Fluency in L2 Learning and Use

Pekka Lintunen, Maarit Mutta, Pauliina Peltonen, Pekka Lintunen, Maarit Mutta, Pauliina Peltonen

• Publisher: Multilingual Matters
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781788926324
• Topic: Lingue e linguistica
• Subtopic: Psicolinguistica

This book brings together theoretical and empirical approaches to second language (L2) fluency and provides a state-of-the-art overview of current research on the topic. The strength of the volume lies in its interdisciplinarity: the chapters approach fluency from non-traditional starting points and go beyond disciplinary boundaries in their contributions. The volume includes chapters investigating fluency from an L2 perspective and integrates perspectives from related fields, such as psycholinguistics, sign language studies and L2 assessment. The book extends the common foci and approaches of fluency studies and offers new perspectives that enable readers to evaluate critically existing paradigms and models. This encourages the development of more comprehensive frameworks and directs future L2 fluency research into new areas of L2 learning and use.

1

Defining Fluency in L2 Learning and Use

Pekka Lintunen, Maarit Mutta and Pauliina Peltonen

Introduction

Second language (L2) fluency or fluent second language use are important concepts for anyone using, teaching or assessing additional languages. It may be that learners want to improve their fluency, teachers need ways to approach and discuss fluency in class, or language assessment specialists want to measure or provide feedback on fluent or disfluent language use. This volume brings together current approaches to fluency from the perspective of second language learning and use, providing an in-depth and multi-faceted examination of a complex phenomenon. Including empirical studies and theoretical new openings on the processing and production of fluency, it contributes to the discussion on how the term ‘fluency’ is operationalised for different purposes and how fluency can be defined and studied further. As also recent contributions on fluency have shown, including the special issue of IRAL on L2 speech fluency in 2016 (edited by C. Wright and P. Tavakoli) and Segalowitz’ (2010) monograph The Cognitive Bases of Second Language Fluency, fluency is a prevailing research topic among researchers in several fields. However, even though the topic is widely studied and a contemporary theme in the field of second language acquisition (SLA), the findings do not always cross disciplinary boundaries, as the research reports are mostly published in article format in discipline-specific journals. The special issue of IRAL is an exception, but its particular focus is L2 speech fluency. The focus of the current volume is broader, as fluency is also approached from the perspectives of L2 writing, listening and reading as well as from other perspectives beyond SLA. Therefore, for the first time since Riggenbach’s (2000) seminal volume Perspectives on Fluency, this volume brings together fluency research from different fields and offers an extensive look at L2 fluency.

This book can be viewed as a continuation of Riggenbach’s (2000) volume, since both have an interdisciplinary approach to fluency. However, since the publication of Riggenbach’s volume, data collection and analysis have been significantly affected by technological advancement, contributing to methodological developments in the field. Furthermore, the current volume also introduces new aspects to fluency, including, for instance, chapters from researchers within the field of translation and sign language studies. Riggenbach’s volume also has a theoretical emphasis, while the chapters in our volume manifest an interplay between theoretical and empirical perspectives and offer a selection of both theoretically and empirically oriented approaches to fluency.

The strength of the volume is its interdisciplinary approach to fluency: in addition to compiling research from different fields within the same volume, the authors of the individual chapters also approach fluency from non-­traditional starting points and go beyond disciplinary boundaries in their contributions. Besides including chapters approaching fluency from an SLA perspective, the volume also integrates perspectives from related fields, such as psycholinguistics, sign language studies and L2 assessment. This adds strength to the collection of perspectives, as, for example, sign language and translation studies are fields in which fluency is still largely under-researched in an explicit manner. In addition, including a chapter on English as a lingua franca (ELF) interaction challenges the concept of the native-speaker norm as a common point of reference in fluency studies. All in all, this book is an important contribution to our current knowledge regarding L2 fluency. By extending the common foci and approaches of fluency studies, this book offers new perspectives that also enable us to critically evaluate existing paradigms and models. This, in turn, creates opportunities for developing more comprehensive frameworks and will hopefully encourage future L2 fluency investigations into this central feature of L2 learning and use.

In this chapter, we first present current frameworks and definitions of L2 fluency to contextualise the approach to L2 fluency in language learning and use provided in this volume. As the frameworks and definitions have been commonly applied to the analysis of L2 speech, our discussion also focuses on speech. Then, we extend our perspective into the context of the three other basic skills in second language learning: listening, reading and writing, as accounts of fluency related to receptive skills (listening and reading) in particular are rare and need more emphasis. Finally, we provide an overview of the overall organisation of the present volume, and introduce the chapters included. In our presentation of the chapters, we highlight the original contributions to the study of L2 fluency. In many research fields, aspects of language use that can be understood as fluency-related phenomena have been acknowledged and studied without explicitly referring to theoretical fluency frameworks. Our volume brings these fields closer together to present a more comprehensive view of the multifaceted phenomenon referred to as fluency.

State-of-the Art: Current Frameworks and Definitions

Basic definitions: Focus on speaking

Before discussing common definitions and frameworks of L2 fluency, it is necessary to define what we mean by L2: our perspective on L2 is nonrestrictive and contains all forms of additional language acquisition in both formal and informal contexts, including both second and foreign languages. We also acknowledge that, at present, L2 learning often takes place in hybrid contexts integrating characteristics of various kinds of ways to learn additional languages. In addition, the role of English as a global language challenges traditional views on formal foreign language learning, as learners of English, in most parts of the world, are also exposed to English and naturally acquire it in informal contexts (cf. Krashen’s (1981) dichotomy between learning and acquisition).

