The Relationship Between L1 Fluency and L2 Fluency Development

Abstract

A fundamental question in the study of second language (L2) fluency is the extent to which temporal characteristics of speakers’ first language (L1) productions predict the same characteristics in the L2. A close relationship between a speaker’s L1 and L2 temporal characteristics would suggest that fluency is governed by an underlying trait. This longitudinal investigation compared L1 and L2 English fluency at three times over 2 years in Russian- and Ukrainian- (which we will refer to here as Slavic) and Mandarin-speaking adult immigrants to Canada. Fluency ratings of narratives by trained judges indicated a relationship between the L1 and the L2 in the initial stages of L2 exposure, although this relationship was found to be stronger in the Slavic than in the Mandarin learners. Pauses per second, speech rate, and pruned syllables per second were all related to the listeners’ judgments in both languages, although vowel durations were not. Between-group differences may reflect differential exposure to spoken English and a closer relationship between Slavic languages and English than between Mandarin and English. Suggestions for pedagogical interventions and further research are also proposed.

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

“…However, it needs to be noted that the correlation is not very strong, suggesting the relationship between speech rate in L1 and L2 is not very strong either. As it was already observed, the available research studies have shown that speech rate is among those temporal measures of fluency which consistently correlate positively across L1 and L2 data (see the discussion of De Jong, 2009, 2013and Derwing et al, 2009, which is confirmed by our research findings.…”

“…1 Derwing et al (2009) is another example of study which found high L1-L2 correlations for number of pauses per second and speech rate in Russian, Ukrainian and Mandarin learners of English. They emphasise that "a close relationship between a speaker's L1 and L2 temporal characteristics would suggest that fluency is governed by an underlying trait (p.…”

“…However, more recent accounts which looked more closely at the nature of the relationship between L1 and L2 fluency suggest that reliable L2 fluency measures should be corrected to accommodate baseline, temporal characteristics of L1 as the temporal characteristics of a speaker's L2 output are a function of their idiosyncratic way of speaking as well as the degree of automatisation of L2 processing. (De Jong et al, 2012;Derwing, Munro, Thomson, & Rossiter, 2009;Osborne, 2007;Segalowitz, 2010). This paper investigates the relationship between L1 and L2 fluency and the claim that they should be considered in conjunction.…”

Refining the methodology for investigating the relationship between fluency and the use of formulaic language in learner speech

“…Many studies have looked at this issue from the perspective of the reciprocity of human communication. Every speaker has a interlocutor who pays heed to a number of the characteristics of his/her speech including comprehensibility, intelligibility, accent and fluency (Derwing and Munro 2005;Derwing et al 2009). The interlocutor's perception of these characteristics underpins successful oral interaction.…”

The effects of pause in English speaking evaluation

“…First, diverse length of pause that would affect raters' judgments has not been properly examined. This is because most previous studies have directly analyzed data from L2 learners' utterances (e.g., Derwing et al, 2009;Kang, 2010) in which only the already formed pausal patterns of L2 speakers' were investigated. Little consideration could be given to specific pause length parameters.…”