Fluent Production Research Articles

Evaluation of a Writing Instruction Model that Integrated a Process Approach, Strategy Instruction, and Word Processing

This study evaluated the effectiveness of a model of writing instruction that integrated word processing, strategy instruction, and a process approach. Teachers established a social context for writing in which students worked on meaningful tasks, shared their writing with peers, and published their work for real audiences. The classroom structure supported extended cycles of planning, drafting, and revising. Teachers supported the development of writing strategies through conferencing and explicit instruction in strategies for planning and revising. Word processing supported fluent production of text, revising, and publishing. The experimental model was implemented for a full school year in 12 classes with 113 students with learning disabilities. Students in the experimental classes made greater gains in the quality of their narrative and informative writing than 94 students with learning disabilities in 10 control classes.

Part-word repetitions by persons who stutter: fragment types and their articulatory processes.

One of the core features of developmental stuttering is part-word repetition followed by fluent production (resolution) of the target word. The purpose of the study is to compare the spectro-temporal dimensions of fragments with the spectro-temporal dimensions of the resolution to define fragment types and develop articulatory interpretation of termination-restart cycles. From the acoustic recordings of six adult males who stutter, 142 stuttering events on words beginning with stops were isolated, excerpted, and digitized. The stuttering events occurred during either spontaneous speech or reading. The consecutive articulatory phases of fragments were classified and compared with the corresponding phases in resolutions. We found that (a) there are two basic types of fragments--those with vowels and those without, (b) the type of fragment produced is strongly influenced by the voicing status of the stop, (c) the fragments without vowels tend to have longer stop closure duration than the stops in the resolutions, (d) there are two subtypes in fragments with vowels--those with vowels shorter than and those with vowels longer than the vowels in the resolutions, (e) the shorter vowels differ spectro-temporally from the vowels in resolutions, and (f) the longer vowels differ temporally from the vowels in the resolutions. We discuss the articulatory implications of the acoustic data for each fragment type in the context of speech as an act designed to achieve contextually conditioned acoustic goals.

Integrating Strategy Instruction and Word Processing into a Process Approach to Writing Instruction

This article describes the basic principles and key components of a model for writing instruction designed to meet the needs of students with learning disabilities. The goals of the curriculum are to develop writers who possess: basic writing skills; a range of cognitive and metacognitive strategies for planning, writing, and revising; and the ability and motivation to use writing to achieve a variety of purposes in their lives. Teachers establish a social context for writing in which students work at meaningful tasks, receive regular responses to their writing from peers and teacher, and publish their work for real audiences. The classroom structure supports extended cycles of planning, drafting, and revising. Teachers support the development of writing strategies through conferencing and explicit instruction in strategies for planning and revising. Word processing supports fluent production of text, eases revision, and encourages collaborative work and publishing.

Performance amplification and process restructuring in computer-based writing

This research compared composing on a word processor with writing in longhand to explore whether the computer-based tool amplifies performance and restructures attentional allocation to writing processes. Performance was assessed in terms of the quality of the resulting documents, based on subjective ratings and text analysis, and the fluency of language production. The allocation of attentional resources was monitored in terms of the degree of cognitive effort (secondary task reaction times) and processing time (directed retrospective reports) devoted to planning ideas, translating ideas into text, and reviewing ideas and text. In Experiment 1, word processing increased the attentional investment in and nature of planning and reviewing, without improving either the quality or fluency of writing. In Experiment 2 these restructuring effects were again observed both for writers who reported modest experience composing on a computer and to an even greater degree for those who reported extensive experience. Only participants with extensive word processing experience matched the quality and fluency of those who wrote in longhand.

Resolution of part-word repetitions by stutterers: A temporal-spectral study.

Forty stuttering events on words beginning with /k/ and 17 with /g/ obtained from five adult male stutterers were examined from the pause before the first fragment to the eventual fluent production of the word. Spectrographic measurements made using CSL (Kay) included: duration of stuttering events, duration of pauses in stuttering events, duration of each fragment and its component parts if any (frication, aspiration, vowel), spectra of the release burst, and spectra of the following vowel at three predefined points on LPC signal. The findings were: 83% of events were composed of one or two fragments, fragments in /k/ plosive environments less frequently had vowels following release (18%) than fragments in /g/ environments (50%), pauses were short (77% under 200 ms) and may reflect articulatory closure duration rather than linguistic processes, and peak values of burst spectra did not progressively approximate those of fluent productions in two-fragment stuttering events. These and other results highlight the variable nature of articulatory processes in the resolution of part-word repetitions and provide constraints for modeling of stuttering events. [Work supported by a USPHS grant.]