In SLA studies, as well as in some neighbouring fields examining L2 learning and use, such as English as a lingua franca studies, fluency has been approached from various perspectives. Thus, the definitions adopted for specific purposes may emphasise different aspects of fluency (for previous overviews of different approaches to fluency, see Chambers, 1997; Koponen & Riggenbach, 2000). To contextualise the individual chapters of the volume approaching L2 fluency from different perspectives, we provide an overview of the current understanding of L2 fluency based on the most commonly employed definitions of L2 fluency.

In its broadest sense, fluency can refer to general language proficiency in any language, focus only on spoken language proficiency, or, in its most restricted sense, refer to certain temporal features of spoken language (see e.g. Tavakoli & Hunter, 2018). These senses form a hierarchy from general to more precise understandings of the concept.

Figure 1.1 summarises the most common approaches to L2 fluency and illustrates the links between them: the distinction between lower-order and higher-order fluency (Lennon, 2000) and Segalowitz’ (2010) three senses of fluency (cognitive fluency, utterance fluency and perceived fluency; for cognitive fluency, see also Olkkonen, 2017: 18). We base our discussion on Segalowitz’ (2010) three senses of fluency, starting with cognitive fluency, followed by utterance and perceived fluency. In addition, more specific aspects of each sense are presented: processing efficiency and automaticity as aspects of cognitive fluency, the speed, breakdown and repair dimensions as indicators of utterance fluency (e.g. Skehan, 2009, 2014; Tavakoli & Skehan, 2005), as well as potential features of L2 associated with perceived fluency based on Götz’ (2013) synthesis. We will also introduce Lennon’s (1990, 2000) distinction between narrow/lower-order and broad/higher-order fluency and discuss it in relation to Segalowitz’ (2010) framework.

Figure 1.1 Approaches to L2 fluency

The notion of cognitive fluency precedes both utterance and perceived fluency: fluent (i.e. fast and efficient) underlying cognitive processing is a prerequisite for smooth speech and thus also (indirectly) for perceptions of smooth speech (Segalowitz, 2010; Hilton, 2014). Cognitive fluency includes processing capacity (limitations of the working memory; see e.g. Just & Carpenter, 1992; Grabe, 2009) and the automaticity of sub-­processes needed for producing basic language skills (reading, listening, speaking and writing). Lexical access (or retrieval), that is, how fast and accurately a language user can access words in their mental lexicon while performing a language task, can also be regarded as a key index of cognitive fluency. As presented in the model of lexical retrieval by Levelt et al. (1999: 3), lexical retrieval while speaking involves the following sequential stages from conceptual preparation of lexical concepts to articulation: conceptual preparation (lexical concepts) → lexical selection → morphological encoding → phonological encoding and syllabification → phonetic encoding → articulation. The more rapidly language users can access and produce the words they want to use, the more fluent their speaking is.

The model describes lexical retrieval in speech production, but similarities between cognitive levels of processing in speaking and writing have been discovered (see e.g. Olive, 2014). Reaction time measurements, for instance, in word retrieval tasks, can be interpreted to reveal the efficiency of cognitive processing while reading or listening to L2 production. Lexical retrieval has been found to be slower for bilinguals than monolinguals in picture naming tasks measuring retrieval speed (Sullivan et al., 2017), but on the other hand, strategic competence, that is metalinguistic knowledge, might compensate and balance between speed and reading proficiency in L2 (e.g. Van Gelderen et al., 2003). Cognitive processing becomes more efficient when learners become more proficient, that is, when cognitive processes become automatic and efficient. Studies have shown how exposure and training shorten reaction times, for instance, in phonetic sound perception tasks, and learners identify L2 sounds faster and more fluently (e.g. Tamminen et al., 2015).

The degree of cognitive fluency is considered to be reflected in speech, in the form of, for instance, articulation rate, pausing and repair. These aspects capturing the smoothness and speed of L2 speech are aspects of utterance fluency, which in Lennon’s (1990) terminology corresponds to the narrow sense of fluency. Lennon’s (1990) distinction between narrow and broad senses of fluency (Lennon later referred to these as lower-order fluency and higher-order fluency, respectively; Lennon, 2000) can be regarded as the most influential and oft-cited approach to L2 fluency. When used in the broad sense (higher-order fluency), which is often the case in everyday contexts, fluency refers to general (oral) proficiency; for instance, someone can describe their proficiency in German as fluent, as opposed to basic skills in Swedish (Lennon, 1990). This sense of fluency, as described by Lennon (1990: 389), is also reflected in more formal contexts, for instance, in different types of scales used to assess one’s (oral) proficiency in a foreign language, representing the highest level (see e.g. descriptors for assessment in CEFR; Council of Europe, 2001). Fluency as a term in the narrow sense (lower-order fluency) is more commonly used for research purposes and in L2 proficiency assessment to indicate a specific element of oral proficiency that refers to the speed, smoothness and effortlessness of speech (Chambers, 1997; Lennon, 1990). This narrow sense of fluency is also adopted in the current Complexity-Accuracy-Fluency (CAF) ­framework used to describe L2 oral and written proficiency and L2 productions; fluency captures one aspect of proficiency and can be distinguished from complexity and accuracy (Housen et al., 2012).

An influential approach in L2 speech fluency studies for examining fluency in the narrow sense or, in other words, aspe...