The Development of Oral Fluency and Rhythm during a Study Abroad Period
The present study examines the development of L2 fluency and rhythm in the extemporaneous speech of advanced EFL learners during a study abroad (SA) period, and the relationship between utterance fluency and rhythm and listeners’ perceived fluency. Perceived fluency is also assessed in relation to t...
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| Formato: | tesis doctoral |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2011 |
| País: | España |
| Recursos: | CBUC, CESCA |
| Repositorio: | TDR. Tesis Doctorales en Red |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:www.tdx.cat:10803/52064 |
| Acesso em linha: | http://hdl.handle.net/10803/52064 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palavra-chave: | Llengua segona Anglès parlat Anglès Ensenyament Estudiants estrangers Adquisició 316 |
| Resumo: | The present study examines the development of L2 fluency and rhythm in the extemporaneous speech of advanced EFL learners during a study abroad (SA) period, and the relationship between utterance fluency and rhythm and listeners’ perceived fluency. Perceived fluency is also assessed in relation to the listeners’ backgrounds, as well as the effect of learners’ initial fluency levels (pre-SA fluency level) on SA outcomes in both fluency and rhythm. Speech samples were collected at different points in time before and after a 6-month formal instruction (FI) and a 3-month SA period. Subsequently, these speech samples were analyzed for changes in utterance fluency, perceived fluency and rhythm between data collection times. Further analyses of the relationships between these perceptual and productive dimensions, as well as the impact of participants’ initial fluency levels were undertaken. Both fluency and rhythm, operationalized as temporal fluency measures and rhythm metrics, were found to improve significantly during the SA period. Similarly, significant gains in fluency during the SA were perceived by 69 listeners of different L1 backgrounds and degrees of experience with Catalan/Spanish-accented speech. Furthermore, scores in the temporal fluency measures, rhythm metrics, and listeners’ fluency ratings were found to be related to one another. Mean length of run, a temporal fluency measure which encompasses both speed and breakdown fluency, as well as two rhythm measures (%V and varcoC) accounted for a substantial amount of variation in perceived fluency. Finally, the initial fluency level was found to significantly predict fluency gains during SA. Overall, the findings in this study suggest that a 3-month SA period is highly beneficial for advanced EFL learners’ development of L2 fluency and rhythm. |
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