The Modification of Speech Naturalness During Rhythmic Stimulation Treatment of Stuttering

2001 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 841-852 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger J. Ingham ◽  
Wendy Sato ◽  
Patrick Finn ◽  
Heather Belknap
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Adolescent Girls ◽  
Free Speech ◽  
Rhythmic Stimulation ◽  
Adult Esl ◽  
Adult Participant ◽  
Problematic Aspect ◽  
Speech Naturalness ◽  
Fluent Speakers

This study investigated the modification of speech naturalness during stuttering treatment. It systematically replicated an earlier study (Ingham & Onslow, 1985) that demonstrated that unnatural-sounding stutter-free speech could be shaped into more natural-sounding stutter-free speech by using regular feedback of speech-naturalness ratings during speaking tasks. In the present study, the same procedure was used with three persons who stutter—2 adolescent girls and 1 adult man—during rhythmic stimulation conditions. The two adolescent participants spoke only English, but Spanish was the first and English the second language (ESL) of the adult participant. For the 2 adolescents, it was demonstrated that their unnatural-sounding rhythmic speech could be shaped to levels found among normally fluent speakers without losing the fluency-inducing benefits of rhythmic speech. The findings indicate that speech-naturalness feedback may be a powerful procedure for overcoming a problematic aspect of rhythmic speech treatments of stuttering. However, it was not possible to deliver reliable speech-naturalness feedback to the adult ESL speaker, who also displayed a strong dialect. The study highlights the need to find strategies to improve interjudge agreement when using speech-naturalness ratings with speakers who display a strong dialect.

scholarly journals Professional Characteristics and Concerns of Instructors Teaching English as Second Language to Adults in Non-Credit Programs in Ontario

1997 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Razika Sanaoui
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Data Gathering ◽  
Teaching Experience ◽  
Teaching English ◽  
English As Second Language ◽  
Educational Backgrounds ◽  
Adult Esl ◽  
Employment Conditions ◽  
Professional Characteristics ◽  
Credit Programs

A survey was conducted to describe professional characteristics of instructors teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) to adults in non-credit programs in Ontario. This province-wide survey was the first data-gathering phase in a three-phase project leading to the establishment of a protocol and uniform standards for the certification of instructors teaching non-credit Adult ESL in Ontario. The study was initiated by the Teachers of ESL Association of Ontario (TESL Ontario) and conducted in collaboration with the Ontario Ministry of Education and Training. Findings provided detailed descriptions of professional characteristics of1,196 respondents, including their age and gender, educational backgrounds and professional qualifications, teaching experience, employment, conditions of employments, and opportunities for professional development. Professional issues of concern to the instructors and their recommendations for addressing these issues were also summarized.

The provision and uptake of different types of recasts in child and adult ESL learners

2010 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 26.1-26.22
Author(s):  
Rhonda Oliver ◽  
Ellen Grote
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
Conversational Interaction ◽  
Adult Esl ◽  
Language Research ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Facilitative Role ◽  
Esl Learners ◽  
The Impact

The role of conversational interaction in second language research has increasingly been seen as playing a facilitative role in second language learning. As such there have been a number of studies focussing on different types of interaction, including feedback such as recasts, and their potential role in second language learning. In this study, using Sheen’s (2006) taxonomy, we compare various types of recasts delivered to child ESL learners. Further, we examine two variables: context (teacher-fronted classrooms versus pair work, including NNS-NNS and NNS-NS dyads) and age (the results of this study with children are compared with the results from Sheen’s (2006) study of adults) and the impact these factors have on this form of feedback. We also examine the opportunity for, and the actual uptake that may follow these recasts, for child ESL learners. The findings suggest that age and context make a difference, both in relation to the provision of recasts (in terms of their type and characteristics), as well as in relation to their uptake, though to a lesser extent. Context also influences the opportunity for uptake afforded to child learners. The theoretical and pedagogical implications of these results are outlined at the conclusion of this paper.

