Summary
American college and German Gymnasium students read an English and German poem in their respective native (L1) and foreign (L2) languages. In L2, articulation rate (syl/s) was slower and phrase length (syl/pause) shorter than in L1. Only the German women read expressively: Mean pause duration was higher than all other groups in L1 and lower in L2. Evaluations of fluency and expressiveness by American teachers of German and German teachers of English paralleled these results. Two cut-off points (0.27 and 0.13 sec) for measurements of minimum pause duration were examined, and cautions regarding use of a high cut-off point given.
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O'Connell, D.C., Kowal, S. Comparisons of native and foreign language poetry readings: Fluency, expressiveness, and their evaluation. Psychol. Res 46, 301–313 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00308890
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00308890