The detriment that error production creates is affected by non-L1 speakers’ linguistic group membership

We present three studies that investigate the effect of group-level language ability expectations on language ability judgements. Study 1 identifies expected English-language ability levels that native English speakers’ have for a number of non-native English-speaker groups. Based on the results, two text-based written-guise studies were conducted investigating the level of detriment that grammatical and lexical/typographical errors created on English-language ability ratings for different author guises (Swedish, Chinese, English) in formal (Study 2) and informal contexts (Study 3). In both contexts, grammatical errors produced by the guise representing the lower-ability non-L1 group were overlooked, while the same errors produced by the other guises significantly lowered the ability ratings. Our results coincide with the idea of the ‘sympathetic native speaker’ and expand it, suggesting that expected language level based on linguistic group membership inversely affects the level of sympathy/tolerance demonstrated. We link this to possible pedagogical implications.