Investigating the Contribution of L1 Fluency, L2 Initial Fluency, Working Memory and Phonological Memory to L2 Fluency Development
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| Title: | Investigating the Contribution of L1 Fluency, L2 Initial Fluency, Working Memory and Phonological Memory to L2 Fluency Development |
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| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Nancy Gagné (ORCID |
| Source: | Language Teaching Research. 2025 29(2):633-656. |
| Availability: | SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: https://sagepub.com |
| Peer Reviewed: | Y |
| Page Count: | 24 |
| Publication Date: | 2025 |
| Document Type: | Journal Articles Reports - Research |
| Education Level: | Elementary Education Grade 6 Intermediate Grades Middle Schools |
| Descriptors: | Language Fluency, Short Term Memory, Native Language, Second Language Learning, Oral Language, Outcomes of Education, Second Language Instruction, French, Grade 6, Intensive Language Courses, Pictorial Stimuli, Cues, Task Analysis, Language Proficiency, Cognitive Tests, Foreign Countries, Phonology, Word Recognition, Predictor Variables, Learning Processes, Transfer of Training |
| Geographic Terms: | Canada |
| Assessment and Survey Identifiers: | ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview, Digit Span Test |
| DOI: | 10.1177/13621688221076418 |
| ISSN: | 1362-1688 1477-0954 |
| Abstract: | Within the same learning context, learners' outcomes in terms of oral fluency vary greatly. This study tracked the relative contributions that first language (L1) and initial second language (L2) fluency skill and working memory (WM) made to L2 fluency development. We assessed the performance of French-speaking Grade 6 learners' (n = 47, mean age: 11) in a 10-month intensive English program in Quebec, Canada using a picture-cue monologic task based on The Suitcase Story and a semi-structured interview based on the Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI). Working memory was assessed using a backward digit span task and phonological memory (PM) via non-word repetition and serial non-word recognition tasks. Overall, results suggest that L1 fluency, WM and PM played only a minor role in learners' L2 fluency outcomes, whereas learners' pre-program levels of L2 fluency constituted an important predictor of L2 fluency development regardless of the speech task used to index fluency. |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Entry Date: | 2025 |
| Accession Number: | EJ1469837 |
| Database: | ERIC |
| Abstract: | Within the same learning context, learners' outcomes in terms of oral fluency vary greatly. This study tracked the relative contributions that first language (L1) and initial second language (L2) fluency skill and working memory (WM) made to L2 fluency development. We assessed the performance of French-speaking Grade 6 learners' (n = 47, mean age: 11) in a 10-month intensive English program in Quebec, Canada using a picture-cue monologic task based on The Suitcase Story and a semi-structured interview based on the Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI). Working memory was assessed using a backward digit span task and phonological memory (PM) via non-word repetition and serial non-word recognition tasks. Overall, results suggest that L1 fluency, WM and PM played only a minor role in learners' L2 fluency outcomes, whereas learners' pre-program levels of L2 fluency constituted an important predictor of L2 fluency development regardless of the speech task used to index fluency. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1362-1688 1477-0954 |
| DOI: | 10.1177/13621688221076418 |