Acoustical Durations of Speech Segments During Stuttering Adaptation

1990 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 494-504 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Prins ◽  
Carol P. Hubbard
Keyword(s):  
Free Speech ◽  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Vowel Duration ◽  
Related Literature ◽  
Speech Segments ◽  
High Adaptation ◽  
Speech Naturalness

Acoustical durations of stutter- and disfluency-free speech segments from Readings #1 and #5 in an adaptation series were measured in 4 adapting, 4 nonadapting, and 4 nonstuttering subjects. The segment durations measured were intervocalic interval, stop-gap, voice onset time, and vowel duration. No clear trends in the change of acoustical durations from Reading #1 to Reading #5 distinguished the adapting, nonadapting, or nonstuttering subjects. Moreover, on the basis of speech naturalness judgments, listeners did not differentiate the Reading #1 and #5 phrase segments of subjects with high adaptation versus those with low adaptation scores. From these findings and related literature, adaptation of stuttering, as well as other fluency-inducing conditions, are viewed as circumstances that reduce demands upon central motor-linguistic processes.

scholarly journals Malaysian Tertiary ESL Students' Writing Errors and Their Implications on English Language Teaching

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 235
Author(s):  
Siti Zawani Mehat ◽  
Lilliati Ismail
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Language Production ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
English As Second Language ◽  
Adult Esl ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Esl Learners ◽  
Writing Errors

Abstract: Errors, either in writing or speaking, are common in second language production. Researchers have long been investigating English as Second Language (ESL) learners' errors because they may produce different kinds of errors than native speakers. The purpose of this study was to identify errors made by adult ESL learners and to examine the L1 interference in writing errors. Writing samples were collected from 30 students enrolled in the academic writing class in Universiti Putra Malaysia, and the errors were identified, recorded, and analyzed to determine whether they were intralingual or interlingual ones. The study results showed that most of the errors were in subject-verb agreement and verb tenses, which could be caused by first language (L1) influence. The findings of this study would shed light on the types of errors these ESL learners make and their weaknesses in using the English language. Besides, the findings could support instructors, curricula creators, and textbook writers to create and offer materials that could help learners enhance their command of the English language.   Keywords: Error Analysis, Intralingual, Interlingual, writing problems, writing errors

The provision and uptake of different types of recasts in child and adult ESL learners

2010 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 26.1-26.22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rhonda Oliver ◽  
Ellen Grote
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
Conversational Interaction ◽  
Adult Esl ◽  
Language Research ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Facilitative Role ◽  
Esl Learners ◽  
The Impact

The role of conversational interaction in second language research has increasingly been seen as playing a facilitative role in second language learning. As such there have been a number of studies focussing on different types of interaction, including feedback such as recasts, and their potential role in second language learning. In this study, using Sheen’s (2006) taxonomy, we compare various types of recasts delivered to child ESL learners. Further, we examine two variables: context (teacher-fronted classrooms versus pair work, including NNS-NNS and NNS-NS dyads) and age (the results of this study with children are compared with the results from Sheen’s (2006) study of adults) and the impact these factors have on this form of feedback. We also examine the opportunity for, and the actual uptake that may follow these recasts, for child ESL learners. The findings suggest that age and context make a difference, both in relation to the provision of recasts (in terms of their type and characteristics), as well as in relation to their uptake, though to a lesser extent. Context also influences the opportunity for uptake afforded to child learners. The theoretical and pedagogical implications of these results are outlined at the conclusion of this paper.

L2 Tasks and Orientation to Form

2006 ◽  
Vol 152 ◽  
pp. 7-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Adams
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Outcome Analysis ◽  
Language Form ◽  
Design And Implementation ◽  
Adult Esl ◽  
Information Gap ◽  
Task Characteristic ◽  
Task Modality ◽  
Esl Learners

Abstract Task-based language teaching has been advocated as a means of promoting learning through learner interactions in the classroom. However, characteristics of the design and implementation of communicative tasks have been shown to influence learner orientation to form. One task characteristic that may affect learner attention to form, modality, is examined here to determine whether it influences learners' tendency to focus on second language form. Forty-four adult ESL learners engaged in information gap tasks targeted at specific second language forms that required the learners to collaboratively achieve both an oral and a written outcome. Analysis of orientation to form in both spoken and written sections of the task indicated that task modality plays a role in influencing learner orientation to form.

