Using inner speech checklists to nurture L2 discussion task fluency: Reactions from within Japanese university classrooms

Abstract

This study investigates how inner speech practice, facilitated by checklists, can be used to nurture English discussion fluency of Japanese university students, addressing challenges posed by silence in Japanese classrooms (Harumi, 2023; King, 2013a; Stroud, 2017a). Integrating innovative methods to enhance cognitive and utterance fluency, the study utilizes checklists centered on speech acts for silent mental rehearsal, self-assessment, and discussion task fluency development. Positive student responses reveal motivation, increased confidence, and a desire for future checklist use. However, nuanced perspectives underscore the necessity for further investigation. The study highlights the efficacy of checklists in improving English proficiency, self-assessment, and sentence creation, fostering interaction. Yet, students' preferences for more guidance, freedom, practice, adaptable difficulty, writing activities, and increased interaction time, offering avenues for instructional refinement. Pioneering an integrative inner speech checklist approach, this study contributes to the discourse on spoken task fluency in Second Language Acquisition (SLA).