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Fluency Training in the ESL Classroom: An Experimental Study of Fluency Development and Proceduralization
Author(s) -
de Jong Nel,
Perfetti Charles A.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
language learning
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.882
H-Index - 103
eISSN - 1467-9922
pISSN - 0023-8333
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9922.2010.00620.x
Subject(s) - fluency , psychology , repetition (rhetorical device) , cognition , linguistics , cognitive psychology , mathematics education , philosophy , neuroscience
The present study investigates the role of speech repetition in oral fluency development. Twenty‐four students enrolled in English‐as‐a‐second‐language classes performed three training sessions in which they recorded three speeches, of 4, 3, and 2 min, respectively. Some students spoke about the same topic three times, whereas others spoke about three different topics. It was found that fluency improved for both groups during training but was maintained on posttests only by the students who repeated their speeches. These students had used more words repeatedly across speeches, most of which were not specifically related to the topic. It is argued that proceduralization of linguistic knowledge represented a change in underlying cognitive mechanisms, resulting in improvements in observable fluency.