Conceptual and empirical relationships between temporal measures of fluency and oral English proficiency with implications for automated scoring

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Conceptual and empirical relationships between temporal measures of fluency and oral English proficiency with implications for automated scoring. / Ginther, April; Dimova, Slobodanka; Yang, Rui.

In: Language Testing, Vol. 27, No. 3, 01.01.2010, p. 379-399.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

Harvard

Ginther, A, Dimova, S & Yang, R 2010, 'Conceptual and empirical relationships between temporal measures of fluency and oral English proficiency with implications for automated scoring', Language Testing, vol. 27, no. 3, pp. 379-399. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265532210364407

APA

Ginther, A., Dimova, S., & Yang, R. (2010). Conceptual and empirical relationships between temporal measures of fluency and oral English proficiency with implications for automated scoring. Language Testing, 27(3), 379-399. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265532210364407

Vancouver

Ginther A, Dimova S, Yang R. Conceptual and empirical relationships between temporal measures of fluency and oral English proficiency with implications for automated scoring. Language Testing. 2010 Jan 1;27(3):379-399. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265532210364407

Author

Ginther, April ; Dimova, Slobodanka ; Yang, Rui. / Conceptual and empirical relationships between temporal measures of fluency and oral English proficiency with implications for automated scoring. In: Language Testing. 2010 ; Vol. 27, No. 3. pp. 379-399.

Bibtex

@article{ac6258f6ec2446dbb14b0a87e5c692fd,
title = "Conceptual and empirical relationships between temporal measures of fluency and oral English proficiency with implications for automated scoring",
abstract = "Information provided by examination of the skills that underlie holistic scores can be used not only as supporting evidence for the validity of inferences associated with performance tests but also as a way to improve the scoring rubrics, descriptors, and benchmarks associated with scoring scales. As fluency is considered a critical, perhaps foundational, component of speaking proficiency, temporal measures of fluency are expected to be strongly related to holistic ratings of speech quality.This study examines the relationships among selected temporal measures of fluency and holistic scores on a semi-direct measure of oral English proficiency. The spoken responses of 150 respondents to one item on the Oral English Proficiency Test (OEPT) were analyzed for selected temporal measures of fluency. The examinees represented three first language backgrounds (Chinese, Hindi, and English) and the range of scores on the OEPT scale. While strong and moderate correlations between OEPT scores and speech rate, speech time ratio, mean length of run, and the number and length of silent pauses were found, fluency variables alone did not distinguish adjacent levels of the OEPT scale. Temporal measures of fluency may reasonably be selected for the development of automated scoring systems for speech; however, identification of an examinee's level remains dependent on aspects of performance only partially represented by fluency measures.",
keywords = "automated scoring, fluency, oral English proficiency",
author = "April Ginther and Slobodanka Dimova and Rui Yang",
year = "2010",
month = jan,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1177/0265532210364407",
language = "English",
volume = "27",
pages = "379--399",
journal = "Language Testing",
issn = "0265-5322",
publisher = "SAGE Publications",
number = "3",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Conceptual and empirical relationships between temporal measures of fluency and oral English proficiency with implications for automated scoring

AU - Ginther, April

AU - Dimova, Slobodanka

AU - Yang, Rui

PY - 2010/1/1

Y1 - 2010/1/1

N2 - Information provided by examination of the skills that underlie holistic scores can be used not only as supporting evidence for the validity of inferences associated with performance tests but also as a way to improve the scoring rubrics, descriptors, and benchmarks associated with scoring scales. As fluency is considered a critical, perhaps foundational, component of speaking proficiency, temporal measures of fluency are expected to be strongly related to holistic ratings of speech quality.This study examines the relationships among selected temporal measures of fluency and holistic scores on a semi-direct measure of oral English proficiency. The spoken responses of 150 respondents to one item on the Oral English Proficiency Test (OEPT) were analyzed for selected temporal measures of fluency. The examinees represented three first language backgrounds (Chinese, Hindi, and English) and the range of scores on the OEPT scale. While strong and moderate correlations between OEPT scores and speech rate, speech time ratio, mean length of run, and the number and length of silent pauses were found, fluency variables alone did not distinguish adjacent levels of the OEPT scale. Temporal measures of fluency may reasonably be selected for the development of automated scoring systems for speech; however, identification of an examinee's level remains dependent on aspects of performance only partially represented by fluency measures.

AB - Information provided by examination of the skills that underlie holistic scores can be used not only as supporting evidence for the validity of inferences associated with performance tests but also as a way to improve the scoring rubrics, descriptors, and benchmarks associated with scoring scales. As fluency is considered a critical, perhaps foundational, component of speaking proficiency, temporal measures of fluency are expected to be strongly related to holistic ratings of speech quality.This study examines the relationships among selected temporal measures of fluency and holistic scores on a semi-direct measure of oral English proficiency. The spoken responses of 150 respondents to one item on the Oral English Proficiency Test (OEPT) were analyzed for selected temporal measures of fluency. The examinees represented three first language backgrounds (Chinese, Hindi, and English) and the range of scores on the OEPT scale. While strong and moderate correlations between OEPT scores and speech rate, speech time ratio, mean length of run, and the number and length of silent pauses were found, fluency variables alone did not distinguish adjacent levels of the OEPT scale. Temporal measures of fluency may reasonably be selected for the development of automated scoring systems for speech; however, identification of an examinee's level remains dependent on aspects of performance only partially represented by fluency measures.

KW - automated scoring

KW - fluency

KW - oral English proficiency

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U2 - 10.1177/0265532210364407

DO - 10.1177/0265532210364407

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:77955398672

VL - 27

SP - 379

EP - 399

JO - Language Testing

JF - Language Testing

SN - 0265-5322

IS - 3

ER -

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