| This dissertation focuses on the nature of nonnative oral fluency, a component of oral proficiency or overall language ability. From a sociolinguistic/psycholinguistic perspective, the study sought to describe those discourse features produced in response to the demands of particular communicative contexts with the aim of providing new directions for conceptualizing oral fluency.; Two task structure variables, Interactivity (dialogue versus monologue) and Cuing (cued versus uncued condition), were combined into four speaking tasks: cued monologue, uncued monologue, cued dialogue and uncued dialogue. The study took place in an ESL school in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Fifty adults, selected according to proficiency levels, were recorded performing the speaking tasks. Interactivity was a statistically significant factor in fluency rating variability: speakers scored higher in dialogues than monologues, but cuing per se was not. However, when Interactivity and Cuing were considered jointly the resulting variance in ratings was statistically significant. In addition, 24 transcriptions from the three most and three least fluent speakers were subjected to intensive analyses of the patterns of fluent and disfluent language use.; The discourse analyses suggest that all speakers spoke more and faster in dialogues than in monologues. High fluency speakers spoke much faster and tended to speak more than the less fluent subjects. Cuing affected the two fluency groups differently in terms of amount of speech and speech rate but did not affect their fluency ratings.; Further, the more fluent speakers constantly relied on strategies for producing fluent speech and maintaining an air of fluency. Two strategies were particularly effective: (a) management of discourse integration through chaining and grammatical devices, and (b) engagement in repetition. Cuing and Interactivity affected the speakers' interpretations of the kinds of speaking strategies that would serve that particular purpose, with the more fluent speakers being more able to comply with those communicative demands.; The analyses of formulaic speech, in monologic discourse, showed that, whenever formulaic chunks were fully automatized, they contributed to optimize fluency for both types of speakers. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.)... |
