L2 Fluency Research Articles

Increasing fluency in L2 writing with singing

Fluency is an essential part of a language learner’s skills. Despite various studies on fluency, little is known about the effects of different pedagogical methods on the development of written fluency. In this paper, we examine how different pedagogical methods affect the development of second language learners’ written fluency. Participants in this study were 51 language learners enrolled in two intensive Finnish courses. The pedagogical methods investigated in the study were singing, listening to songs, and reciting lyrics of songs. Written stories based on cartoon strips were used as a pretest and a posttest. The fluency of written stories was analyzed based on the number of words used in the texts. Differences between the groups taught by different pedagogical methods were analyzed. The results seem to indicate that fluency increased the most in the singing groups compared to the other groups. There was also a statistically significant difference between the singing group and the group reciting lyrics, as well as between the group listening to songs and the group reciting lyrics.

Willingness to communicate and second language speech fluency: An idiodynamic investigation

Second language (L2) speech fluency has usually been studied as a function of a set of measurable temporal features of speech, but it has seldom been researched in relation to learner or situational factors in performance such as willingness to communicate (WTC), definable as readiness to engage in communication at a specific time and with specific interlocutors. The present study is an examination of the fluid relationship between WTC and L2 fluency from a dynamic systems perspective. The exploratory case study presents an examination of WTC and fluency in Japanese learners of English L2, in communication with a non-Japanese interlocutor. Speech samples produced by the learners were analyzed for markers of fluency. The learners produced WTC profiles for their speech samples by creating bitmaps during stimulated recall, and also provided retrospective self-analysis of WTC in stimulated recall. The fluency profiles and WTC profiles were matched and analyzed to explore the interrelationship between fluency and WTC. The results illuminate the relationship between fluency and WTC, particularly the fluidity and possible directionality of the relationship, i.e. whether fluency breakdowns lead to lowered WTC or vice versa.

The differential effects of two types of task repetition on the complexity, accuracy, and fluency in computer-mediated L2 written production: a focus on computer anxiety

Previous task repetition studies have primarily focused on how task repetition characteristics affect the complexity, accuracy, and fluency in L2 oral production with little attention to L2 written production. The main purpose of the study reported in this paper was to examine the effects of task repetition versus procedural repetition on the complexity, accuracy, and fluency (henceforth CAF) in low–intermediate English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ task-based, computer-mediated L2 written production. A secondary purpose was to examine the relationship between computer anxiety and EFL learners’ development of CAF in L2 writing. The study employed a pretest-posttest design with 70 EFL learners from a language learning institution in Iran. The participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups: task repetition or procedural repetition. The task repetition group repeated the same task procedure with the exact same content five times, whereas the procedural repetition group repeated the same task procedure with different content. The participants were also asked to complete the Computer Anxiety Rating Scale to measure their computer anxiety. The results revealed the following: (1) the beneficial effects of both tasks on the participants’ L2 written production, (2) the differential effects of task repetition on the participants’ writing CAF when compared with procedural repetition, and (3) no statistically significant relationship between computer anxiety and the participants’ development of CAF in task-based, computer-mediated L2 written production. Implications are discussed, and avenues for future research are outlined.

TASK REPETITION AND SECOND LANGUAGE SPEECH PROCESSING

This study examines the relationship between the repetition of oral monologue tasks and immediate gains in L2 fluency. It considers the effect of aural-oral task repetition on speech rate, frequency of clause-final and midclause filled pauses, and overt self-repairs across different task types and proficiency levels and relates these findings to specific stages of L2 speech production (conceptualization, formulation, and monitoring). Thirty-two Japanese learners of English sampled at three levels of proficiency completed three oral communication tasks (instruction, narration, and opinion) six times. Results revealed that immediate aural-oral same task repetition was related to gains in oral fluency regardless of proficiency level or task type. Overall gains in speech rate were the largest across the first three performances of each task type but continued until the fifth performance. More specifically, however, clause-final pauses decreased until the second performance, midclause pauses decreased up to the fourth, and self-repairs decreased only after the fourth performance, indicating that task repetition may have been differentially related to specific stages in the speech production process.

The Effectiveness of Drama as an Instructional Approach for the Development of Second Language Oral Fluency, Comprehensibility, and Accentedness

Although the development of second language (L2) oral fluency has been widely investigated over the past several decades, there remains a paucity of research examining language instruction specifically aimed at improving this cognitive skill. In this study, the researchers investigate how instructional techniques adapted from drama can positively impact L2 fluency, comprehensibility, and accentedness—three frequently discussed dimensions of L2 speech. Following a pretest–posttest design, the researchers obtained speech samples from 24 adolescent Brazilian EFL learners before and after their participation in a 4-month drama-based English language program. The development of oral skills by this group was compared with that of a parallel group of learners who received 4 months of instruction in a traditional communicative EFL classroom. Thirty untrained Canadian native English speaker raters evaluated randomized recorded L2 speech samples and provided impressionistic scalar judgments of fluency, comprehensibility, and accentedness. Results indicate that drama-based instruction can lead to significantly larger gains in L2 English oral fluency relative to more traditional communicative EFL instruction; comprehensibility scores also appear to be impacted, but with a much smaller effect; accentedness scores do not seem to benefit from one type of instruction over the other. The authors discuss implications for teaching practice.