Aspects of Rhythm in ASL

The fluent production of American Sign Language (ASL), like speech involves highly skilled, complex motor activity. Thus, like all skilled motor acts, it is rhythmically structured. This paper presents the results of an experiment designed to determine whether the rhythm of ASL can be associated with rhythmic beats. Three groups of adult observer subjects, ASL-fluent deaf, ASL-fluent normally-hearing children of deaf parents, and sign-naive normally hearing, tapped a small metal stylus in time to the rhythm of five short ASL narratives 30 times repeated; temporal locations of the observers’ taps were compared statistically for differences related to observer group membership and to various properties of the target signs. There was great overall agreement among subjects that repeated signs, signs with primary stress, and phrase-final signs played a major role in the rhythm of these ASL narratives. The ASL-fluent subjects tapped less often to signs with secondary or weak stress than did the ASL-naive subjects, however, confirming that knowledge of ASL is necessary for full appreciation of the rhythm of ASL.

Stuttering, delayed auditory feedback, and linguistic rhythm.

The models of stuttering and delayed auditory feedback (DAF) discussed in this paper are derived from a model of the fluent production of speech in which a rhythmic structure prespecifies the intervals between vowels of stressed syllables. The same rhythmic structure enables a prediction to be made concerning when vowels of stressed syllables will be auditorily perceived. In both stuttering and speech produced under DAF conditions, it is suggested that an incorrect prediction is made concerning when the vowel will be perceived relative to its production. The proposed model of stuttering can account for a variety of other phenomena. Finally, a preliminary model of the onset of stuttering in children is proposed.

Imitative Production of ASL Verbs of Movement and Location: A Comparative Study

Deaf children (age 7–10) of deaf and of hearing parents (DDP, DHP), shown ten two-sentence sequences produced by a native ASL signer, repeated what they saw. The signing of DDP and DHP differed significantly in morphology (specifically, in correct noun phrases, verb phrases, movement roots, movement affixes, noun agreement markers, and noun placement morphemes) and in overall errors. It differed also but non-significantly in sentence syntax. The evidence suggests that for deaf children learning a sign language, fluency is a function of linguistic experience and motor ability. Cognitive ability, also a factor in determining productive fluency (4, 19), was not addressed in this study.

Sex differences in cognitive abilities and sex-role stereotypes in Hong Kong Chinese adolescents

A study was conducted to test the hypothesis that sex differences in patterns of cognitive ability could be accounted for by variation in identification with sex-role stereotypes. Hong Kong Chinese adolescents from two different age groups served as subjects. Sex differences were discovered in patterns of performance on a battery of cognitive tests, with males performing better on tests of spatial ability and females performing better on tests of fluent production. Sex differences in sex-role identification were also discovered. There were, however, no significant relationships between sex-role identification and patterns of ability. Biological sex was found to be the best predictor of a male or female pattern of performance. A reformulation of a sex-role identification hypothesis appears to be warranted on the basis of these data. Suggestions for further research on the relationships among sex-role identification, cultural values, and personal adjustment are also presented.

Speaking fundamental frequency characteristics of stutterers and nonstutterers

This study examined certain parameters of speaking fundamental frequency (SFF) associated with stutterers' and nonstutterers' fluent production of a declarative and an interrogative utterance. Ten adult male stutterers were matched according to age and average SFF with 10 adult male nonstutterers. Analyses of the waveform data from the experimental utterances showed that the nonstutterers produced a significantly greater range of frequencies than did the stutterers across both utterances. The parameters of mean SFF, mean rate of frequency change, and mean number of frequency shifts were not significantly different between the groups. The findings of this study are in general agreement with the results of previous investigations in this area. The consistency of the findings across several studies seems to indicate that reductions in stutterers' SFF variability may be one vocal tract behavior that could serve to distinguish between stutterers' and nonstutterers' fluency.

Extensions to the study of science students' divergent thinking ability.

AN important aspect of creative performance in several fields of endeavour is the ready production of diverse ideas. Several paper and pencil tests have been devised to measure the ability to produce quickly a large number of ideas within the limits set by the test instructions. If the scoring procedure emphasizes the number rather than the quality of appropriate responses within a time limit, the resulting score is said to measure “fluency of divergent production”.

Training Creativity in Adolescence: A Discussion of Strategy*

Contemporary psychologists are beginning to do more than identify those traits characteristic of creative adolescents, for while a trait approach to creativity is indeed informative, it fails to suggest precisely how creativity may be enhanced. In the following paper, Davis suggests that creativity profitably may be conceptualized as consisting mainly of three trainable components, (1) appropriate creative attitudes, the most critical of which is a favorable attitude toward highly imaginative problem solutions, (2) various cognitive abilities which facilitate whatever mental abstracting, combining, perceiving, associating, filling in gaps, etc., contribute to the fluent production of original ideas, and (3) techniques for the conscious and systematic production of new combinations of ideas. Further, by incorporating many concepts and principles from this three‐part model, Davis describes a novel program for developing creativity in adolescents.