Speed, breakdown, and repair: An investigation of fluency in long-term second-language speakers of English

Abstract

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: The present study investigated which factors would best predict second-language (L2) fluency in a group of long-term L2 speakers of different English varieties with German as their first language. Design/methodology/approach: L2 fluency was conceptualized in terms of utterance fluency for which speed, breakdown and repair fluency were distinguished. Data and analysis: Multiple measures of utterance fluency were applied to four-minute speech fragments originating from 102 spontaneous oral interviews. Interviewees’ ages of onset ranged from 7 to 17, whereas their ages at interview ranged from 57 to 87. Multifactorial analyses yielded significant effects of age at interview. Findings/conclusions: Whereas the mean number of silent pauses and repairs increases, syllable duration decreases. This leaves room for interpretation as to why we find an aging effect. Overall, the evidence suggests that the usual, L2 acquisition-specific factors, such as age of onset or length of residence, are no longer at play to predict L2 fluency. Originality and significance/implications: To this point L2 fluency in very advanced, highly proficient L2 speakers has received little attention. The results point to the need for more research into highly proficient L2 users.

Acoustic characteristics and learner profiles of low-, mid- and high-level second language fluency

“…The results of the CI analyses (summarized in Tables 7 and 8) suggest that L2 learners may need a different amount of experience to achieve mid-level fluency proficiency (LOR > 3.7 years) and high-level fluency proficiency (LOR > 8.8 years) regardless of their age of arrival in an L2 speaking environment (18–40 years). The results here concur with previous findings on the presence of strong experience effects (Trofimovich & Baker, 2006), but a lack of any significant age effects (Lahmann et al, 2017) on L2 fluency development. Of note, this temporal aspect for L2 speech learning is different from the widely accepted view in regards to L2 segmental acquisition, where both experience and age effects are equally strong (Flege, 2016).…”

“…Previous literature has indicated that strong age effects can be clearly observed for acquisitionally difficult dimensions of L2 speech, such as prosodic and segmental accuracy (Flege et al, 1995; Saito, 2013, in press) and lexicogrammatical complexity (Lahmann, Steinkrauss, & Schmid, 2016). To summarize, the results here suggest that there are unique learning patterns generalizable to various dimensions of L2 speech learning (i.e., strong and extensive experience effects; Flege, 2016, for segmentals; Trofimovich & Baker, 2006, for suprasegmentals), and specific to L2 fluency attainment (i.e., weak age effects and high-level achievement; Lahmann et al, 2017).…”

“…To further examine this topic, the current study compared 90 Japanese learners of English with varied LOR and AOA profiles (see the Method section) with 10 native speaker baselines. Our data set departed in quantity/quality from the aforementioned studies (Trofimovich & Baker, 2006, for 30 inexperienced and experienced L2 learners; Lahmann et al, 2017, for 102 experienced learners but without any comparison with inexperienced learners nor native speakers). We aimed to identify low-, mid-, and high-fluent speakers by way of a cluster analysis based on 10 native speakers’ subjective judgment scores (i.e., perceived fluency).…”

“…With a total of 30 Korean learners of English (LOR = 0.1 to 15 years), Trofimovich and Baker (2006) showed that the participants’ breakdown fluency (the number of pauses) was associated with their LOR, especially among the inexperienced and moderately experienced learners (LOR < 3 years). In the context of 102 experienced German learners of English (LOR > 10 years), Lahmann, Steinkrauss, and Schmid (2017) did not find any significant relationship between participants’ age of arrival and their utterance fluency performance (breakdown, speed, and repair), suggesting that many L2 learners may be able to attain high-level fluency as a function of increased experience regardless of their starting AOA (different from L2 segmental learning, which is amenable to both experience and age effects throughout one's life).…”

Domain-general auditory processing determines success in second language pronunciation learning in adulthood: A longitudinal study

“…In line with the multifaceted view of L2 aptitude and acquisition (Li, 2016;Skehan, 2019), it is important to point out that different dimensions of L2 learning outcomes were driven by factors related to different aptitude profiles (e.g., auditory processing). Of note, perceptual and cognitive individual differences are thought to play less of a role for relatively learnable features such as better perceived tempo and articulation rate (Lahmann, Steinkrauss, & Schmid, 2017). By comparison, individual differences in auditory processing may be more influential in determining the attainment of advanced-level L2 pronunciation accuracy and fluency, characterized as greater segmental and prosodic refinement (Granena & Long, 2013;Saito, 2019).…”