Fluency, Intelligibity, and Spoken Language

(Week 3)ORAL I V

(HE281)Prof. Dr. Ron Martinez

drronmartinez@gmail.com

Goals for the week

• Review and catch up!• Introduce and discuss the nature of oracy and

spoken language in general

Today’s agenda

• How much do you remember?

Review1. What was the purpose of the ‘Friends’ clip (with the character

‘Chandler’)? What (if anything) did it illustrate about the concept of oral fluency?

2. Three different types of fluency were presented. What were they?3. What is Levelt’s model of speech production? (Hint: the first part is

‘Conceptualization’.)4. Aside from issues of language proficiency, what else can cause

‘dysfluencies’?5. Do you believe L2 fluency can be ‘taught’?6. Is there such a thing as an ‘ideal’ accent? Can having a Brazilian accent

in English be a ‘bad’ thing?7. Do you think identity has anything to do with accent?8. How is intelligibility defined, and how is it researched?9. What criticisms have been made concerning intelligibility research?10. “The best judge of intelligibility is a native speaker.” Do you agree?

The ‘Chandler’ Lesson

“I want to sound like a native speaker.”

3 types of fluency (Segalowitz, 2010)

Cognitive Fluency

Perceived Fluency

Utterance Fluency

• “Cognitive fluency refers to the efficiency of the speaker’s underlying processes responsible for fluency-relevant features of utterances…” (Segalowitz, 2010, p. 50)

• “Utterance fluency refers to the oral features of utterances that reflect the operation of underlying cognitive processes…” (ibid.)

• “Perceived fluency is the fluency that is ascribed by a listener to a speaker, based on impressions drawn from hearing speech samples produced by the speaker” (Segalowitz, 2010, p. 49)

COGNITIVE FLUENCY

UTTERANCEFLUENCY

PERCEIVED FLUENCY

Levelt’s model of speech production

• Conceptualization• Formulation• Articulation• Self-monitoring

• - Levelt, W.J.M. (1989) Speaking: From Intention to Articulation

Part of cognitive fluency

Tarzan (by Gary Larson)

Where did the fluency breakdown occur?

• Conceptualization• Formulation• Articulation• Self-monitoring

• - Levelt, W.J.M. (1989) Speaking: From Intention to Articulation

FORMULATION ARTICULATION

Cognitive Fluency

Utterance Fluency Perceived

Fluency

What causes fluency breakdowns?

• Reflect on both the ‘Friends’ clip and the ‘Tarzan’ comic strip: What inferences about causes of ‘dysfluencies’ in speech can be drawn?

• (Hint: Think about the opposite – situations/occasions in which you are usually quite fluent.)

• Main Entry: flu·ent Pronunciation: 'flü-entFunction: adjectiveEtymology: Latin fluent-, fluens, present participle of fluere1 a : capable of flowing : FLUID b : capable of moving with ease and grace <the fluent body of a dancer>2 a : ready or facile in speech <fluent in Spanish> b : effortlessly smooth and rapid : POLISHED <a fluent performance>- flu·ent·ly adverb

• Main Entry: flu·ent Pronunciation: 'flü-&ntFunction: adjectiveEtymology: Latin fluent-, fluens, present participle of fluere1 a : capable of flowing : FLUID b : capable of moving with ease and grace <the fluent body of a dancer>2 a : ready or facile in speech <fluent in Spanish> b : effortlessly smooth and rapid : POLISHED <a fluent performance>- flu·ent·ly adverb

• Main Entry: ready Pronunciation: 're-dEFunction: adjectiveInflected Form(s): read·i·er; -est1 a : prepared mentally or physically for some experience or action b : prepared for immediate use <dinner is ready>2 : immediately available <had ready cash>

Fluency = ‘Readiness’

• Main Entry: ready Pronunciation: 're-dEFunction: adjectiveInflected Form(s): read·i·er; -est1 a : prepared mentally or physically for some experience or action b : prepared for immediate use <dinner is ready>2 : immediately available <had ready cash>

Any deficiency in any of these elements may cause dysfluencies.

Summary for Week 1• It is important to define what ‘fluency’ in spoken language

means.• Fluency is not related to ‘native’-ness.• Fluency is (minimally) broken down into cognitive fluency,

utterance fluency, and perceived fluency. Each of these, in turn, may be influenced by a great number of variables.

• Fluency can be thought of as ‘readiness’, on different levels: mentally/emotionally prepared, knowing what to say and how to say it (‘prepared’ utterances), and having what to say ‘at the ready’ (i.e. automaticity).

1. Read Radajurai (2007) article on ‘intelligibility’ (online), answer questions about the article (online), and bring your answers to class on Monday.

2. Watch Jackie Chan clip (online), answer questions (online), and bring notes to class.

A definition

3 Components of Intelligibility according to Smith and Nelson (1985)

• Intelligibility• Comprehensibility• Interpretability

How and why is intelligibility researched?

How and why is intelligibility researched?

• Elicitation• “Even in studies that attempt to elicit ‘natural’ speech as

the stimulus material, the laboratory-like conditions under which the experiments are conducted negate such attempts. These techniques produce artificial and inauthentic data, and consequently place severe limitations on the findings of the research.” (p. 90)

• “With a few notable exceptions, the vast majority of studies seem to ignore the fact that speech is context-specific and highly dependent on the topic, participants, and situation.” (p. 90)

Other issues?

