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The number of students participating in online-based instruction has grown steadily over the past decade as improvements in Internet availability, speed, and bandwidth have enabled students from around the world to enroll in online courses rather than participate in onsite traditional college courses. Online courses have also provided educational opportunities for language learners that are more convenient and cost effective. With the growth occurring in online instruction, it is critical to ask about the effectiveness of online English language learning. Even though this type of instructional medium has been available for more than a decade, there has been little empirical research documenting the linguistic changes of English language learners as most research has focused on curriculum development or the structure of such courses (Moore and Kearsly, 2005 & Vai & Sosulski, 2011). Moreover, online language courses that have evaluated language development have focused on skills such as reading, writing, and listening (Blake, 2008). In order to investigate the benefits of English language courses taught completely online and the oral fluency gains that learners make within such a course, this study analyzed audio samples produced by intermediate level ESL students during the initial and final speaking tasks of the course. Instruction utilized asynchronous and synchronous interactions between the teacher, tutor, and fellow students. Results showed that fluency features for learners did change over the course of 14 weeks of instruction, and that learners valued the interaction that they had with tutors and faculty during the course.

Elever i grundskolan ska ges möjlighet att genom sin engelskundervisning utveckla en allsidig kommunikativ förmåga. Denna förmåga innebär att kunna anpassa sitt språk till olika situationer, syften och mottagare i det engelska språket. När en person talar med flyt utan pauser och stakningar har den ett utvecklat oral fluency. Det krävs en god förkunskap inom språket gällande bland annat vokabulär och grammatik, för att göra det möjligt att kunna tänka och prata samtidigt och på så sätt tala med oral fluency. Syftet med denna kunskapsöversikt är att bidra med en sammanfattning av vad forskning säger om grundskoleelevers utveckling i flyt i talad engelska och mer specifikt besvara frågeställningen: vilka faktorer påverkar grundskoleelevers oral fluency i ämnet engelska? De systematiska sökningar som gjorts har resulterat i ett empiriskt material bestående av 10 vetenskapliga studier, som bearbetats och analyserats. Resultatet av studien säger att de viktigaste faktorerna för att utveckla oral fluency är att bli exponerad för språket, få tillgång till effektiva undervisningsmetoder samt att befinna sig i en trygg studiemiljö.

While a number of studies have sought to investigate ESL speakers' fluency gains over the course of one 15-week semester, few if any studies have investigated these changes over a longer developmental period. A critical factor in researching longitudinal change is that students do not often remain in an intensive English program (IEP) for more than two semesters before moving to a new school, applying to an American university, or returning to their home country. Longitudinal research, therefore, is necessary as program administrators, teachers, and learners all seek to understand points where change in oral fluency actually occurs. For this study data were collected from students in a large intensive English program over a 45-week period. For 39 ESL learners audio files from speaking tasks that were part of placement and end-of-semester level achievement tests were collected and analyzed. Specific oral fluency features such as speech rate, articulation rate, and pause frequency were investigated. This thesis will share the results of the analysis while also discussing the implications of the data for program administrators, teachers, and learners. Particular focus will be given to helping stakeholders understand specific changes that occurred in learners' fluency over the time period of three semesters.

<p>The theory underlying L2 oral fluency has focused on cognitive processes, particularly proceduralization (Anderson, 1983; Levelt, 1989, 1999) and linguistic constructs, especially vocabulary and grammar (Segalowitz, 2010). Towell, Hawkins, and Bazergui (1996) argued that development of formulaic language enables automatic speech production. However, no research has studied the longitudinal development of L2 oral fluency concurrently with any of the following lexical variables: lexical frequency profile, formulaic language use, and MTLD (a measure of lexical diversity). The purpose of the present study is to clarify the process by which L2 oral fluency, syntax, and vocabulary develop concurrently.</p> <p>Data analysis involved three sequential phases: oral fluency analysis, lexico-syntactic analysis, and discourse analysis. Oral fluency measures were calculated using the transcribed oral test responses of 100 L1-Chinese EAP learners at the beginning and end of a required two-course EAP language and culture sequence at Purdue University. The task completed was a computer-administered, two-minute argumentative speaking task. This study included eight oral fluency measures: speech rate, mean length of speech run, articulation rate, phonation time ratio, mean length of silent pause, mean length of filled pause, silent pause frequency, and filled pause frequency. For the ten participants who made the largest percentage-wise oral fluency gains (in terms of the oral fluency variable associated with the largest effect size of gains), oral transcripts were analyzed to compute descriptive statistics for the three lexical variables mentioned above and three syntactic variables: coordinate clause ratio, dependent clause ratio, and words per T-unit. </p> Results indicated significant change in all oral fluency measures, except mean length of silent pause and mean length of filled pause. The largest gains were made in mean length of speech run. Of the linguistic variables, the largest longitudinal change was associated with coordinate clause ratio. Discourse analysis of the transcripts of large fluency gainers' pre-post responses suggested that large fluency gainers used coordinate clauses to build more sophisticated discourse models in the post-test response than they did in the pre-test response. Implications for L2 oral fluency theory, EAP pedagogy, and L2 oral assessment are discussed.

