Davy & MacWhinney - Spanish Sentence Production
Spanish Sentence Production
Contents
Summary Table
Abstract
The goal of this study is to determine whether and how oral repetition can improve the fluent production of Spanish sentences of various lengths and constructions. We do this by presenting students with spoken Spanish sentences and letting them practice repeating them back. In the pilot study, students heard each sentence three times and immediately repeated it back. We measured the length of the repetition (how long it took them to repeat it back) and recorded the number and types of errors they made. We found that the practice helped students fluently repeat the sentences they heard, in terms of number of errors made and in the time needed to repeat the sentence.
Current studies train students to practice speaking sentences by describing series of pictures. During training, students see pictures and hear the sentence described by those pictures and are asked to repeat the sentence back. After the initial training phase, students should be able to respond to the pictures without hearing the spoken sentence. Future work will also look at different factors that may make a difference in training, including whether it is better to train on full sentences or on individual phrases.
Background and Significance
Glossary
Research Questions
1. During an oral repetition task, do students increase fluency in terms of the time it takes them to repeat back the sentence?
2. Does this task help students increase fluency in terms of the amount of errors they make?
3. Are students aware of their own speech, to the extent that they can accurately rate their own performance?
4. Will students be able to transfer their increased fluency to novel sentences?