This main experiment in this project was designed to test the hypothesis that individual differences in working memory (WM) capacity correlate significantly with individual differences in the ability to speak a second language (L2) fluently. A pilot project was carried out to provide a set of quantifiable factors that produced a reliable description of L2 oral fluency. These factors were related to speed of delivery, pause profiles and morphosyntactic accuracy. In the main experiment, 44 native English speakers who were studying Spanish as a foreign language were tested with a set of three working memory tests, and the scores from these tests were correlated with the scores of three L2 oral fluency tests. The hypothesized strong correlations between working memory capacity and fluency were not found. Furthermore, many of the working memory scores did not correlate strongly with each other. These negative results are explained here partly by reference to the complex nature of speaking in a foreign language, which may tax other faculties more than working memory. Personal and affective variables are also mentioned as a possible explanation, as well as the relationship between working memory and long-term memory stores.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-04262006-124945 |
| Date | 02 June 2006 |
| Creators | Mizera, Gregory John |
| Contributors | Prof. Alan Juffs, Prof. Suzanne Curtin, Prof. Robert DeKeyser, Prof. Nuria Sagarra |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-04262006-124945/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
Page generated in 0.0027 seconds