Communication strategies and L2 speech production

Abstract

This study investigated the relationship between Communication Strategies (CS) use and L2 oral development. In order to reach this goal, three speech samples of each one of 30 L2 learners of English were collected. Participants were divided into three groups of 10 learners each, according to their level of proficiency # pre-intermediate, intermediate and advanced. Participants' oral fluency was assessed by means of speech rate (Lenon, 1990). L2 speech production was elicited by means of three narrative tasks in three different sessions. Data analysis revealed a common group of CS across sessions and across proficiency levels. Besides, it indicated that the relationship between CS use and L2 oral fluency, as measured by the speech rate, is not statistically significant. The analyses further showed a significant statistical correlation among speech rate measures in sessions 1, 2 and 3 in the pre-intermediate and intermediate groups, thus indicating a homogeneous oral behavior among these participants across sessions. To explain the few instances of significant statistical correlations between speech rate and types of CS, it is suggested that due to the multitude of factors affecting L2 fluency, other aspects of speech production need to be analysed, such as grammatical accuracy and complexity. In addition, the nature of tasks and their cognitive demands might have contributed to learners' apparently limited oral improvement.