Analyzing the influence of utterance fluency across assessed speaking profiles in the oral English placement test at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

With the aim of informing the assessment of fluency within the Oral English Placement Test, this study analyzes the correlation between utterance fluency measures and proficiency scores from one of the test tasks. Furthermore, it examines how speed and breakdown fluency variables distinguish test takers across a five-profile scale. To address both inquiries, sixty student recordings were used for automated measurements and thirty for those that needed manual coding. The findings from a Spearman’s rank correlation analysis and multiple one-way Analyses of Variance revealed measures of speed fluency (i.e. speech rate, articulation rate, and mean length of run) and certain measures of breakdown fluency (i.e. frequency of silent and mid-clause pauses) correlate with proficiency scores. Additionally, utterance fluency measures overall tend to discriminate between profiles at the far ends of the scale but not necessarily within adjacent profiles, except for articulation rate. These results further support the validity of the test and inform the design of rating descriptors, as well as teaching practices to develop oral proficiency at different stages.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Teaching of English Sec Lang

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2023

Author dc:creator

• Gomez Cayapu, Rosana Alejandra

Contributors dc:contributor

• Franks, Suzanne Carla
• Yan, Xun

• Fluency Assessment
• Utterance Fluency
• Second Language Acquisition
• Language Proficiency
• Local Language Placement Tests.

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2023 Rosana Alejadra Gomez-Cayapu

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/122043

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F122043