The potentially beneficial role of classroom codeswitching, or the use of the first language (L1) in foreign language (FL) classroom settings, is gradually becoming acknowledged in the field of second language acquisition (SLA) research. However, researchers call for the construction of a framework, which indicates when this use is beneficial for language learning and when it is not. In an attempt to contribute to the construction of this framework, the present study investigates whether codeswitching can be used as a tool within task-based learning settings for the development of second language (L2) oral fluency. It is hypothesised that by allowing learners to codeswitch during task completion, their willingness to communicate (WTC) is enhanced because the function of that switching is likely to be mainly the metalanguage needed to complete the task. Previous research has also suggested that task repetition might lead to greater fluency. However, both teachers and learners may be sceptical of the value of repetition without some form of feedback on the first task attempt. This study sought to explore therefore the value of task repetition with feedback (TR+). By repeating the task with feedback that recycles metalanguage into the L2, it is hypothesised that learners will learn to move to a state of less reliance on their L1, while simultaneously achieving the overall aim of tasks, which is effective L2 communication. With increased WTC and L2 metalanguage, extensive L2 oral practice will facilitate the proceduralisation processes needed for fluency development. In short, the pedagogical package of TR+ on recycled language is tested in the present study as a potential contributor to oral fluency. The thesis begins by relating these themes with the context of Cyprus through teacher interviews. It becomes evident through these interviews that the activities taking place in this context are not tasks in the sense researchers intended. Following the setting of the context, the interactions of 75 primary school learners of English (11-12-year-olds) practising TR+ are analysed qualitatively. This analysis determines whether the package can lead to enriched output on the second attempt. In addition, there is a quasi-experimental aspect to the study. The students were allocated in three groups, each testing a different package. The codeswitching group was allowed to switch to Greek while completing the tasks and had their L1 metalanguage recycled into the L2 when they repeated the tasks. The English-only group completed the tasks strictly under L2 conditions and repeated them with feedback on accuracy. The comparison group completed the tasks once with no language instructions. Oral production tests, used as pre- and post-tests, partly support the hypothesis by suggesting that WTC is enhanced with the incorporation of codeswitching, but no evidence supports fluency development. Nevertheless, when comparing TR+ with no task repetition, the data indicate that TR+ leads to greater fluency. It is suggested that a larger and longer intervention would have allowed more time for fluency to be developed when codeswitching was incorporated. As for task-based learning, it is suggested that TR+ is a more viable way to move forward in real classroom contexts, particularly those with young learners. Furthermore, the results of the present study indicate that this package works better with learners of a certain proficiency level.