Stuttering and Speech Naturalness

1985 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger J. Ingham ◽  
Merrilyn Gow ◽  
Janis M. Costello
Keyword(s):  
Treatment Program ◽  
Rating Scale ◽  
Speech Treatment ◽  
Normal Speaker ◽  
Speech Naturalness ◽  
Fluent Speakers

Thirty listeners used the 9-point speech naturalness rating scale described by Martin, Haroldson, and Triden (1984) to score 1-minute spontaneous speaking samples from 15 normally fluent speakers and 15 stutterers who had completed the initial phases of a prolonged speech treatment program. The same listeners were later asked to judge whether each sample was from a stutterer or from a normal speaker. Reliable listeners identified almost identical numbers of samples from both speaker groups as "normal speakers," but the stutterers received significantly higher scores on the rating scale, indicating that their speech was judged more unnatural sounding. The speech samples incorporated those used in a related study by Ingham and Packman (1978), thus permitting a reevaluation of the findings of that study.

Prototype effects in first and second language learners: The case of English transitive semantics

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 618-639 ◽  
Author(s):  
SARUT SUPASIRAPRAPA
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
False Positive ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
Category Membership ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Adult Esl ◽  
Esl Learners

According to usage-based approaches to language acquisition, linguistic constructions should display prototype effects, or graded category membership (e.g., Bybee, 2010). Using the prototype-plus-distortion methodology (Franks & Bransford, 1971), Ibbotson, Theakston, Lieven, and Tomasello (2012) have provided evidence for prototype effects in adult native English speakers, who had false-positive recognition of sentences with prototypical transitive semantics as having been previously encountered after being exposed to non-prototypical transitive semantics. In the current study, I adopted this methodology and investigated whether the effects can be replicated and additionally observed from English-as-a-second-language (ESL) learners. Results from two groups of adult native English speakers (N=20 and N=21), each exposed to a different stimuli set, suggested some, but not strong, effects and revealed the complexity of the use of this methodology with linguistic materials. Moreover, no effects were observed from advanced adult ESL learners (N=22), suggesting possible differences between first and second transitive semantic representations.

Speech Outcomes of a Prolonged-Speech Treatment for Stuttering

1996 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 734-749 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Onslow ◽  
Leanne Costa ◽  
Cheryl Andrews ◽  
Elisabeth Harrison ◽  
Ann Packman
Keyword(s):  
Outcome Measures ◽  
Treatment Program ◽  
Free Speech ◽  
Outcome Research ◽  
Speech Rate ◽  
Residential Setting ◽  
Detailed Data ◽  
Rate Range ◽  
Posttreatment Period ◽  
Speech Naturalness

It has been shown that people who stutter can speak with greatly reduced stuttering after treatments that use variations of Goldiamond's (1965) prolonged-speech (PS). However, outcome research to date has not taken account of several important issues. In particular, speech outcome measures in that research have been insufficient to show that lasting relief from stuttering has been achieved by clients outside the clinic for meaningful periods. The present study used extensive speech outcome measures across a variety of situations in evaluating the outcome of an intensive PS treatment (Ingham, 1987). The speech of 12 clients in this treatment was assessed on three occasions prior to treatment and frequently—on eight occasions—after discharge from the residential setting. For 7 clients, a further assessment occurred at 3 years posttreatment. Concurrent dependent measures were percent syllables stuttered, syllables per minute, and speech naturalness. The dependent measures were collected in many speaking situations within and beyond the clinic. Dependent measures were based on speech samples of substantive duration, and covert assessments were included in the study. Detailed data were presented for individual subjects. Results showed that 12 subjects who remained with the entire 2-3-year program achieved zero or near-zero stuttering. The majority of subjects did not show a regression trend in %SS or speech naturalness scores during the posttreatment period, either within or beyond the clinic. Some subjects showed higher posttreatment %SS scores during covert assessment than during overt assessment. Results also showed that stuttering was eliminated without using unusually slow and unnatural speech patterns. This treatment program does not specify a target speech rate range, and many clients maintained stutter-free speech using speech rates that were higher than the range typically specified in intensive PS programs. A significant correlation was found between speech rate and perceived posttreatment speech naturalness.

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