Abstract
This is an experimental study which aimed at investigating theralationsship between working memory capacity and measuresof L2 speech performance in a picture description task. The mainassumption underlying the present study was that L2 speaking isa complex cognitive task which is carried out within theconstraints of a limited-capacity system, namely, working memory.In this system, there are trade-off effects between the storage andprocessing functions of working memory just as in L2 speakingthere are trade-off effects among fluency, accuracy and complexitywhen L2 learners perform under processing pressure.
Highlights
I t would not be too far-fetched to assume that speaking a language fluently is the ultimate goal of most L2 learners and yet, as surprising as it may seem, L2 speaking has received considerably less attention from research than other skills such as reading
There are trade-off effects between the storage and processing functions of working memory, just as in L2 speaking there seems to be sufficient evidence for the trade-off effects among fluency, accuracy and complexity when L2 learners perform under processing pressure (FORTKAMP, 2000; BYGATE, 2000)
We present the results of the statistical analysis carried out to address whether there is a relationship between WM capacity and L2 speech production in terms of fluency, accuracy, complexity and weighted lexical density in a picture description task
Summary
I t would not be too far-fetched to assume that speaking a language fluently is the ultimate goal of most L2 learners and yet, as surprising as it may seem, L2 speaking has received considerably less attention from research than other skills such as reading. One possible way to look at these processes is to adopt the information processing approach which conceptualizes human beings as autonomous, active, and limited-capacity processors who have a working memory system responsible for online processing and temporary maintenance of information in the performance of complex tasks, such as problem solving, reading and speaking, among others (BADDELEY & LOGIE, 1999). The mental processes involved in the performance of complex tasks compete for the limited attention capacity of the working memory, which has to be shared between on-line processing and storage of relevant information
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