The contribution of high-frequency multi-word sequences to speech rate and listening perception among EFL learners

Michael McGuire; Jenifer Larson-Hall

doi:10.7820/vli.v10.2.mcguire.larson-hall

Authors

Michael McGuire Doshisha University, Japan
Jenifer Larson-Hall University of Kitakyushu, Japan

DOI: https://doi.org/10.7820/vli.v10.2.mcguire.larson-hall

Abstract

This experiment tested gains in spoken fluency and ability to complete a dictation listening task accurately among 33 Japanese L1 English language users. Both a control group (N = 17) and an experimental group (N = 16) studied Anki vocabulary cards each week for 10 weeks and described three picture stories that contained the vocabulary words every week. Both groups studied 10 common bigrams (such as take advantage) each week while the experimental group additionally studied sets of 10 reduced trigrams (how do you) and did narrow listening homework each week. The results for spoken storytelling fluency found a large advantage for the experimental group while fluency for the free speaking task showed a medium advantage for the experimental group that was not statistically significant. For the listening dictation task, both groups reduced their errors from pretest to posttest but neither group was statistically different from each other.

Keywords: EFL learners, high-frequency, listening dictation, listening perception, multi-word sequences, speech rate, spoken fluency

Suggested Citation:

McGuire, M., & Larson-Hall, J. (2021). The contribution of high-frequency multi-word sequences to speech rate and listening perception among EFL learners. Vocabulary Learning and Instruction, 10(2), 18–29. https://doi.org/10.7820/vli.v10.2.mcguire.larson-hall