Resumen de Second language learner speech production
This paper reports on a study which investigated temporal variables in foreign language learner speech and native speech. The findings are discussed from a cognitive processing perspective. The subjects were 30 intermediate/advanced level adult students of French as a foreign language and 20 native speakers of French. Short extracts of recorded interviews were transcribed and quantitative measures of pause and hesitation phenomena, repairs and errors were calculated. The speech production model of Levelt (1989) provides a framework for understanding the source of these phenomena and the significant differences between natives and learners in planning and encoding speech. Capacity limitations of working memory, related in particular to foreign language learners' non-automatic processing mode, resulted in non-fluent speech performance, compared with native speakers.
