The Effects Of Complexity, Accuracy, And Fluency On Communicative Adequacy In Chinese Learners' Oral Task Performance

Communicative adequacy is a key construct in second language research, as the primary goal of most language learners is to communicate successfully in real-world situations. Nevertheless, little is known about what linguistic features contribute to communicatively adequate speech.This study investigates the extent to which complexity, accuracy, and fluency(CAF) predict adequacy, and whether proficiency and task type moderate these relationships. In all, 10 native speakers and 20 second language learners from two proficiency levels performed three tasks. Speech samples were rated for adequacy and coded on a range of CAF indices.As shown in the results: Filled pauses per 100 words and Errors per 100 words, each a particular feature of fluency and accuracy, respectively, emerged as the strongest predictors of adequacy. Predictors with significant but smaller effects included six indices of all three CAF dimensions. For advanced speakers, incidence of false starts also emerged as predicting communicatively adequate speech. Task type did not influence the link between linguistic features and adequacy.