anonymous english speakers as potential role models: the case of international intelligibility and likability

Speaker role modelling occurs daily around the world and influences elf learners’ language learning whether they are individuals like teachers and celebrities or artifacts like teaching materials. language learners imagine themselves like preferred english speaker role models (srms) and there are studies investigating their characteristics (e.g., muir et al., 2019). however, in many occasions, language learners encounter english anonymous speakers face-to-face or online, whose names, accomplishments, status, character or personal attributes may not be known. what is the possibility for these incidental speakers to be considered as the learners’ srms? how likely are they to be selected as the learners’ srms solely based on their speech? based on a larger study on english srms, this study, specifically, examines this issue according to two criteria, international intelligibility and likeability. to this end, an intact group of 52 iranian university students majoring in english rated anonymous speakers’ intelligibility, likeability, and likelihood of taking each speaker as a role model. a likert scale survey questionnaire and two open-ended questions were designed to integrate qualitative and quantitative parts in the same data collection instrument. first, the participants listened to 12 specially selected one-minute audiotaped speech samples and filled in a survey table; then they expressed their opinion on having srms. analyzing the data revealed that anonymous speakers, devoid of personal attributes and professional accomplishments, were not preferred as role models based on accent alone. further, there was no significant difference between anonymous ns and nns, celebrities and others, for whom accent intelligibility and likeability increased but did not determine the likelihood of selecting them as their srms. moreover, low-proficiency nonnatives and low-intelligibility natives were undesirable as role models. these findings provide insights and imply suggestions for classroom and online activities that encourage the development of learner awareness, self-development, and practice to enhance own intelligibility.