O constante desenvolvimento das Tecnologias da Informação e Comunicação (TIC), sobretudo da internet, tem gerado impactos sobre diferentes aspectos da vida em sociedade. No âmbito educacional, o uso das tecnologias proporciona o surgimento de novas práticas e modalidades de ensino-aprendizagem, tal como a Educação online. Em se tratando dessa modalidade aplicada ao ensino-aprendizagem da expressão oral em Língua Estrangeira, as condições tecnológicas mais recentes possibilitam o desenvolvimento das competências para além da simples repetição, tornando-se centradas na interação (GUICHON; TELLIER, 2017). Assim, esta pesquisa tem como objetivos analisar o impacto das TIC na expressão oral dos alunos em contexto on-line, verificar em que medida as orientações e atividades podem a favorecer fluência oral e a fluência digital dos alunos e, por fim, avaliar o papel do professor durante as interações orais em ambiente on-line. A pesquisa desenvolvida é de natureza qualitativa-interpretativista com orientação metodológica da pesquisa-ação (BARBIER, 2007; THIOLLENT, 2009) por permitir ao professor se integrar de forma mais ativa ao contexto de investigação. A produção dos dados se deu através do curso Produções orais on-line, oferecido aos alunos da Licenciatura em Letras/Francês de duas universidades públicas brasileiras e realizado a distância por meio das ferramentas Google (Google+, Drive e Hangouts). O referencial teórico que orientou a análise dos dados remete aos conceitos de fluência oral e interação no ensino-aprendizagem de Línguas Estrangeiras (SILVA, 2000; NUNAN, 203; CICUREL, 2011), Letramento e Fluência Digital (DUDENEY, HOCKLY e PEGRUM, 2016; PINHO, 2011), uso das TIC na abordagem por tarefas (LOUVEAU, MANGENOT, 2006). Os resultados mostraram que as ferramentas do Ambiente Virtual Google potencializaram as interações orais quando deram maior espaço de atuação aos participantes-alunos durante as aulas on-line. A fluência oral deles saiu fortalecida, sobretudo após a realização de interações espontâneas na língua-alvo. Por fim, esta pesquisa traz contribuições para o ensino-aprendizagem de línguas estrangeiras em contexto on-line, bem como para a formação de professores que desejem desenvolver, além das competências linguísticas, a fluência digital em suas práticas docentes. / The continued development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), especially the Internet, has generated impacts on different aspects of life in society. In the educational field, technologies use provides the emergence of new practices and teaching-learning modalities, such as on-line Education. When it comes to this modality applied to the teaching-learning of oral expression in Foreign Language, the most recent technological conditions allow skills development beyond simple repetition, becoming focused on the interaction (GUICHON; TELLIER, 2017). Thus, this research aims to analyze the ICT impact on oral expression of students in an online context, to verify to what extent the orientations and activities can favor students oral fluency and digital fluency and, finally, to evaluate the teacher role during oral interactions in the on-line environment. The research developed is qualitativeinterpretative with an action-research methodological orientation (BARBIER, 2007; THIOLLENT, 2009) for allowing the teacher to integrate more actively into the research context. The data was produced through the course \"On-line oral productions\", offered to the Literature/French Degree students of two Brazilian public universities and carried out at a distance through Google tools (Google+, Drive and Hangouts). The theoretical framework that guided the data analysis refers to concepts of oral fluency and interaction in the Foreign Languages teaching-learning (SILVA, 2000, NUNAN, 203; CICUREL, 2011), Literacy and Digital Fluency (DUDENEY, HOCKLY and PEGRUM, 2016; PINHO, 2011), ICT use in the taskbased approach (LOUVEAU, MANGENOT, 2006). The results showed that Google Virtual Environment tools enhanced oral interactions when they gave more space to the student-participants during on-line classes. Their oral fluency was strengthened, especially after spontaneous interactions in the target language. Lastly, this research brings contributions to the foreign languages teaching-learning in an on-line context, as well as for the training of teachers who wish to develop, in addition to language skills, digital fluency in their teaching practices.

