Previous research has indicated that individual measures of fluency are often correlated between the first language (L1) and a second language (L2). This suggests that a speaker’s idiosyncratic...Show morePrevious research has indicated that individual measures of fluency are often correlated between the first language (L1) and a second language (L2). This suggests that a speaker’s idiosyncratic speaking style is to some degree also detectable in an L2, at least with regard to fluency. However, less is known about a possible mediating effect of L2-proficiency on this L1-L2 correlation of fluency, that is, does the L1-L2 correlation of fluency become stronger when a speaker’s L2-proficiency is higher? This study aimed to replicate previous findings that individual measures of fluency are correlated between the L1 and L2 with a language pair that has not yet been tested (i.e. L1-Dutch, L2-Spanish). On top of that, it was investigated whether this correlation is stronger in a high L2-proficiency group compared to a low L2-proficiency group. Thirty L1-speakers of Dutch with Spanish as L2 participated in an online survey where oral L1 and L2-speech was elicited through two picture narration-tasks. L2-proficiency was measured through a Spanish vocabulary task. Five measures of fluency were derived from the data: silent pause ratio, mean silent pause duration, silent time ratio, speech rate and articulation rate. The results indicate that the participants were more fluent in the L1 than in the L2 for all five measures. Furthermore, significant L1-L2 correlations were found for all measures except articulation rate. However, no significant distinction could be made between the proficiency groups with regard to the strength of the L1-L2 correlations for all five measures. An exploratory analysis where the proficiency groups were redefined based on self-reported level of L2-proficiency rather than L2-vocabulary score indicated that the low L2-proficiency group facilitated a stronger L1-L2 correlation for mean silent pause duration. No significant effects were found for the other measures. Thus, in this study, no direct indications were found that the L1-L2 correlation of fluency becomes stronger when a speaker’s L2-proficiency is higher.Show less
