AbstractThis chapter explores the relationship between empirically identified features of nonnative oral fluency and the subjective perceptions of oral fluency by native speakers (NSs) of Spanish. Our aims were to understand what fluency, in general, means to a group of NSs, to examine listener perceptions of nonnative fluency, to determine which characteristics of nonnative speech are associated with fluency and dysfluency, and to investigate the association between NSs’ subjective reactions and objective measures of fluency. In addition, we were interested in the extent to which dysfluency disturbed listeners. Nine NS judges
listened to and evaluated speech samples of 46 students who studied Spanish abroad (SA) or at home (AH). Judges assessed each speaker’s fluency level on a 7-point scale.Findings revealed that all NSs defined a fluent speaker as one who
is able to transmit a clear, comprehensible message that is easily understood by the interlocutor.However, the NSs also identified a wide range of elements that
they considered as part of fluency.The judges identified the SA students as being more fluent at the end of the semester than the AH students.Additionally, their subjective ratings correlated highly and significantly with the empirical measures
of oral fluency. Finally, we explore possible pedagogical implications of
these findings for helping second language (L2) speakers improve their fluency.
Works published here are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.