New directions and developments in defining, analyzing and measuring L2 speech fluency

In studying second language (L2) fluency attainment, researchers typically address questions about temporal and hesitation phenomena in a descriptive manner, cataloguing which features appear under which learning circumstances. The goal of this paper is to present a perspective on L2 fluency that goes beyond description by exploring a potential explanatory framework for understanding L2 fluency. This framework focuses on the cognitive processing that underlies the manifestation of fluency and disfluency, and on the ways social context might contribute to shaping fluency attainment. The framework provides a dynamical systems perspective of fluency and its development, with specific consequences for a research program on L2 fluency. This framework gives rise to new questions because of its focus on the intimate link between cognitive fluency and utterance fluency, that is, between measures of the speed, efficiency and fluidity of the cognitive processes thought to underlie implementation of the speech act and measures of the oral fluency of that speech act. Moreover, it is argued that cognitive and utterance fluency need to be situated in the social context of communication in order to take into account the role played by the pragmatic and the sociolinguistic nature of communication in shaping L2 fluency development.

Second language fluency and its underlying cognitive and social determinants

AbstractIn studying second language (L2) fluency attainment, researchers typically address questions about temporal and hesitation phenomena in a descriptive manner, cataloguing which features appear under which learning circumstances. The goal of this paper is to present a perspective on L2 fluency that goes beyond description by exploring a potential explanatory framework for understanding L2 fluency. This framework focuses on the cognitive processing that underlies the manifestation of fluency and disfluency, and on the ways social context might contribute to shaping fluency attainment. The framework provides a dynamical systems perspective of fluency and its development, with specific consequences for a research program on L2 fluency. This framework gives rise to new questions because of its focus on the intimate link between cognitive fluency and utterance fluency, that is, between measures of the speed, efficiency and fluidity of the cognitive processes thought to underlie implementation of the speech act and measures of the oral fluency of that speech act. Moreover, it is argued that cognitive and utterance fluency need to be situated in the social context of communication in order to take into account the role played by the pragmatic and the sociolinguistic nature of communication in shaping L2 fluency development.

Fluency in monologic and dialogic task performance: Challenges in defining and measuring L2 fluency

AbstractThe study reported in this paper challenges current models of measuring second language fluency by comparing monologic versus dialogic task performance, and providing a novel insight into the measurement of the interactive aspects of dialogic performance. The data that constitute 35 monologic and dialogic task performances from second language learners were coded using a battery of established measures known to tap different aspects of fluency, and subjected to statistical analysis to test for overlaps or differences. Interactive aspects of fluency in dialogue, e. g. interruptions, overlap and unclaimed between turn pauses were also investigated to compare with common measures of monologic speech. While the results confirm previous research findings suggesting that performance is in general statistically more fluent in a dialogue in terms of speed, length of pause and repair measures, they indicate that performances in the two modes are not different in terms of number and location of pauses. The analysis of the dialogues indicates that the decisions researchers make about measuring the interactive aspects of fluency would have an impact on the outcome of measurements of fluency. These findings highlight the need for developing a more systematic and reliable approach to measuring second language (L2) fluency.

A qualitative analysis of perceptions of fluency in second language French

AbstractIn the field of second language (L2) fluency, there is a common adherence to quantitative methods to examine characteristics and features of speech. This study extends the field by reporting on an investigation that analyzed native-speaker listeners’ perceptions of L2 fluency in French from a qualitative perspective. Three untrained judges rated students’ performance on speech tasks varying in cognitive demand and provided justifications for their perceptions of fluency. The goal of the research was to examine the factors that affect raters’ evaluations of fluency in response to three oral performances from 40 adult learners of French of varying proficiency. Qualitative analysis revealed that the main speech features that influenced native listeners’ perceptions of L2 fluency were speed, rhythm, pause phenomena, self-correction and efficiency/effortlessness in word choice, but also in target-like rhythm and prosody. The results of using such qualitative methodology highlights the important role that rhythm plays in fluency judgements in syllable-timed languages such as French, a factor which has not always been given much prominence in previous L2 fluency quantitative research.

