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Article published In: Current State of Second Language Studies in Japan
Edited by John Matthews and Shigenori Wakabayashi
[Journal of Second Language Studies 6:2] 2023
► pp. 290–318

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Does automaticity in lexical and grammatical processing predict utterance fluency development?

A six-month longitudinal study in Japanese EFL context

 | Tokyo University of Science, Japan
ORCiD logo with link | Kanagawa University, Japan
Published online: 27 February 2024
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jsls.22007.han
Abstract
In order to understand the development of automatization in second language (L2) acquisition and its role in speaking fluency development, 39 English as foreign language (EFL) learners performed a speaking task (subsequently analyzed for utterance fluency) as well as semantic classification (lexical processing measure) and maze (grammar processing measure) tasks at two time points (Time 1 and Time 2) over six months. The findings indicate that learners significantly speeded up their lexical and grammar processing, as reflected in faster reaction time (RT). However, only lexical processing showed a propensity for more stable processing at Time 1, as indicated by coefficient of variance (CV). Furthermore, multiple regression analyses revealed that more automatized grammar processing (faster RT and smaller CV) at Time 1 significantly predicted a larger reduction in mid-clause pause duration and frequency, respectively. These findings underscore the importance of automatization in grammar processing for developing fluency in an EFL context.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
    • 2.1Automatization in L2 learning: Fast and stable execution of L2 skills
    • 2.2The role of automatization in utterance fluency development
  • 3.The current study
  • 4.Methods
    • 4.1Participants
    • 4.2Personal narrative task (Utterance Fluency Measure)
    • 4.3Cognitive fluency tasks (automaticity measures)
      • 4.3.1Semantic classification task
      • 4.3.2Maze task
    • 4.4Procedure
    • 4.5Data coding
      • 4.5.1Speaking task
      • 4.5.2Semantic classification task
      • 4.5.3Maze task
    • 4.6Statistical analysis
  • 5.Results
    • 5.1Development of cognitive fluency (RQ1)
    • 5.2The relationship between cognitive fluency and utterance fluency change (RQ2)
  • 6.Discussion
  • 7.Limitations and directions for future research
  • 8.Conclusions
  • Notes
  • Appendixes
    • Appendix S1.The results of Wilcoxon signed-rank test for utterance fluency change between Time 1 and Time 2
    • Appendix S2.The number of participants identified as outliers for each fluency measure
    • Appendix S3.Correlations between T1 utterance fluency measures and fluency gains
    • Appendix S4.Hierarchical multiple regression results
    • Appendix S5.Partial correlation coefficients between T1 cognitive fluency measures and fluency gains
  • References
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