Teaching English as a Second Language Quarterly (Formerly Journal of Teaching Language Skills)

Researching (Non) Fluent L2 Speakers’ Oral Communication Deficiencies: A Psycholinguistic Perspective

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Shahrekord University

Abstract

Fluency in a second language (L2) involves a quintessentially cognitive processing system that operates quickly and effectively. The perceived importance of researching fluency through a psycholinguistic lens has motivated the related L2 research to resort to current cognitive speaking-specific models. This study, drawing on Levelt’s (1999a) psycholinguistic model, probed the deficiency sources (DSs) (non)fluent L2 speakers encounter in L2 communication and then surveyed the problem-solving mechanisms (PSMs) they happen to engage in to circumvent or mitigate the bottle-neck effects of the deficiencies. First, an analytic fluency rating scale was developed to assess the audio-recorded (monologic and dialogic) speech samples of a large number of L2 speakers and identify the fluent and nonfluent speakers. Two questionnaires and output-related retrospective interviews were employed to explore the (non)fluent L2 speakers’ DSs and PSMs. The MANOVA results and the interpretative analysis of retrospective data revealed that the nonfluent participants mainly suffered from resource deficits, processing time pressure, and perceived deficiencies in the interlocutor’s performance. Specifically, they felt adversely pressured by an onrush of competing plans or the absence of any to chart their minds, floundered on feeling incapable of configuring a viable syntactic structure for their intended meanings, were restrained groping for the right lemma to fit their notions, or faltered due to a daunting uncertainty of the phonological accuracy. Meanwhile, they resorted to ineffective oral-production strategies such as message abandonment and reduction, which resulted in disfluent speech. The fluent participants, however, did not suffer from these DSs and employed PSMs more consistently. They were able to dynamically reformulate the notions or the preverbal message, apply a revitalized encoding mechanism, use various stalling mechanisms, and negotiate meaning in order to monitor the articulation. The findings suggest that any attempt intended to improve or assess L2 fluency pivot on a psycholinguistic approach to L2 oral production.