Integrating quantitative and qualitative approaches in L2 fluency analysis: A study of Finnish-speaking and Swedish-speaking learners of English at two school levels

Integrating quantitative and qualitative approaches in L2 fluency analysis: A study of Finnish-speaking and Swedish-speaking learners of English at two school levels

Establishing the fluency gap between native and non-native-speech

Although various dimensions of speech fluency have so far generated a great deal of research interest, very few accounts have tackled the issue of the relationship between L1 and L2 fluency. Also, little empirical evidence has been provided to support the claim that language users are more fluent in their mother tongue than in a foreign/second language. This study examines the fluency gap between L1 and L2 fluency using a battery of objectively quantifiable temporal measures of speed and breakdown fluency. It also attempts to identify those temporal fluency variables which are affected by the individual way of speaking rather than the degree of automatisation of speech processing and which underlie oral performance both in L1 and L2. The analysis draws on transcriptions of elicited speech samples in L1 (Polish) and L2 (English).

Fluency-dependent cortical activation associated with speech production and comprehension in second language learners

This functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study investigated the brain regions underlying language task performance in adult second language (L2) learners. Specifically, we identified brain regions where the level of activation was associated with L2 fluency levels. Thirty Japanese-speaking adults participated in the study. All participants were L2 learners of English and had achieved varying levels of fluency, as determined by a standardized L2 English proficiency test, the Versant English Test (Pearson Education Inc., 2011). When participants performed the oral sentence building task from the production tasks administered, the dorsal part of the left inferior frontal gyrus (dIFG) showed activation patterns that differed depending on the L2 fluency levels: The more fluent the participants were, the more dIFG activation decreased. This decreased activation of the dIFG might reflect the increased automaticity of a syntactic building process. In contrast, when participants performed an oral story comprehension task, the left posterior superior temporal gyrus (pSTG) showed increased activation with higher fluency levels. This suggests that the learners with higher L2 fluency were actively engaged in post-syntactic integration processing supported by the left pSTG. These data imply that L2 fluency predicts neural resource allocation during language comprehension tasks as well as in production tasks. This study sheds light on the neural underpinnings of L2 learning by identifying the brain regions recruited during different language tasks across different modalities (production vs. comprehension).

Selective L2 cognate retrieval deficit in a bilingual person with aphasia: A case report

Lexical access in bilinguals has been debated for the last several decades. Although a large majority of bilingual people often experience aphasia in both languages, some show language-selective disturbances. Yet, selective difficulties in retrieving words that share similar semantic and phonological forms in the two languages have seldom been reported. Here, we report the case of a 45-year-old, right-handed, balanced bilingual subject (Kannada–Malayalam) who presented with aphasia following an episode of stroke. Language evaluation revealed word-selection type of anomia with selective naming disturbance in L2 compared to L1 (in spite of having native-like fluency in L2). On further probing into his anomia, he showed an inability to name cognate words in L2 even after successfully naming them in L1. These observations are discussed in the light of lexical access theories in bilinguals.

How do utterance measures predict raters’ perceptions of fluency in French as a second language?

While the research literature on second language (L2) fluency is replete with descriptions of fluency and its influence with regard to English as an additional language, little is known about what fluency features influence judgments of fluency in L2 French. This study reports the results of an investigation that analyzed the relationship between utterance fluency measures and raters’ perceptions of L2 fluency in French using mixed-effects modeling. Participants were 40 adult learners of French at varying levels of proficiency, studying in a university immersion context. Speech performances were collected on three different types of narrative tasks. Four utterance fluency measures were extracted from each performance. Eleven untrained judges rated the speech performances and we examined which utterance fluency measures are the best predictors of the scores awarded by the raters. The mean length of runs and articulation rate proved to be the most influential factors in raters’ judgments, while the frequency of pauses played a less important role. The length of pauses was positively related to fluency scores, indicating a prominent cross-linguistic variation specific to French. The relative importance of the utterance measures in predicting fluency ratings, however, was found to vary across tasks.

The Relationship Between Task Difficulty and Second Language Fluency in French: A Mixed Methods Approach

While there exists a considerable body of literature on task‐based difficulty and second language (L2) fluency in English as a second language (ESL), there has been little investigation with French learners. This mixed methods study examines learner appraisals of task difficulty and their relationship to automated utterance fluency measures in French under three different task conditions. Participants were 40 adult learners of French at varying levels of proficiency studying in a university immersion context in Québec. Appraisal of task difficulty was assessed quantitatively by participants' self reports in response to a five‐item questionnaire and qualitatively by retrospective interviews. Utterance fluency was operationalized by four temporal variables and measured by Praat, a speech analysis software program. Across tasks, the quantitative results indicate that appraisals of lexical retrieval difficulty and fluency difficulty were most strongly related to perceived overall task difficulty. The qualitative analysis shows how L2 speakers evaluated the difficulty of each task as well as the features that either contributed to or limited their L2 fluency. Students' fluency in performing the three tasks was found to differ for articulation rate and average pause time, but not for pause frequency or phonation–time ratio.