O constante desenvolvimento das Tecnologias da Informação e Comunicação (TIC), sobretudo da internet, tem gerado impactos sobre diferentes aspectos da vida em sociedade. No âmbito educacional, o uso das tecnologias proporciona o surgimento de novas práticas e modalidades de ensino-aprendizagem, tal como a Educação online. Em se tratando dessa modalidade aplicada ao ensino-aprendizagem da expressão oral em Língua Estrangeira, as condições tecnológicas mais recentes possibilitam o desenvolvimento das competências para além da simples repetição, tornando-se centradas na interação (GUICHON; TELLIER, 2017). Assim, esta pesquisa tem como objetivos analisar o impacto das TIC na expressão oral dos alunos em contexto on-line, verificar em que medida as orientações e atividades podem a favorecer fluência oral e a fluência digital dos alunos e, por fim, avaliar o papel do professor durante as interações orais em ambiente on-line. A pesquisa desenvolvida é de natureza qualitativa-interpretativista com orientação metodológica da pesquisa-ação (BARBIER, 2007; THIOLLENT, 2009) por permitir ao professor se integrar de forma mais ativa ao contexto de investigação. A produção dos dados se deu através do curso Produções orais on-line, oferecido aos alunos da Licenciatura em Letras/Francês de duas universidades públicas brasileiras e realizado a distância por meio das ferramentas Google (Google+, Drive e Hangouts). O referencial teórico que orientou a análise dos dados remete aos conceitos de fluência oral e interação no ensino-aprendizagem de Línguas Estrangeiras (SILVA, 2000; NUNAN, 203; CICUREL, 2011), Letramento e Fluência Digital (DUDENEY, HOCKLY e PEGRUM, 2016; PINHO, 2011), uso das TIC na abordagem por tarefas (LOUVEAU, MANGENOT, 2006). Os resultados mostraram que as ferramentas do Ambiente Virtual Google potencializaram as interações orais quando deram maior espaço de atuação aos participantes-alunos durante as aulas on-line. A fluência oral deles saiu fortalecida, sobretudo após a realização de interações espontâneas na língua-alvo. Por fim, esta pesquisa traz contribuições para o ensino-aprendizagem de línguas estrangeiras em contexto on-line, bem como para a formação de professores que desejem desenvolver, além das competências linguísticas, a fluência digital em suas práticas docentes. / The continued development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), especially the Internet, has generated impacts on different aspects of life in society. In the educational field, technologies use provides the emergence of new practices and teaching-learning modalities, such as on-line Education. When it comes to this modality applied to the teaching-learning of oral expression in Foreign Language, the most recent technological conditions allow skills development beyond simple repetition, becoming focused on the interaction (GUICHON; TELLIER, 2017). Thus, this research aims to analyze the ICT impact on oral expression of students in an online context, to verify to what extent the orientations and activities can favor students oral fluency and digital fluency and, finally, to evaluate the teacher role during oral interactions in the on-line environment. The research developed is qualitativeinterpretative with an action-research methodological orientation (BARBIER, 2007; THIOLLENT, 2009) for allowing the teacher to integrate more actively into the research context. The data was produced through the course \"On-line oral productions\", offered to the Literature/French Degree students of two Brazilian public universities and carried out at a distance through Google tools (Google+, Drive and Hangouts). The theoretical framework that guided the data analysis refers to concepts of oral fluency and interaction in the Foreign Languages teaching-learning (SILVA, 2000, NUNAN, 203; CICUREL, 2011), Literacy and Digital Fluency (DUDENEY, HOCKLY and PEGRUM, 2016; PINHO, 2011), ICT use in the taskbased approach (LOUVEAU, MANGENOT, 2006). The results showed that Google Virtual Environment tools enhanced oral interactions when they gave more space to the student-participants during on-line classes. Their oral fluency was strengthened, especially after spontaneous interactions in the target language. Lastly, this research brings contributions to the foreign languages teaching-learning in an on-line context, as well as for the training of teachers who wish to develop, in addition to language skills, digital fluency in their teaching practices.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-11T13:49:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Sandra Helena S Botelho.pdf: 3234434 bytes, checksum: 3e4325201b718184d4cdd28c93f8cd8c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-03-06 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The Portuguese language teaching in Brazilian schools is governed by official documents whose guidance reviews sociolinguistic principles, which recommend working with language in use and its variations. The teaching of the standard variety of the language often conflicts with the popular variety brought from home by the speakers of the lower classes. This fact is enhanced when the student belongs to Youth and Adult Education (EJA), as they already have autonomy and formed oral fluency. Our research investigates if the EJA students are challenged to work their speech stylistically and to adapt it to specific situations and what degree of awareness and evaluation these students give to the learning of monitored oral fluency at school. More specifically, it is important to know which kind of monitoring is more difficult for them, if the oral or the written one. According to the assumptions of Educational Sociolinguistics the role of the school is to teach the monitored styles of the language through verbal