The importance of vocabulary when speaking is not only demonstrated in models of second language speech production and speaking proficiency but also reflected in rating criteria and assessment scales. The present study examined and compared micro-level lexical information in a speaking task from two complementary stakeholders' perspectives…

Second language (L2) learners hold different learning beliefs that influence their interpretation of classroom experiences and their L2 learning process. Developing a thorough understanding of such beliefs is therefore imperative. This article reports the representations of Iranian English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) learners' beliefs about L2…

Teaching speaking skills to EFL learners remains a significant challenge, often hindered by traditional methods that prioritize rote learning over meaningful communication. This study investigates the impact of communicative language teaching (CLT) on the speaking skills of Grade 12 students, while also exploring their attitudes toward this…

The fluency of second language (L2) speech can be influenced by L2 proficiency, but also by differences in the efficiency of cognitive operations and personal speaking styles. The nature of cognitive fluency is still, however, little understood. Therefore, we studied the cognitive fluency of Finnish advanced students of English (N = 64) to…

Previous research has shown that task repetition can positively affect L2 oral performance. However, few studies have explored the effects of task repetition on young EFL learners' production. Also, task repetition research has paid little attention to effects of "spacing" examined through longer time intervals between the two occasions…

Background: Previous studies on language production in normal ageing have primarily focused on distinct dimensions of older adults' spoken language performance, such as fluency and complexity. However, little attention has been paid to the complex, interconnected relations between these dimensions. Additionally, older adults have been treated as a…

Language learning activities involving time-pressured repetition of similar content have been shown to facilitate improvements in fluency. However, concerns have been voiced about whether these gains might be offset by reduced levels of grammatical accuracy. This descriptive study tracked the oral proficiency of 32 Japanese university students…

Automatic Speech Scoring (ASS) has increasingly become a useful tool in oral proficiency testing for Second Language (L2) learners. However, limited studies investigate the alignment of ASS indices with the Complexity, Accuracy, and Fluency (CAF)--the three dimensions in evaluating L2 speakers' oral proficiency, and the subsequent impact indices…

The development of L2 utterance fluency has been extensively researched, whereas that of cognitive fluency has rarely been examined. This study investigated the longitudinal development of L2 utterance and cognitive fluency and their relationship. Thirty-one Chinese learners of English completed speaking tasks and a set of tasks for cognitive…

Many secondary school students' second language (L2) speaking skills suffer from deficiencies; the effects thereof are detrimental to their academic and career opportunities in a globalized world that highlights the importance of oral communication skills. Debate has been considered a potentially effective speaking pedagogical tool that can…

orInverse relations, or "trade-off effects," are a common outcome of interlanguage development: a learner may increase performance in one linguistic domain while simultaneously decreasing performance in another. In this study, we investigate the relationships between one aspect of fluency (pause usage) and two aspects of syntactic…

This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of metacognitive methods in college general English classes to improve students' communication skills and metacognitive awareness. The approach involved structuring learning activities where students adapted movie dialogues, practiced roles, collaborated with peers, and received feedback on…

The current study examined the extent to which first language (L1) utterance fluency measures can predict second language (L2) fluency and how L2 proficiency moderates the relationship between L1 and L2 fluency. A total of 104 Japanese-speaking learners of English completed different argumentative speech tasks in their L1 and L2. Their speaking…

The purpose of this comparative study is to determine whether the linguistic input approach based on Krashen's (1989) comprehensible input (CI) and supported by Kolb's (2015) experiential learning (ELT) and Siemens' (2005) connectivism theory (CT) to improve eighth graders' Spanish speaking and writing linguistic proficiencies. Previous research…

This study investigated the effects of a reading assistant software on the fluency and accuracy of speech production among EFL university students, employing a one-group pretest-posttest design. The participants included 50 Thai undergraduate English majors in their first and second years. Data were analyzed using paired samples t-tests to measure…