In the context of 90 adult Japanese learners of English with diverse second language experience and 10 native speakers, this study examined the linguistic characteristics and learner profiles of low-, mid- and high-level fluency performance. The participants’ spontaneous speech samples were initially rated by 10 native listeners for global fluency on a 9-point scale (1 =dysfluent, 9 =very fluent), and then divided into four proficiency groups via cluster analyses: low (n= 29), mid (n= 30), high (n= 31), and native (n= 10). Next, the data set was analyzed for the number of pauses within/between clauses, articulation rate, and the frequency of repetitions/self-corrections. According to the results of a series of analyses of variance, the frequency of final-clause pauses differentiated low- and mid-level fluency performance; the number of mid-clause pauses differentiated mid- and high-level performance; and articulation rate differentiated high-level and nativelike performance. The analyses also found that the participants’ second language fluency was significantly associated with their length of residence profiles (0–18 years), but not with their age of arrival profiles (19–40 years).
This study examined the linguistic dimensions of comprehensibility and perceived fluency in the context of L2 argumentative speech elicited from 40 Japanese-speaking learners of English. Their speaking performance was judged by 10 inexperienced native speakers of English for comprehensibility and perceived fluency, and was also objectively analyzed in terms of complexity, accuracy, and fluency as well as pronunciation and discourse features. The results showed that comprehensibility and fluency judgments strongly correlated with each other and that native listeners were significantly more severe when they judged fluency. Furthermore, multiple regression analyses revealed that both constructs were commonly associated with a set of underlying linguistic dimensions (grammatical accuracy, breakdown fluency, and pronunciation). However, comprehensibility was best predicted by articulation rate (speed fluency) whereas perceived fluency was most strongly associated with the frequency of mid-clause pauses (breakdown fluency).
The current study examined the extent to which cognitive fluency (CF) contributes to utterance fluency (UF) at the level of constructs. A total of 128 Japanese-speaking learners of English completed four speaking tasks—argumentative task, picture narrative task, reading-to-speaking task, and reading-while-listening-to-speaking task—and a battery of linguistic knowledge tests, capturing vocabulary size, lexical retrieval speed, sentence construction skills, grammaticality judgments, and articulatory speed. Their speaking performance was analyzed in terms of speed, breakdown, and repair fluency (i.e., UF), and scores on linguistic knowledge tests were used to assess students’ L2 linguistic resources and processing skills (i.e., CF). Structural equation modeling revealed a complex interplay between the multidimensionality of CF and UF and speaking task types. L2 processing speed consistently contributed to all aspects of UF across speaking tasks, whereas the role of linguistic resources in speed and repair fluency varied, depending on task characteristics.
Listener-based judgements of fluency play an important role in second language (L2) communication contexts and in L2 assessment. Accordingly, our meta-analysis examined the relationship between different aspects of utterance fluency and listener-based judgements of perceived fluency by analyzing primary studies reporting correlation coefficients between objective measures of temporal features and subjective ratings of fluency. We analyzed 263 effect sizes from 22 studies (N = 335-746) to calculate the mean effect sizes of the links between utterance and perceived fluency. We also investigated the moderator effects of 11 methodological factors-such as speech stimuli, listeners' background, rating procedure, and computation of utterance fluency measures-on the relationship between utterance and perceived fluency. Perceived fluency was strongly associated with speed and pause frequency, r = |.59-.62|; moderately with pause duration, r = |.46|; and weakly with repair fluency, r = |.20|; while composite measures showed the strongest effect sizes, r = |.72-.76|. Moderator analyses revealed that the utterance-perceived fluency link is influenced by methodological variables related to how speech samples are prepared for listeners' judgements and how listeners' attention is directed in evaluations of fluency. These findings suggest future directions for L2 fluency research and implications for language assessment.
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