Skip to main content

Analysing Spoken Language for Complexity, Accuracy and Fluency: Some Methodological Considerations

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Language Learning, Discourse and Communication

Part of the book series: Second Language Learning and Teaching ((SLLT))

Abstract

The chapter presents and discusses important methodological principles involved in the study and analysis of spoken language data. The objective addressed by the author is gauging learners’ proficiency in English by measuring their performance along the variables used in numerous studies devoted to spoken discourse and labelled as linguistic, i.e. complexity, accuracy and fluency. The article offers an overview of various measurement tools used in studies on CAF worldwide, outlines psycholinguistic criteria underpinning the choice of the most appropriate data segmentation method, and, finally, describes a method of identifying and calculating instances of the unit of spoken discourse, referred to as AS-unit, which has been proved to significantly improve the quality of analyses of learner language.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Brumfit, C. 1984. Communicative methodology in language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bachman, L. F. 1990. Fundamental considerations in language testing. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Butterworth, B. 1980. Evidence from pauses in speech. In Language production: vol 1: Speech and talk, ed. B. Butterworth, 155–177. London: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bygate, M. 1999. Quality of language and purpose of task: Patterns of learners’ language on two oral communication tasks. Language Teaching Research 3: 185–214.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bygate, M. 2001. Effects of task repetition on the structure and control of oral language. In: Researching Pedagogic Tasks: Second Language Learning, Teaching and Testing, eds. M. Bygate, P. Skehan, and M. Swain, 23–48. Harlow: Longman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Canale, M. and M. Swain. 1980. Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second language teaching and testing. Applied Linguistics 1: 1–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chafe, W. 1980. Some reasons for hesitating. In Temporal variables in speech, eds. H. W. Dechert, and M. Raupach, 169–180. The Hague: Mouton Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crookes, G. 1990. The utterance and other basic units for second language discourse analysis. Applied Linguistics 11: 183–199.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ellis, R. 2003. Task-based language learning and teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ellis, R. and G. Barkhuizen. 2005. Analysing learner language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foster, P., Tonkyn A. and G. Wigglesworth. 2000. Measuring spoken language: A unit for all reasons. Applied Linguistics 21: 354–75.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foster, P. and P. Skehan. 1996. The influence of planning and task type on second language performance. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 18: 299–323.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harley, B. et al. 1990. The nature of language proficiency. In The development of second language proficiency, eds. B. Harley, J. Cummins, M. Swain, and P. Allen, 7–25. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Housen, A. and F. Kuiken. 2009. Complexity, accuracy, and fluency in second language acquisition. Applied Linguistics 30(4): 461–473.

    Google Scholar 

  • Iwashita, N. et al. 2008. Assessed levels of second language speaking proficiency: How distinct? Applied Linguistics 29(1): 24–49.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lennon, P. 1990. Investigating fluency in EFL: A quantitative approach. Language Learning 40: 387–417.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levelt, W. J. M. 1989. Speaking: From intention to articulation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mehnert, U. 1998. The effects of different lengths of time for planning on second language performance. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 20: 83–108.

    Google Scholar 

  • Norris, J. M. and L. Ortega. 2009. Towards an organic approach to investigating CAF in instructed SLA: The case of complexity. Applied Linguistics 30(4): 555–578.

    Google Scholar 

  • Read, J. (2000). Assessing vocabulary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Richards, J., Platt, J. and H. Weber. 1989. Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics. Harlow: Longman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Riggenbach, H. 1991. Toward an understanding of fluency: A microanalysis of nonnative speaker conversations. Discourse Processes 14: 423–441.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robinson, P. 2001. Task complexity, task difficulty, and task production: Exploring interactions in a componential framework. Applied Linguistics 22(1): 27–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • Skehan, P. 1998. A Cognitive approach to language learning. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Skehan, P. 2009. Modelling second language performance: Integrating complexity, accuracy, fluency, and lexis. Applied Linguistics 30(4): 510–532.

    Google Scholar 

  • Skehan, P. and P. Foster. 1997. Task type and task processing conditions as influences on foreign language performance. Language Teaching Research 1(3): 185–211.

    Google Scholar 

  • Towell, R., Hawkins, R. and N. Bazergui. 1996. The Development of fluency in advanced learned of French. Applied Linguistics 17(1): 84–119.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolfe-Quintero, K., Inagaki, S. and H.-Y. Kim. 1998. Second language development in writing: Measures of fluency, accuracy, and complexity. University of Hawaii, Second Language Teaching and Curriculum Center.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yuan, F. and R. Ellis. 2003. The effects of pre-task planning and on-line planning on fluency, complexity and accuracy in L2 Monologic Oral Production. Applied Linguistics 24(1): 1–27.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Irena Czwenar .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Czwenar, I. (2014). Analysing Spoken Language for Complexity, Accuracy and Fluency: Some Methodological Considerations. In: Szubko-Sitarek, W., Salski, Ł., Stalmaszczyk, P. (eds) Language Learning, Discourse and Communication. Second Language Learning and Teaching. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00419-8_6

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics