For many decades, English has functioned as a lingua franca that enables people with different mother tongues to communicate to maintain their daily or professional lives. As the linguistic and acoustic features of their native languages differ, the way they use English differs, as well. These World Englishes have the possibility of going extreme, creating varieties which are incomprehensible to one another. These intelligibility issues can be prevented in some ways, one of which is to make sure the education system aims to familiarize learners with different varieties. In order to test this and help educational authorities take action if necessary, this study examines the comprehension levels of intermediate students who currently study at university. The comprehension test employing VGT to avoid bias is completed with the help of audio tracks recorded by real speakers in six different varieties. This test has been applied to 200 preparatory school students at two different high-scale state universities, and its results have been analyzed by using Jamovi. British English took the lead in comprehension, while Indian and American Englishes were realized to be the least comprehended varieties in this study. The results may not verify the dominance of native varieties over non-native ones, yet they ensure that the more students are exposed to different varieties, the more they become able to comprehend and possibly communicate in them.
Yılmaz et al. (Wed,) studied this question.