• “It is also fairly obvious that intelligibility is strongly influenced by the listener’s biases and preconceived ideas about speakers and accents.” (p. 90)

• Example: Rubin (1992)

4 Groups: same lecture audio, different images

“CAUCASIAN” “ASIAN”

HUMANITIES (Group 1)

SCIENCE (Group 2)

HUMANITIES (Group 3)

SCIENCE (Group 4)

SAME AUDIO!!!

“(I)ntelligibility may be as much in the mind of the listener as in the mouth of the speaker” (Morley, 1991: 499).

Other misconceptions and myths

• Misconception 1: Only non-native speech is accented.• Misconception 2: Non-native speech lacks intelligibility.• Misconception 3: The non-native speaker is responsible

for communication problems.• Myth 1: The native variety should constitute the norm.• Myth 2: The native speaker is always the best judge of

what is intelligible.• Myth 3: The native speaker is always the best

representative of what is intelligible.

Fluency and the peculiarities of spoken language

Spoken vs. Written

Spoken vs. Written (cont.)

‘Conversational Grammar’ (Carter & McCarthy, 2015)

• non-sentence-based• much language is ‘freestanding’• ‘co-constructed’ and highly interactive• ‘poses questions’ concerning metalanguage

‘Non-sentence-based’: an extreme case

‘metalanguage’

“Spoken grammar has, in many respects, come of age. However, problems remain. We are still struggling under the burden of a grammatical metalanguage inherited from writing that does not seem always to work for speaking, and many teaching resources have yet to reflect what everyday speaking is really like. Meanwhile, technology forces us to re-think the conventional spoken/written distinction.” (Carter & McCarthy, 2015, p. 8)

‘Chunks’ and ‘the idiom principle’

What about teaching?

Carter and McCarthy (2015, pp. 3-4)

“Henry Sweet’s (1899) work on the teaching and learning of languages stressed the principle of‘starting from the spoken rather than the literary language’ (p. vii), rejecting the notion that speaking was a corruption of writing (p. 50). Sweet pointed to the paratactic nature of spoken utterances, noting the importance of phrases, (today’s chunks or clusters) which, he asserted, were neglected in pedagogy because they could not be brought within the purview of the conventional grammar rules (p. 121). However, he admitted that everyday conversation, with its characteristic ellipses and disconnectedness, if reproduced unedited, would be an unsuitable model for foreign language learners (p. 169). Conversely, he had harsh words for those who wrote unnatural-sounding dialogues for language learning (pp. 215–18). In his 1900 grammar, Sweet refers frequently to distinctions between the grammar of speaking and the grammar of writing…”

Homework

• Go to ‘COCA’ and generate 2 frequency lists for adverbs: 1 list for ‘academic’ language, and 1 list for ‘spoken’ language.

• Identify 3 differences between the lists and write your opinion on why those differences exist. Bring your examples to class.

• Watch ‘Grammar Cops’ video (on class website). Do you think this was a good EFL teaching activity? Why (not)?

Today’s agenda

• Explore some of the practical – especially pedagogical – implications of the theory presented and discussed regarding ‘spoken grammar’.

• Will look at how technology has shaped the way we think about spoken and written language.

‘metalanguage’

“Spoken grammar has, in many respects, come of age. However, problems remain. We are still struggling under the burden of a grammatical metalanguage inherited from writing that does not seem always to work for speaking, and many teaching resources have yet to reflect what everyday speaking is really like. Meanwhile, technology forces us to re-think the conventional spoken/written distinction.” (Carter & McCarthy, 2015, p. 8)

English Trivia!

1. What is the most common word in English?2. What is the most common pronoun in

English?3. What are the three most common verbs in

English?

COCA exercise1. Look up the most common verbs in spoken English. Make a note

of the first 5.2. Choose at least one verb and make a note of interesting examples

of how it is used.3. Look up the most common verbs in academic English. Make a

note of the first 5.4. Choose at least one verb (it may be the same one) and note

interesting examples of how it is used. 5. Generate a list of the most common adverbs in spoken English,

and then another list for written. What differences do you notice?6. Find one adverb that appears in both lists. Are they used in the

same way? Make a note of some examples.

‘metalanguage’

“Spoken grammar has, in many respects, come of age. However, problems remain. We are still struggling under the burden of a grammatical metalanguage inherited from writing that does not seem always to work for speaking, and many teaching resources have yet to reflect what everyday speaking is really like. Meanwhile, technology forces us to re-think the conventional spoken/written distinction.” (Carter & McCarthy, 2015, p. 8)

The “Grammar Cops” Activity

“Grammar Cops”

“Grammar Cops”: 1st viewing• You will watch the video twice. • 1st question: Do you think the students enjoyed the

activity? Why?

“Grammar Cops”: 2nd viewing• Now watch again, and think of these two questions while

watching: 1. What did you like about the activity? Anything you did not

like? (You may use the worksheet.)2. Reflecting on the Carter and McCarthy (2005) article you

read, how reflective is the activity of current thinking?

“Grammar Cops”: 2nd viewing discussion

Discuss in small groups for 10 minutes:

1. What did you like about the activity? Anything you did not like? (You may use the worksheet.)

2. Reflecting on the Carter and McCarthy (2005) article you read, how reflective is the activity of current thinking?

Language as choice

Homework

• Choose a TED talk to watch and identify elements of spoken grammar.

• Is the talk formal, informal, or both (or neither)?