Assessing fluency: are the criteria fair?

Abstract

In formal assessments of second-language speakers’ fluency, the criteria used frequently fail to differentiate between real disfluency and interactionally effective practices, while superficially disfluent, that help with communication and are used by first language speakers. In this study, we focused on pausing, silences and self-repairs in the speech samples in two data sets: the classroom talk of two L1 teachers of English, and mock IELTS interviews of i-Kiribati students. We found that these features and their frequency and distribution were often very similar in the two data sets suggesting that a superficial observance of disfluency markers in the case of L2 speakers hides practices that may in fact display a high level of competence. We highlight the caution that needs to be exercised when making fluency judgements.

Keywords:

• fluency
• disfluency
• proficiency testing
• measures of fluency

Notes

1. Kiribati comprises a landmass of just over 800 kilometres spreading across 33 atoll islands which lie from east of Nauru to French Polynesia and is situated in the Central Pacific Ocean. The country gained independence from the British in 1979. I-Kiribati – the people of Kiribati.

2. All names have been changed.

3. These transcriptions follow Jefferson’s widely used system (e.g. Jefferson 1984). Speakers are on the left. Underlining means that the word or syllable containing the underline is stressed. Colons show sounds that are stretched or drawled. Full stops indicate falling terminal intonation, question marks strong rises, and commas more or less level. Numbers in brackets are silences in seconds and tenths of seconds. [·hh] indicates an audible inbreath. Angle brackets pointing outwards (<word>) show slowly articulated speech.