multifaceted indexical field as well as potential linguistic features, uses for Missiona…
Factors that affect native English speakers’ comfort levels when communicating with non‐native English speakers
This study explores native English speakers’ (NESs) self‐reported comfort levels when speaking with non‐native English speakers (NNESs) from different first language (L1) backgrounds and in six different communication situations. NESs ( n = 122) listened to Spanish L1 and Chinese L1 NNESs with low, mid or high levels of English proficiency and rated their comfort level interacting with them. Results indicated that higher proficiency speakers were…
Tolkien’s Phonoprint in Character Names Throughout His Invented Languages
J. R. R. Tolkien claimed to create names based on sound symbolism and invented languages. Previous studies revealed that Tolkien had his own phonoprint (tendency to use the same phonemes repeatedly for character names) regardless of his claims that they reflected different language origins. However, this research examined phonemes and syllables rather than names as whole units. This study compared 183 names from Tolkien’s works and 100 names from…
Learning the Marshallese Phonological System
The current study determines the influence of cross-language similarity on native English speakers’ perception and production of Marshallese consonant contrasts. Marshallese provides a unique opportunity to study this influence because all Marshallese consonants have a secondary articulation. Results of discrimination and production tasks indicate that learners more easily acquire sounds if they are perceptually less similar to native language ph…
L2 development during study abroad in China
Linguistic behavior and religious activity
Does Measuring L2 Utterance Fluency Equal Measuring Overall L2 Proficiency? Evidence From Five Languages
The current study examined the relationship between overall second language (L2) proficiency and utterance fluency measures for several L2s in order to determine whether utterance measures can be used to predict L2 proficiency. The study measured the speech rate, number of hesitations, number and length of pauses, number and length of runs, and number of false starts using excerpts from 126 ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interviews (OPIs) spoken by 86 pa…
Variables Affecting L2 Gains During Study Abroad
Second language (L2) gains during study abroad have been related to several variables including length of stay (Llanes, 2011), language use (Martinsen, Baker, Dewey, Bown, & Johnson, 2010), and social network development (Isabelli‐García, 2006), among others. However, most studies have investigated only a few predictors in single study abroad programs. While these findings are helpful, larger scale studies are needed to better understand the vari…
An investigation of the production of ejectives by native (L1) and second (L2) language speakers of Q'eqchi' Mayan
Variables Affecting L2 Gains During Study Abroad
Second language (L2) gains during study abroad have been related to several variables including length of stay (Llanes, 2011), language use (Martinsen, Baker, Dewey, Bown, & Johnson, 2010), and social network development (Isabelli‐García, 2006), among others. However, most studies have investigated only a few predictors in single study abroad programs. While these findings are helpful, larger scale studies are needed to better understand the vari…
Does Measuring L2 Utterance Fluency Equal Measuring Overall L2 Proficiency? Evidence From Five Languages
The current study examined the relationship between overall second language (L2) proficiency and utterance fluency measures for several L2s in order to determine whether utterance measures can be used to predict L2 proficiency. The study measured the speech rate, number of hesitations, number and length of pauses, number and length of runs, and number of false starts using excerpts from 126 ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interviews (OPIs) spoken by 86 pa…
Linguistic behavior and religious activity
L2 development during study abroad in China
An investigation of the production of ejectives by native (L1) and second (L2) language speakers of Q'eqchi' Mayan
Tolkien’s Phonoprint in Character Names Throughout His Invented Languages
J. R. R. Tolkien claimed to create names based on sound symbolism and invented languages. Previous studies revealed that Tolkien had his own phonoprint (tendency to use the same phonemes repeatedly for character names) regardless of his claims that they reflected different language origins. However, this research examined phonemes and syllables rather than names as whole units. This study compared 183 names from Tolkien’s works and 100 names from…
Learning the Marshallese Phonological System
The current study determines the influence of cross-language similarity on native English speakers’ perception and production of Marshallese consonant contrasts. Marshallese provides a unique opportunity to study this influence because all Marshallese consonants have a secondary articulation. Results of discrimination and production tasks indicate that learners more easily acquire sounds if they are perceptually less similar to native language ph…
An investigation of the production of ejectives by native (L1) and second (L2) language speakers of Q'eqchi' Mayan
Does Measuring L2 Utterance Fluency Equal Measuring Overall L2 Proficiency? Evidence From Five Languages
The current study examined the relationship between overall second language (L2) proficiency and utterance fluency measures for several L2s in order to determine whether utterance measures can be used to predict L2 proficiency. The study measured the speech rate, number of hesitations, number and length of pauses, number and length of runs, and number of false starts using excerpts from 126 ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interviews (OPIs) spoken by 86 pa…
Variables Affecting L2 Gains During Study Abroad
Second language (L2) gains during study abroad have been related to several variables including length of stay (Llanes, 2011), language use (Martinsen, Baker, Dewey, Bown, & Johnson, 2010), and social network development (Isabelli‐García, 2006), among others. However, most studies have investigated only a few predictors in single study abroad programs. While these findings are helpful, larger scale studies are needed to better understand the vari…
L2 development during study abroad in China
Linguistic behavior and religious activity
Learning the Marshallese Phonological System
The current study determines the influence of cross-language similarity on native English speakers’ perception and production of Marshallese consonant contrasts. Marshallese provides a unique opportunity to study this influence because all Marshallese consonants have a secondary articulation. Results of discrimination and production tasks indicate that learners more easily acquire sounds if they are perceptually less similar to native language ph…
Tolkien’s Phonoprint in Character Names Throughout His Invented Languages
J. R. R. Tolkien claimed to create names based on sound symbolism and invented languages. Previous studies revealed that Tolkien had his own phonoprint (tendency to use the same phonemes repeatedly for character names) regardless of his claims that they reflected different language origins. However, this research examined phonemes and syllables rather than names as whole units. This study compared 183 names from Tolkien’s works and 100 names from…
Factors that affect native English speakers’ comfort levels when communicating with non‐native English speakers
This study explores native English speakers’ (NESs) self‐reported comfort levels when speaking with non‐native English speakers (NNESs) from different first language (L1) backgrounds and in six different communication situations. NESs ( n = 122) listened to Spanish L1 and Chinese L1 NNESs with low, mid or high levels of English proficiency and rated their comfort level interacting with them. Results indicated that higher proficiency speakers were…
The Missionary Voice
In this paper, we report on what we are calling “Missionary Voice,” or a particular way of speaking characteristic to missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The first study elicits perceptions of Missionary Voice by Latter-day Saints in the Intermountain West without reference to any particular recording or person. We find a complex, multifaceted indexical field as well as potential linguistic features, uses for Missiona…
The relationship of language anxiety and English learners’ accentedness, comprehensibility, and speech rate across three communication tasks
Linguistics (9 works) · Psychology (9 works) · Computer Science (7 works) · EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning (5 works) · Phonetics and Phonology Research (5 works) · Philosophy (4 works) · Speech recognition (4 works) · Communication (3 works) · Language proficiency (3 works) · Linguistic Variation and Morphology (3 works)