Effects of L1 language background and L2 experience on adult L2 acquisition of five suprasegmentals

This study investigated how various adult groups with different mother tongues and diverse levels of experience with an L2 acquire the suprasegmental phonetic cues of the L2 speech. Two hundred subjects in ten groups took part in the experiment. The results show that the L1 language background and L2 experience exhibit dissimilar influences on the acquisition of the L2 suprasegmentals. More specifically, the L1 background impacts the fluency of L2 speech more strongly in the early stage, while L2 experience mitigates the L1 effect dramatically in the later stage for the adult L2 learners. The acquisition of L2 suprasegmental cues, however, triggers an uneven influence on native speakers’ judgments of the fluency of L2 speech; speech rate has the most influence on judging L2 fluency, while F0 range has the least. Among three L1 groups, comparatively inexperienced Japanese learners of Korean control these cues well compared to English and Mandarin learners of Korean as an L2.

Impairment of both languages in late bilinguals with dementia of the Alzheimer type

Neuropsychological theories raise the question if in late bilinguals with dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT), the second language (L2) may be more impaired than the first (L1). We compared language performance in different tasks of oral comprehension (semantic and syntactic) and production (naming, repetition and fluency) in L1 and L2 in a group of 13 late proficient bilinguals wit DAT immersion, and a matched control group of 12 healthy late bilinguals. Two-way mixed repeated-measure ANOVAs with factors Language and Group revealed main effects of Group (p < .05) indicating that DAT affects all aspects of language. There was no Group × Language interaction, suggesting that DAT affects both languages similarly. Our study thus shows that neurodegenerative diseases affect L1 and L2 in a parallel manner, particularly at the levels of semantic, lexical and syntactic processing. These results speak in favour of a shared L1 and L2 network in late bilinguals.

Exploring Utterance and Cognitive Fluency of L1 and L2 English Speakers: Temporal Measures and Stimulated Recall

Although fluency constitutes an essential component of second language (L2) proficiency, there are mixed results and gaps in the literature on how L2 speakers’ fluency differs from fluent speech production in a first language (L1). The research reported in this article investigated utterance fluency and cognitive fluency of L1 English speakers and Korean learners of L2 English by eliciting and comparing quantitative evidence from temporal measures and qualitative evidence from stimulated recall responses. In addition, the L2 speaker group's proficiency was measured by an in‐house institutional test so as to inspect how L2 fluency measures correlated to varying proficiency. The L1 and L2 speakers were different in speed, length of run, and silent pauses. In particular, a striking group difference in silent pause rate within a clause was found, consistent with the claim that pauses within clauses reflect processing difficulties in speech production. Different qualitative patterns in the stimulated recall responses by the lower and higher proficiency learners are discussed in relation to Ullman's declarative/procedural model and Segalowitz's fluency vulnerability points in L2 speech production.

‘I study long, long time in my language, so I never forget it’: reading and first language maintenance

This article will examine first-language (L1) maintenance among adult learners attending English classes at a tertiary institution in New Zealand. The sample consisted of refugee background students enrolled in a Training Opportunities Program aimed at developing literacy and numeracy skills as well as preparation for civic involvement. The data emanated from a qualitative study which not only yielded information on students’ reading habits in English but also in other languages, including their L1. Findings from the current study address L1 fluency in L2 settings, particularly as related to the availability of L1 reading material, home environment, and digital media.

Dementia of Alzheimer Type can Alter both Languages in Late Bilinguals

Introduction Behavioral, clinical and neuroimaging evidence indicate that the first (L1) and the second language (L2) of bilingual individuals are supported by partly overlapping anatomo-functional pathways. While in the specific cases of patients suffering from cortical neurodegenerative diseases neuropsychological models predict that, in late bilinguals, L2 could be more impaired than L2, clinical data so far failed to demonstrate such dissociation. Method To address this question, we compared language performance in different tasks of oral and comprehension (semantic and syntactic) and production (naming, repetition, and fluency) in L1 and L2 in a group of 13 late proficient bilinguals with dementia of Alzheimer type (DAT) with 12 healthy late bilinguals matched in several demographic and linguistic factors including education level, age of L2 acquisition and immersion. Results Two-way mixed repeated-measure ANOVAs with factors Language and Group reveal main effects of Group (P<0.05) in all language tasks except for the counting and the sentence repetition tasks, indicating that DAT impact all aspects of language. Our analyses did not reveal any Group X Language interaction, suggesting that DAT impacted similarly on both languages. Conclusion Our results suggest that, like in stroke patients, neurodegenerative disease affects in a parallel manner oral language in L1 and L2, particularly at level of semantic, lexical and syntactic level of processing. These results do not support divergent models of bilingual brain representations, but rather argue for a substantially shared L1 and L2 network in late bilinguals.