Keywords

References
Bachman, L. F. (2000). Modern language testing at the turn of the century: Assuring that what we count counts. Language Testing, 17(1), 1-42.
Burns, A., & Seidlhofer, B. (2002). Speaking and pronunciation. In N. Schmitt (Ed.). An introduction to applied linguistics (pp. 211-232). Great Britain: Arnold.
Bygate, M. (2009). Teaching the spoken foreign language. In K. Knapp & G. Antos (Eds.). Handbooks of applied linguistics (Vol. 6, pp. 401-438). Berlin: Mouton De Gruyter.
Canale, M., & Swain, M. (1980). Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second language teaching and testing. Applied Linguistics, 1(1), 1-47.
Campillo, P. S. (2006). The use of circumlocution in the foreign language context. Porta Linguarum, 5, 7-15.
Carr, N. (2000). A comparison of the effects of analytic and holistic rating scale types in the context of composition texts. Issues in Applied Linguistics, 11(2), 207-241.
Chambers, F. (1997). What do we mean by fluency? System, 25(4), 535-544.
Chen, H. W. (2009). Oral communication strategies used by English major college students in Taiwan. Unpublished master’s thesis, Chaoyang University of Technology, Taichung, Taiwan.
De Bot, K. (1992). A bilingual production model: Levelt’s speaking model adapted. Applied Linguistics, 13(1), 1-24.
De Jong, N., & Perfetti, C. A. (2011). Fluency training in the ESL classroom: An experimental study of fluency development and proceduralization. Language Learning, 61(2), 533-568.
De Jong, N. H., Steinel, M. P., Florijn, A. F., Schoonen, R., & Hulstijn, J. H. (2012). Facets of speaking proficiency. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 34(1), 5-34.
DeKeyser, R. M. (2001). Automaticity and automatization. In P. Robinson (Ed.). Cognition and second language instruction (pp. 125-151). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Dörnyei, Z., & Kormos, J. (1998). Problem-solving mechanisms in L2 communication: A psycholinguistic perspective. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 20(3), 349-385.
Dörnyei, Z., & Scott, M. L. (1997). Communication strategies in a second language: Definitions and taxonomies. Language Learning, 47(1), 173-210.
Ellis, R. (1985). Understanding second language acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ellis, R. (1999). Learning a second language through interaction. Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Fulcher, G. (1996). Does thick description lead to smart tests? A data-based approach to rating scale construction. Language Testing, 13(2), 208-238.
Fulcher, G. (2003). Testing second language speaking. London: Pearson Longman
Gass, S. M., & Varonis, E. M. (1991). Miscommunications in nonnative discourse. In N. Coupland, H. Giles, & J. M. Wiemann (Eds.). Miscommunication and problematic talk (pp. 121-145). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Ginther, A., Dimova, S., & Yang, R. (2010). Conceptual and empirical relationships between temporal measures of fluency and oral English proficiency with implications for automated scoring. Language Testing, 27(3), 379-399.
Hamp-Lyons, L. (1991). Scoring procedures for ESL contexts. In L. Hamp-Lyons (Ed.). Assessing second-language writing in academic contexts (pp. 241-276). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
Hulstijn, J. (2001). Intentional and incidental second language vocabulary learning: A reappraisal of elaboration, rehearsal and automaticity. In P. Robinson (Ed.). Cognition and second language instruction (pp. 258-286). New York: Cambridge University Press.
International English Language Testing System (2008). IELTS speaking band descriptors (public version). Retrieved May 9, 2012, from http://www.ielts.org/pdf/UOBDs_SpeakingFinal.pdf
Kellerman, E. (1991). Compensatory strategies in second language research: A critique, a revision, and some (non-)implications for the classroom. In R. Phillipson, E. Kellerman, L. Selinker, M. Sharwood Smith, & M. Swain (Eds.). Foreign/second language pedagogy research: A commemorative volume for Claus Færch (pp. 142-161). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.
Kormos, J. (2006). Speech production and second language learning. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Kormos, J., & Denes, M. (2004). Exploring measures and perceptions of fluency in the speech of second language learners. System, 32(2), 145-164.
Lennon, P. (1990). Investigating fluency in EFL: A quantitative approach. Language Learning, 40(3), 387-417.
Lennon, P. (2000). The lexical element in spoken second language fluency. In H. Riggenbach (Ed.). Perspectives on fluency (pp. 25-42). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Levelt, W. J. M. (1983). Monitoring and self-repair in speech. Cognition, 33, 41-103.
Levelt, W. J. M. (1989). Speaking: From intention to articulation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Levelt, W. J. M. (1993). Language use in normal speakers and its disorders. In G. Blanken, J. Dittmann, H. Grimm, J. C. Marshall, & C. W. Wallesch (Eds.). Linguistic disorders and pathologies (pp. 1-15). Berlin: deGruyter.
Levelt, W. J. M. (1995). The ability to speak: From intentions to spoken words. European Review, 3(1), 13-23.
Levelt, W. J. M. (1999a). Language production: A blueprint of the speaker. In C. Brown & P. Hagoort (Eds.). Neurocognition of language (pp. 83-122). Oxford University Press.
Levelt, W. J. M. (1999b). Models of word production. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 3(6), 223-232.
Long, M. H. (1996). The role of the linguistic environment in second language acquisition. In W. Ritchie & T. Bhatia (Eds.). Handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 413-468). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Luoma, S. (2004). Assessing speaking. Cambridge University Press.
Martínez-Flor, A., Usó-Juan, E., & Soler, A. E. (2006). Towards acquiring communicative competence through speaking. In P. Jordens (Ed.). Current trends in the development and teaching of the four language skills (pp. 139-157). Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
McLaughlin, B., Rossman, T., & Mcleod, B. (1983). Second language learning: An information-processing perspective. Language Learning, 33(2), 135-157.
Möhle, D. (1984). A comparison of the second language speech production of different native speakers. In H. W. Dechert, D. Möhle, & M. Raupach (Eds.). Second language productions (pp. 50-68). Tübingen, Germany: Narr.
Nakahama, Y., Tyler, A., & van Lier, L. (2001). Negotiation of meaning in conversation and information gap activities: A comparative discourse analysis. TESOL Quarterly, 35(3), 377-405.
Nakatani, Y. (2005). The effects of awareness-raising training on oral communication strategy use. The Modern Language Journal, 89(1), 76-91.
Nakatani, Y. (2006). Developing an oral communication inventory. The Modern Language Journal, 90(2), 151-168.
Nunan, D. (2003). Second language teaching and learning. Boston, Massachusetts: Heinle & Heinle.
Peat, J. (2001). Health science research: A handbook of quantitative methods. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
Pica, T. (1996). The essential role of negotiation in the communicative classroom. JALT Journal, 18(2), 241-268.
Poulisse, N. (1993). A theoretical account of lexical communication strategies. In R. Schreuder & B. Weltens (Eds.). The bilingual lexicon (pp. 157-189). Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Poulisse, N., & Bongaerts, T. (1994). First language use in second language production. Applied Linguistics, 15(1), 36-57.
Rehbein, J. (1987). On fluency in second language speech. In H. W. Dechert & M. Raupach (Eds.). Psycholinguistic models of production (pp. 97-105). Tubingen: Narr.
Rose, R. (2008). Filled pauses in language teaching: Why and how. Bulletin of Gunma Prefectural Women’s University, 29, 47-64.
Rubin, J. (1987). Learner strategies: Theoretical assumptions, research history and typology. In A. Wenden & J. Rubin (Eds.). Learner strategies in language learning (pp. 15-30). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Sajavaara, K. (1987). Second language speech production: Factors affecting fluency. In H. W. Dechert & M. Raupach (Eds.). Psycholinguistic models of production (pp. 45-65). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
Savignon, S. J. (1983). Communicative competence: Theory and classroom practice. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Schmidt, R. (1992) Psychological mechanisms underlying second language fluency. SSLA, 14(4), 357-385.
Schmidt, R. (2001). Attention. In P. Robinson (Ed.). Cognition and second language instruction (pp. 1-32). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Segalowitz, N. (2003). Automaticity and second languages. In C. J. Doughty & M. H. Long (Eds.). Handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 383-408). Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Segalowitz, N. (2004). Real-time cognitive processing efficiency and second language fluency acquisition. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Applied Linguistics, Portland, OR.
Segalowitz, N., & Hulstijn, J. (2005). Automaticity in second language learning. In J. F. Kroll & A. M. B. De Groot (Eds.). Handbook of bilingualism: Psycholinguistic approaches (pp. 371-388). Oxford University Press.
Skehan, P. (1998). A cognitive approach to language learning. Oxford University Press.
Towell, R., Hawkins, R., & Bazergui, N. (1996). The development of fluency in advanced learners of French. Applied Linguistics, 17(1), 84-119.
Weir, C. (1993). Understanding and developing language tests. New York: Prentice Hall.
Teaching English as a Second Language Quarterly (Formerly Journal of Teaching Language Skills)
Volume 32, Issue 1 - Serial Number 1
May 2013
Pages 45-70
Files
History
  • Receive Date: 05 December 2012
  • Revise Date: 05 January 2013
  • Accept Date: 27 January 2013
Share
How to cite
Statistics