Abstract

This study investigated the relationships between cognitive proficiency and oral fluidity in the domain of second language (L2) mastery. Previous research has demonstrated that both automaticity and attention control are factors that contribute to L2 mastery. Given that the fundamental purpose of language is communication, the study aimed at examining the relationship between these cognitive factors and productive elements of speech within a social context. The study also examined if controlling for first language (L1) skill on measures of oral fluidity would yield different results from when L1 skill was not controlled, and if differences existed between the relationships between cognitive proficiency and oral fluidity after dividing the sample into higher versus lower fluent participants. Twenty-four bilingual adults (L1=English; L2=French) who varied in L2 skill performed a lexical categorization task and an attention-shifting task in order to provide measures of speed and efficiency of cognitive proficiency. Participants also performed a socially interactive story telling task in order to provide speech samples from which measures of vocabulary richness, speech rate, and fluid run length were derived as indices of oral fluidity. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that although controlling for L1 performance on measures of oral fluidity did not significantly contribute to our understanding of the relationships between cognitive proficiency and oral fluidity, there was strong relationship between L1 and L2 oral fluidity performance. In addition, those participants that showed evidence for better oral mastery also showed evidence for better automaticity of lexical categorization.