interaction in the classroom, noting the urbanization, the oral-literacy and stylistics monitoring continua (BORTONI-RICARDO, 2009). Therefore, the best place to investigate this question was at a school with teacher, students and pedagogical coordination involved. The methodology used in this research was qualitative oriented with quantitative description and survey of the sociolinguistic profile of informers of the second segment of EJA, 6th to 9th grade. Starting from the characterization of the subjects of EJA and the object of study, the standard variety linked to monitored oral fluency, the research instruments used were the bibliographical research, questionnaires, taped interviews and official documents followed by interpretative and discursive analysis. The results led to observations such as: 1) students are exposed predominantly to literacy activities with normative and prescriptive guidance, in which the oral fluency is not monitored; 2) students wish to express themselves better, but they do not like oral activities; 3) monitored speech and writing received similar ratings in degree of difficulty. We concluded that some principles of Educational Sociolinguistics already exist in the investigated school, however there are still some needs: improvement of students awareness of linguistic diversity, further specialized training for the teachers and the development of a bidialetal curriculum with adequate didactics material. / O ensino de Língua Portuguesa nas escolas brasileiras é regido por documentos oficiais cuja orientação resume princípios sociolinguísticos que preconizam o trabalho com a língua em uso e suas variações. O ensino da variedade padrão da língua muitas vezes conflita com a variedade popular trazida de casa pelos falantes das classes menos favorecidas. Este fato é agravado quando o aluno pertence à Educação de Jovens e Adultos (EJA), pois estes já possuem autonomia e oralidade formada. Nossa pesquisa investiga se os alunos da EJA são desafiados a trabalhar a fala estilisticamente e adequá-la a situações específicas de uso e qual o grau de conscientização e valoração que esses alunos dão ao aprendizado da oralidade monitorada na escola. De maneira mais específica, é importante saber qual monitoramento é mais difícil para eles, se o da oralidade ou o do letramento. De acordo com os pressupostos da Sociolinguística Educacional, é papel da escola ensinar os estilos monitorados da língua através da interação verbal em sala de aula, observando os continua de urbanização, de oralidade-letramento e de monitoração estilística (BORTONI-RICARDO, 2009). Portanto, o melhor lugar para investigar essa questão era numa escola com professor, alunos e coordenação pedagógica envolvidos. A metodologia usada nessa pesquisa foi de cunho qualitativo com descrição e levantamento quantitativo do perfil sociolinguístico de informantes do segundo segmento da EJA, do 6º ao 9º ano. Partindo da caracterização dos sujeitos da EJA e do objeto de estudo, a variedade padrão associada à oralidade monitorada, os instrumentos de pesquisa utilizados foram a pesquisa bibliográfica, questionários, entrevistas gravadas e documentos oficiais seguidos de análise interpretativa e discursiva dos mesmos. Os resultados levaram a constatações tais como: 1) os alunos são expostos predominantemente a atividades de letramento com orientação normativa e prescritivista, nas quais a oralidade não é monitorada; 2) os alunos anseiam por expressarem-se melhor, mas não gostam de atividades orais; 3) a fala e a escrita monitoradas receberam avaliações equiparadas em grau de dificuldade. Concluímos que já circulam no meio escolar investigado alguns princípios da Sociolinguística Educacional, entretanto ainda existem algumas necessidades: aumento da conscientização dos alunos sobre a diversidade linguística, maior formação sociolinguística especializada para os docentes e desenvolvimento de um currículo bidialetal com material didático adequado.

Previous research shows that English teachers in Sweden struggle with the assessment of oral proficiency. The reasons for this are several but most of them have occurred in the gap between the intended and perceived curriculum. English teachers interpret the knowledge requirements within oral proficiency differently because of their pedagogical background and experience. This study investigates teachers’ interpretations of the intended presentation of interaction and fluency in the oral proficiency knowledge requirements. The study also investigates what methods and procedures the teachers use when assessing the two abilities and what views the teachers have on the syllabus and assessment support. Semi-structured interviews were organized with four different English teachers with extensive experience in teaching and assessing English in Sweden. The data from the interviews were analyzed through the use of qualitative content analysis in order to find potential links between results and earlier conducted research. The results suggest that the English teachers interpreted, valued, and assessed interaction and fluency differently in relation to the knowledge requirements. The teachers also promoted the knowledge requirements from the Oral National Test since these simplified the interpretation of aspects such as interaction and fluency. The teachers did not present the syllabus as poor or complex, but their exclusive use of Oral National Test knowledge requirements and assessment material suggested something else. Along with this result, all teachers criticized the assessment support that comes with the knowledge requirements in the syllabus. The assessment support was thus something several of the teachers mentioned as key along with the implementation of co-assessment for future reliability within oral proficiency assessment.